Photo Courtesy Fish Fiorucci
Jamejdra Holverstott | THE RIDER
Fish Fiorucci, a mass communication junior, hopes to make the local fashion scene more inclusive for people of color and the LGBT community with their recently opened modeling agency called f10.
The Brownsville native hopes to provide outlets for individuals seeking to enter the modeling or fashion industry.
“When I wanted to start off … getting into anything fashion related … I had such a hard time finding any resources that would benefit me or help me get to where I wanted to be,” Fiorucci said. “I felt the need to want to use all the information that I’ve been gathering from all the success that I had, and be able to give it to people in the [Rio Grande] Valley … for free and be able to provide them a useful resource without them having to go to bigger places to spend money or to travel outside of the Valley.”
They, who have been modeling for seven years, launched the agency last September in Brownsville.
“I figured I would use the time, now, to use all the information that I recently just gained from going to Paris, London and Milan Fashion Week,” Fiorucci said. “And I had never [founded a modeling agency] before, so it was definitely a big step for me in my career.”
Their priority is to establish a new standard within the fashion scene that will break the cultural norms that prevent people of color or people who do not fit the modeling standard from working in the industry.
“I feel it’s important to prioritize the people who are [black, indigenous, people of color] and or queer just to, kind of, give them the advantage that they haven’t had before in the industry,” Fiorucci said. “It’s important to also mention that just as of last year, 90% of the fashion shows that were casted for fashion week had all white models in them.”
They expressed their desire to give underrepresented models the opportunity to enter the industry.
“There’s so many models, and not even necessarily professional models, but just people who want to get into [modeling], but they can’t because they don’t have any kind of representation in the industry,” Fiorucci said. “I wanna create that change. I feel like it’s very important.”
They have scouted models for years, many of which are former classmates.
“At the moment, we have a small board of only 12 models who are signed to me and my agency … but that doesn’t prevent us from working with any of the other models that we work with,” Fiorucci said. “We work with over 150 models at the moment in the Valley, and those are people that we work with year-round.”
Models at the agency start their careers by building their portfolios and doing local work.
“We work a lot with local designers, local commercial agencies and tend to start the models off with doing local work, building up their portfolios with local photographers, maybe working with a local designer for their lookbooks, and just shooting a few things here and there–just to kind of allow them to work in the area … that they’re familiar with the most,” Fiorucci said.
The next step is looking around Texas to see what commercial jobs are available. Bookings for these types of jobs can be for companies such as Gap or Loft.
“We try to, kind of, work our way into that side of the industry once we feel like we’ve prepared a model enough in the [Valley],” Fiorucci said. “After that it just goes bigger and bigger … [from] there.”
They want to inspire LGBT youth and people of color to become something that they never thought they could become.
“I allow people in my agency to find themselves without having to rush themselves,” Fiorucci said. “A lot of the times, when you go into a big modeling agency outside of Texas, they expect you to change everything about yourself in a week and to really find something that … might not necessarily match your identity or match the message that you’re trying to convey.”
They emphasized that they really just want people in their agency to be proud of who they are.
“One of the bigger projects that I’m working on at the moment is Texas Fashion Week, which used to be Brownsville Fashion Week,” Fiorucci said. “It’s a fashion week that I created a few years ago. … It usually happens around the time of June but with the new updates that we’re having, we’re trying to convert our way over into the bigger scene of Texas Fashion Week.”
They said the shows will explore all facets of Texas fashion.
“Come October, you can expect to see fashion shows all over the Valley, going up to Corpus [Christi], San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, just the option to really get an experience of what fashion [is] like all over Texas,” Fiorucci said.
Submissions for f10 is open year-round via email to people of all backgrounds and experience. To apply, send an email to info@f10rucci.com with the subject “online submission,” of a full-body shot, half-body shot, profile shot, and headshot, along with your name, age and height, chest, weight and hip measurements.
For photo submissions, Fiorucci recommends applicants use a plain background with natural lighting and simple makeup and clothing, such as jeans and a T-shirt. Photo submissions do not have to be high quality or professional.
For additional information, contact @f10rucci on Instagram.
