Amid the fresh-faced new upstarts of 2015, Lockley stands out from the crowd with his remarkable blond-tinted Afro, in a shade he calls his “mixed hair color” and says he picked just before starting to model about a year ago. “I dye it a little bit to give it more of an effect for my look,” he explains. Signed after his mother showed his picture to a friend, the young New Yorker says he has always been into fashion, describing his own look as urban and vintage with a “funky vibe.” After walking for Louis Vuitton in January as his first show, Lockley—and his famous hair—were a big hit in June, when he walked for Margaret Howell, Jil Sander, Kenzo, and Paul Smith. A student of computer engineering, Lockley says he hopes his unique look can help encourage other people to think different. “I want to inspire people to dress how they want to dress,” he says. “Dress the way you want to feel in the clothes that you like.”

Second time’s a charm for Goss, who was scouted once last year but turned down by an agency before signing with Supa in May and kicking off a whirlwind month shooting a Balenciaga lookbook and opening Topman and appearing for Craig Green, JW Anderson, Alexander McQueen, and Burberry in London before booking Prada and a Louis Vuitton exclusive, becoming the first black model to open a show for the iconic French house in decades at least. Discovered—for the second time—while waiting at a bus stop, Goss was working as a charity fundraiser in a call center before quitting his job to take up modeling full time. “To go from working five days a week, eight hours a day, in an office to being in New York for the day and now in Paris for the week is a bit of a game changer,” he laughs. Still, he says he is looking forward to having some downtime to let it all sink in. “Because everything’s happened so quickly, I don’t know if I’ve managed to properly appreciate how big everything I’ve done is,” he muses, “but I’ve had some incredible experiences.”

A native of Ukraine, Lebedyev moved with his family to Spain at the age of seven and eventually made his way to Barcelona, where he was scouted last September on the beach. A swimmer and soccer player, Lebedyev was about to start studying business administration when he decided to focus on modeling, and he had a stellar first outing in Milan last month, walking for Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, and Versace, and opening Brioni. He was also one of the punk surfers at DSquared2, where, he says, “all the tattoos on mesh all over my body were very memorable.” Despite being unsure about his prospects when first starting out, Lebedyev says he is still trying to wrap his head around how his last few months have gone. “Everyone told me I had a lot of potential, but I never believed them,” he says. “But now I’m seeing my success and it’s very surprising, but I’m very happy.”

A student of online marketing, Gilardot was interning in London when he was stopped by his agent last year while shopping on Regent Street and asked if he wanted to model. His initial response? “No, it’s impossible, I can’t be a model,” he laughs. Still, Gilardot eventually changed his mind, and since then he has become a runway staple, appearing for Topman, JW Anderson, Craig Green, Jil Sander, Ermenegildo Zegna, Bottega Veneta, Fendi, Valentino, Phillip Lim, Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Hermès, and Y-3 this year. Still, the show that stands out most in his mind is Dior Homme’s from January, when a full orchestra played as the models walked. “It was so amazing,” he recalls. Now a full-time model, Gilardot says he is happy to be taking a pause from his education after graduating from business school this year, but is already looking ahead to returning. “I was really, really focused this year and last year on getting my degree,” he says, “but now I have my degree, so I’m free, but I want to continue my studies after this break.”

Londoner Laughton-Scott has Facebook to thank for his newfound success, having been discovered about a year ago through a mutual friend he shares with the daughter of Sarah Doukas. With a year left in school, he made a big impression in his first show season this summer, starting off with a nerve-wracking exclusive for Burberry. “I was absolutely shitting myself before the show,” he laughs. “I was just thinking of everything that could go wrong—everything, like falling on my face, slipping on the runway, accidentally hitting Lewis Hamilton in the face with my bag. Obviously it went fine, inevitably. It’s just walking.” Laughton-Scott says he enjoyed getting to experience Milan and Paris properly this past month—especially the coffee and pasta in the former—in between castings and fittings and shows for Dior Homme, Fendi, Jil Sander, Gucci, and Phillip Lim. His current plan is to take a gap year after finishing school to model before returning to university, either for political science or a course in religion, politics, and society, a balancing act that promises to be demanding. “I’ve still kind of got the same plans, I’m just trying to do both at the same time,” he says, “which is proving hectic.”

Modeling competitions can be hit or miss, but one unimpeachable winner is Rigvava, who came out of the 2014 Elite Model Look contest in Austria to become a runway must-have over the past year. Indeed, it’s hard to name a single important European brand that the Germany native hasn’t walked for in 2015, from Raf Simons, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and JW Anderson to Topman, Burberry, Dior Homme, and Hermès—finding time for campaigns for Ermenegildo Zegna and Valentino along the way. “I shot the Valentino campaign with my favorite photographer, David Bailey, which was one of the greatest moments of my whole entire life,” he says. “I’d never expected to even see him ever, so that was really amazing.” A painter and former basketball player, Rigvava says he is currently preparing his art portfolio to apply for university and continuing to play the cello, an instrument he chose for its intimacy. “You can feel the vibration of the sound because it’s laid against your body with its whole entire weight,” he explains, “and you can’t do anything else while doing it.” And for someone with rampant creativity looking for an outlet, modeling has allowed Rigvava access to a world that has opened his eyes. “This was a really, really great thing for me,” he says of his new career. “To have a view into how all of this works is amazing.”

It took getting scouted twice for Davis to finally decide to give modeling a try, first after being stopped while on the Overground on the way home from school, then at a music festival. “I laughed,” he recalls of his first reaction. “I didn’t believe that anything would come from it. It was amusing.” But in the year since, Davis has more than proven himself wrong, walking for Prada, Dior Homme, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, JW Anderson, Jil Sander, Raf Simons, Gucci, Hermès, and Lanvin, and appearing in Prada’s new Prefall campaign by Steven Meisel. A student of graphic design, he says that the best thing about modeling is the people he gets to work with. “It’s an amazing opportunity to have,” he explains. “Everyone you meet is there for a reason, and they’re really inspiring.”

Part of the new wave of Korean male models who swept the European shows in June, Lee kicked off a stellar début season by walking for Topman and opening Craig Green in London, where he also showed up on the Burberry catwalk before appearing for Jil Sander and Marni in Milan, along with Louis Vuitton and Dior Homme in Paris, which he calls his favorite European city because it makes him feel “creative and happy.” Scouted while on holiday in Croatia, Lee says he was excited to try something new with modeling. “It was very interesting to go to the different cities in Europe,” he says, “and to meet a lot of nice people from different cultures.” A guitarist in a band at home in his native Korea, Lee leans on his hometown friends who are now traveling the fashion circuit with him to navigate his new job. “I came with my model friends as a team, and we are always helping each other,” he explains. “I’m very happy that we all had a successful season.”

Cooper was a baker and prep cook at a local restaurant when he was approached by two women at the Reading Festival last summer who asked if he was a model. “I thought they were joking, to be honest,” he laughs. “I thought they wanted some money from me.” He made his way down to London three weeks after and, two weeks later, found himself in Paris, his favorite out of the European fashion cities. “There’s a lot of culture here, beautiful buildings everywhere, and a lot of history,” he says. A guitarist and avid reader, Cooper made his catwalk début in Gucci’s powerful Fall 2015 show in January and had the dual windfall of opening both Louis Vuitton and Dior Homme, before walking for Burberry, Valentino, Jil Sander, Craig Green, and Topman as well this summer, along with appearing in Dior’s Prefall lookbook. With his future plans up in the air, he says he is just enjoying all the new turns as they come. “I haven’t got any idea what I’m going to do next,” he says. “Just travel and experience life.”