Abdulaye Niang

Since 2013, Models.com’s The Graduates series has been a visual celebration of the model muses who’ve cemented themselves as faces of noteworthy praise in editorial, advertisements, lookbooks, and runways. Through insurmountable rejection and just as many wins, these muses have locked down luxury clients while rising through the ranks from the Hot List to the top working models in the World, during the pandemic no less. Shot in New York through the lens of photographer Jon Ervin, this year’s list stands as a testament to the fashion industry’s tenacity.

Visit his Models.com page and click or tap the Lists button to favorite Abdulaye and keep track of his work.

Photography by Jon Ervin for Models.com

Styling – Rebecca Dennett
Hair – Ro Morgan | Makeup – Jaleesa Jaikaran | Nails – Kuniko Inoue
Model – Abdulaye Niang
Photographer Assistant – Vita Burn | Stylist Assistants – Alia West and John Dunham | Makeup Assistant – Eunice Kristen

Editor-in-Chief – Stephan Moskovic
Text & interview by Irene Ojo-Felix
Production – Sasha Grinblat

Above credit – Jacket – Sandro | Sweater – Alex Mill

Suit and shirt – Thom Browne

Model and creative Abdulaye Niang is not here to compromise himself for a fleeting moment. With his trademark locs, the New Yorker is instantly recognizable as soon as he hits the runway walking for Off-White, Pyer Moss, J.W. Anderson, Fendi, and Tommy Hilfiger or in campaigns for Loewe. When he was younger, he would discuss with his mother the possibility of modeling but it wasn’t until he craved to escape Staten Island’s suburbs that he took things seriously and got signed walking into RED Models in 2016. “I got here being on myself and sticking to my guns,” he defines. “You’ve got to follow your organic path because there’s going to be a lot of things that try and corrupt that.“

“You’ve got to follow your organic path because there’s going to be a lot of things that try and corrupt that.”

When Models.com asked models last summer “What does it mean to be black in fashion?” Niang was one of 50 voices that narrated to us the struggles he found working in the modeling industry. “Me being a black man they ask, ‘Do you want to cut your hair for this job?’” Niang reveals. “I wrote a poem [for Love Magazine] about how much of an oxymoron it is being a black person and desirable one moment and just slept on the next.” While he mentions that the recent ascent of black creatives he admires like Virgil Abloh is a needed first step to address inequality, he questions if models organizing into a union might be the only way to progress. “We definitely need more people in the background just making sure we’re all good but I feel like that’s partly our job too,” Niang intreprets. “We’re supposed to learn these things, evolve, and get into these higher-up positions.”

Jacket – Sandro | Sweater and scarf – Alex Mill

Assessing how quarantine forced fashion to take stock of its faults, Niang rationalizes that its ultimate lesson was not depending on one thing, creatively speaking. “Artistically, I feel like a lot of people got inspired and reached that new level while a lot of people fell into stagnation because they’re only used to one thing and that humbled a lot of people.” His unisex sportswear brand, Kill Complacency is made up of jerseys and T-shirts, channels New York grit, and turns to inspiration from as abstract as Martin Scorsese, Nas, and mob movies. “I love clothes. I feel like I was put here to get my creative flow and just move around with it.’ He shoutouts good friend Fisher Smith’s brand Sinclair as an inspiration of the possibility within the streetwear scope. “[Sinclair is] living proof that you can apply yourself to projects and it’s really grown with him. I’m seeing it turn into influence.”