Below the surface of pageantry, every runway has its individual success stories played out by the models who walk them. When it comes to houses that have launched a thousand careers, like Miuccia Prada’s much loved Miu Miu, styled by Katie Grand and cast by Anita Bitton, those stories are bold and underlined. Enter the little known, gap-toothed Callie Dixon, from Florida’s “Space Coast” Merritt Island, Florida. “I got to grow up watching launches from NASA,” she remarks, “I was living a pretty regular life, going to school and working at the Pretzel Twister in the mall.” That all changed when she met her mother agent after a friend had shown her Instagram.
A change of scene from the Space Coast to New York had her signing with Next, where she’s been developing her image since, an image equipped with curvaceous oomph. 18-year-old Miss Dixon’s body packs a welcome full-figured punch not always embraced by high fashion’s more conventional sizing to-do. “Being a girl with my hips and bigger boobs, I never, ever, expected to be walk in a show. I used to watch all the shows and just stare at their bodies coming down, waiting for one person I could relate to to come down so that I knew I could do it too.” So when she learned of her confirmation for the Winter Miu Miu show she had to pinch herself, “I thought there’s no way this is right.” In Paris and first-looks ready it became very real, “It was insane for me. When I was waiting in the line up, I felt like I had a lump in my throat. I gave myself a little pep talk and when it came time I just went out there and had so much fun. The second I got off I could feel my eyes watering. I was just so proud of myself.”
The realizing of her maiden walk down one of the most watched runways instilled an optimistic takeaway for Callie Dixon. “What’s incredibly important about this is that I proved to myself you do not have to change yourself or fit a certain look to accomplish things. I hope I can be that reassurance for people that I was always longing for. There is nothing wrong with being thin, but in the real world, not everyone has a thigh gap and a small chest. I thought I needed to become that to achieve things and now I know I don’t, just be yourself and everything falls into place,” she says. Hot off the runway, Callie is sure to be busy crossing off more firsts, “I want to just keep being the best me I can be and prove myself as a person and a model. Aside from that, my next goal is a cover or campaign. I want to get my voice, face, and body out there and show the world I am here and times are changing.” Here comes Callie.
