A teenager was signed by the luxury firm Dior.
Luxury brands are more consumed in Mexico than in Latin America.
The luxury brand market was worth $14 billion in 2022.
A young woman went from being a girl from the “neighborhood” to being part of one of the most important luxury brands: Dior. At just 17 years old, the young woman already began her career in modeling. Her story, which was shared in a local Colombian media, has gone around the world.
In Mexico there are 60 points of sale of the Dior brand, some of them are inside Palacio de Hierro. With the lifting of the restrictions due to the pandemic and the return to the new normality in 2021, the company not only grew, but also reached an all-time high: around 64,220 million euros.
On Instagram, Dior and Prada were in second and third position respectively, with more than 62 million “likes” each, as the most followed brands on this social networkaccording to Statista.
Sales of luxury brands in Mexico have not decreased despite inflation, on the contrary, it is estimated that they will have an increase for the remainder of 2023. According to the France-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and Industry will increase by up to 12 percent.
Within the framework of the event “Luxury Market. The new rules of the game” it was announced that the country, since 2014, It is the main consumer of high-end brands in Latin America, while globally it ranks fourth. Abelardo Marcondes, CEO of Luxury Lab Global and representative of the Luxury Committee of the CCI France-Mexico pointed out that last year there was a growth of 18 percent “It is a gateway to Latin America,” he said.
From “neighborhood” girl to Dior model
Valeria Echeverri made her debut on the catwalks of the Dior house during the presentation of her Cruise 2024 collection in Mexico City, which featured more than 100 models from around the world. The young woman comes from the Belén San Bernardo neighborhood in Colombia, but now she has come to Paris to continue her modeling career.
During her debut, she was accompanied by her mother, who is also with her at the catwalk workshops, when they go shopping and when she goes to castings. The model reported that being part of Dior is a dream come true for her.
Valeria joined the Gucaya Model Management agency in Ecuador in 2021, but It was on Instagram where they could contact her, since they told her that they wanted to start a project with her, giving way to an arduous preparation by the young woman, which included taking care of her physical condition and learning English, something that she has been able to achieve.
Something that has made her so attractive for the brand to have decided to collaborate with her is her height, as she is 1.81 meters tall, as well as her features, which have been classified as “very Latino” that have a mix with Europeans, in addition, her Dark circles have also been one of its main attractions.
“I see myself as a successful model, working on this because I enjoy it,” said the model, who is nicknamed “neighborhood girl” by her mother.
She also added that she thought that being a model was something of beauty, of the reigns and that did not interest her, but measuring 1.81 meters always had her subject to comments that encouraged her to model. It was then that at the age of 12 she took her initiative and with the help of her parents, she began her modeling studies.
“I started it as a hobby. I was posting photos on Instagram and that’s when what is now my mother agency, Gucaya Model Management, contacted me. They see me and propose something more international, so I liked it and we signed from the age of 13, but to travel I had to be at least 16 years old; we took a break in which I was preparing”, he explained to Q’Hubo.