Written & Photographs: Vivienne C. and Daiyu Tang
On January 27th the Hathian Museum and Galleries hosted the competition for Hathian’s Next Top Model (with both a presenting as male and presenting as female categories). It was a lavish event which was weeks in the making as entries were open for competitors for a number of weeks which involved having their modelling photo taken for display at the show. The full list of entrants was featured in our article here.
Contestants stepped into the limelight, each step, pose, and expression a brushstroke on the canvas of their creativity that delighted and entertained those in attendance. Once models from each category finished their catwalk, citizens present were asked to vote.
As the curtain rises and the spotlight intensifies, join me in unveiling who won Hathian’s Top Model.
Hathain’s Top Male Model: NATO
Nato received the largest amount of the votes for his bold choice of strutting with on stage with just a towel, taking 41% of the total votes. It was evident that he was surprised by this result. I asked for a quote and comment but he seemed disinclined to speak with me as he clutched on his towel and wanted to put on some clothes. Understandable. Before he left the stage he was presented with a cheque for $1,500 and the right to the title.
The reaction on social media was rather brutal, although it was typically from those who had not been in attendance. As the vote was based on those in the audience, it kind of goes that those unhappy with the result should have either entered, or attended and voted! Zeek’s sockless glory might have gone down well, but he would have had to turn up…
More reactions are available on the announcement thread. We’ll end with this though from Corbin:
The runner-up in the category as decided by the contest host Daiyu Tang was: Tyler from CU, who also received a cheque from the Museum’s investors.
Hathian’s Top Female Model: Devi
Devi dazzled the audience with her confidence and beauty, so naturally she received the majority of the votes. I asked her how she felt winning the competition and how the process was and this is what she shared with me:
“I was shocked! I had never done anything like this before and was so surprised I had won. It was such an incredible confidence boost to know people enjoyed what I put together for my routine. The process was great! After signing up and having the photo shoot Daiyu did a great job explaining expectations, and so taking that time to pick out an outfit, music, and moves before showing up and following her instructions was pretty painless.”
Devi, Hathian’s Top Model
The votes were closer for the female contest, with Devi claiming 23% of the vote, with her closest competitor at 20%. After the vote based winner was announced Daiyu announced the runner-up, Dakota who also won a prize.
The social media buzz on the contest and the winners was positive, with many of the models having fans in the audience live blogging from the event, for example Shilo was smashing her TikTok while on the stage.
All photos can be found here from our article author Vivienne and here (male) and here (female) for Twitter threads from Daiyu.
((Many thanks to Viv for covering this event and for all participants for attending as either models, guests or otherwise. Special thanks to Poppy for the DJ work. Hope everyone had fun! – Daiyu))
