Model of the Moment

Name: Ashley "Ash" Stymest

Background: Rising star in the modeling world, hailing from England

Stats: 17, tattooed, pierced and gauged

Why I love him: Someone please tell me where this lil boy learned to work a Balenciaga dress! As the newest U.K. modeling sensation, Ash just landed the cover of the premiere issue of Vogue Hommes Japan, shot by the legendary Hedi Slimane. And did he ever kill it! Seriously, honey is working this shoot like a vet. I'm loving him and his punk/twink rocker self! He's since appeared in spreads for mags like i-D, Wonderland, and Dazed & Confused and walked in Balenciaga's spring show. But this is the shoot that put Ash on the map...the range of emotions, faces, and poses he's giving is simply amazing. Ferociousness!

P.S. Now along with a Beyonce-inspired mechanical hand, I'm on the lookout for some Hello Kitty face jewelry! Sooo very necessary in my life...wish me luck!

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Nichole Robinson for Bleu Magazine

Emerging model and actress Nichole Robinson has been fabulously featured in a spread for Bleu Magazine's "Black Boys Are Beautiful" issue. I am so in love with the retro-chicness of these "Mahogany"-inspired shots...Diana would be pleased!

Nichole was discovered at an Elite Modeling Contest and has since gotten work with Revlon, Victoria Secret, Neutrogena, and The Gap. She's also graced the pages of Elle, Vogue, GQ and Maxim, which ranked her in its 100 Sexiest Women issue.



Want more? Check her out www.nicholerobinson.com!

Model of the Moment

Name: Wendell Lissimore

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Background: Rising star in the modeling world hailing from Des Moines, Iowa
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Stats: 22, 6'1, and in a relationship (according to FB)

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Why I love him: Have you seen his body? Good gravy! Represented by Red Models in NYC, Ford Homme in Paris, Bookings in London and Group in Barcelona, hs pictures give off a serenely humble vibe that is completely inapposite to the jet set life he enjoys as a model in constant demand. He has covered BLEU magazine, foreign magazine LUSSW, gay and lesbian based OUT and has been spotted in British GQ. He was handpicked for the much talked about all-black Sean John show that closed New York Fashion Week and has walked for Hermes, Ungaro, and Kris Van Assche. Besides all of that, his distinct facial features and ever-changing look will take him far in the business and his posing bespeaks a fearless devotion to his craft. Look and love...

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See even more of Mr. Lissimore, here!

Check out all of Elle's past Models of the Moment, here!

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Model of the Moment

Name: Dustin Brown

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Background: Jamaican athlete and model born and raised in Germany

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Stats: 23, 6'4, 168 lbs and boo'd up (has a girlfriend)

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Why I love him: I was absentmindedly doing my afternoon blog-stroll, when a picture of darling Dustin stopped me in my tracks. Clickworthy indeed. I was all too pleased to find out that Dustin is both the top tennis player in Jamaica and a professional model. I'm really drawn to his earthy appeal and rustic good looks. Locs get me every time. Give him a few years to marinate and he'll be damn near perfect!

You can check out more model shots of Dustin, here.

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Thanks Sheila!

Model of the Moment

Donyale Luna in a Vogue fashion spread shot by Guy Bourdin, 1966.

Long before Iman, Naomi, or Tyra ever set a stiletto on the catwalk, Donyale Luna was strutting her way across the globe. Born Peggy Anne Freeman, Luna grew up in Detroit, where her home life was far from idyllic (her father was murdered when she was 18). The following year, photographer David McCabe spotted the lithesome beauty on the street, and it wasn't long before she was pursuing modeling in New York City. Her arrival in 1964 had magazine editors and designers competing to book the singular-looking teen.

"Back in Detroit I wasn't considered beautiful or anything, but here I'm different," Luna explained of her success. "They were looking for a new kind of model, a girl who is beautiful like you've never seen before." With her spellbinding features, ultramarine contact lenses, and seemingly endless limbs (she was 6' 2"), she certainly fit the bill. And at the height of her career, she charged a hefty day rate of $60 because, as she succinctly put it, "Being what I am, I can get what I ask."

As much a child of the sixties as the face of it, Luna spent her off-hours partying at Andy Warhol's Factory and canoodling with the likes of Rolling Stones rocker Brian Jones and sometime paramour Klaus Kinski. Her nightlife pursuits took their toll on both her career and her health, and on May 17, 1979, she was pronounced dead from a drug overdose at a clinic in Rome. But not before her beauty was immortalized in Fellini's Satyricon, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, and several of Warhol's films, as well as in the pages of Paris Match, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue.

—Evelyn Crowley

Cuddling up to Salvador Dalí's pet ocelot during a photo shoot, 1966.

Walking the runway in thigh-high, lace-up leather boots, 1967.

Striking a pose in a see-through crocheted floor-length dress, 1967.

With fiancé George Willings, in matching monkey fur coats and sunglasses, 1967.

Check out all of Elle's past Models of the Moment, here...

Story and photos courtesy of Style.com