The SAINT model army dominated the just-ended New York Fashion Week (NYFW).

In typical fashion, the in-demand catwalkers racked up a formidable slate of runway appearances for the most influential fashion houses that previewed their Spring/Summer 2023 ready-to-wear collections across multiple locations in the city that never sleeps.

Led by resurgent Jamaican supermodel Kai Newman whose impeccable bookings included walking for Tom Ford, Tory Burch, Altuzarra, Marni as well as Vogue World, American Vogue’s 130-year-anniversary runway showcase, the SAINT squad comprised of Tomiwa, Wayne Booth, Winston Lawrence, Jamie Melbourne and Naki Depass left their mark on several highly acclaimed designer presentations.

Jetting in from Paris, SAINT’s Nigerian supermodel-in-the-making Tomiwa, making her second trip Stateside for NYFW, clocked runway time for Ulla Johnson, Theory and Gabriela Hearst. 

For the latter designer’s show held at Brooklyn Navy Yards which featured the Resistance National Revival Chorus, the African beauty was Look #4 in a gold leather tuxedo pantsuit. The New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman raved Hearst’s new collection “was pretty terrific…big gold staples lined the edges of tailored pantsuits and long gold dusters topped simple tank dresses.”

In the case of Jamaican-raised, US resident fashion designer Edvin Thompson, winner of the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s American Emerging Designer of the Year Award last year, who presented his runway show this past Wednesday which featured Portland-born SAINT Lawrence, Vogue hailed it as being “a tightly edited and focused collection loaded with budding signatures (for which), Thompson confirmed that for him, there is no such thing as a sophomore slump.”

Lawrence showed up too, on the catwalks for menswear designer Nicholas Raefski and Italian luxury brand Marni which crisscrossed the Atlantic to debut its upcoming collection under the Manhattan bridge.

Elsewhere, SAINT’s 60-year-old male stunner Jamie Melbourne defied ageist constructs with a runway appearance for the men’s and womenswear brand Deveaux’s 41-piece collection reveal at Spring Studios.

SAINT top model Wayne Booth made it a triple with her catwalk turns for Christian Cowan, Marrisa Wilson and Aliette. Meanwhile, Brooklyn resident Naki Depass who is a face of Tibi’s current Fall/Winter 2022 global advertising campaign, showed up on the catwalk in two separate looks for the brand’s new collection.

For CEO Deiwght Peters, the man behind the ongoing success of his continent-hopping international models, their collective brilliant start for this season’s Fashion Month that will shift to London, then Milan and end in Paris, he shared “New York’s always been great to SAINT, and I’m proud of Kai’s triumphant return to NYFW, and how exceptionally well all the models did, it was blessings upon blessings.”