Former bag packer turns international runway star

Jahavane O'Connor's smile is a little wider these days, and with good reason. In just a year, his life transitioned from a Shoppers Fair supermarket bag packer to a Saint International-signed model, who also happens to be now starring in a multimedia global advertising campaign for the trendy Italian brand, Pyrex.

"If someone told me five years ago that little me from Jamaica would be a model representing an Italian brand and doing shoots in Europe, I would have said no way," he said.

The Pyrex shoot was done over several days in the southeastern Italian city of Barletta, and involved plenty of wardrobe changes, and was a combination of video and still photography.

Long having an interest in "getting dressed up", as O'Connor puts it, he eagerly attended a casting call, which Saint International hosted at its Lady Musgrave Road offices in late 2018. He left an impression on the Saint boss and internationally celebrated model-maker Deiwght Peters, who shortlisted him among the Jamaican faces sent to the venerable House of Balenciaga in Paris, which was seeking new runway talent for their Fall/Winter 2019 collection.

Sharp cheekbones

"Jahavane has super sharp cheekbones that give his face a unique dynamic in front of the camera, further strengthened by his personality and professionalism, which all make for a winning model profile," Peters said.

O'Connor was subsequently signed to the international model agencies Select Models Paris and Independent Models Milan. He made his international modelling debut in Paris last February for the Balenciaga show in France, and in quick order, the Parisian luxury brand retained him to shoot the collection's extensive men pieces for their e-commerce platform.

Online market

"It was really and truly a thrill for me to be working with Balenciaga," O'Connor said. "It was exciting because it was the first time I was travelling on a plane when I did the show, and then, when they requested to have me back again to shoot for their online market, I was like, 'yow, for real'?"

A past student of St Andrew Technical, O'Connor, in-between his international modelling assignments, works as an assistant clerk at the Half- Way Tree Primary School.

"I really want to become a full-time model and eventually have my own retail business," O'Connor said, eager to further his experiences not only with the Italian and French cultures he's come to know as a Saint model, but countries far flung beyond Jamaica, where he sees the possibilities to do even more in the fashion industry.