Life on the catwalk

Captivatingly beautiful, with eyes that draw you in deeper, Ballito model Rio Hooper is every photographer’s dream.
At only 17 years old her portfolio is already bursting with big names such as Christian Dior and NWJ.
The Crawford College North Coast pupil said she had always wanted to be a model and looked up to her long-time model mother, Judy (no prizes for guessing where she got her fine features from).
Rio recently returned from a Christian Dior shoot in Dubai where she spent three weeks changing in and out of the finest garments. She told the Courier that the experience “was a great learning curve but also hard work ”.
“There is a misconception that modelling is all about glamour, but the truth is that it is hard work even though the final product is often glamorous,” said Rio.
She said she sometimes spent long hours doing cut out shots (body only) in different outfits for online catalogues.
Rio’s parents, Judy and Peter said they were proud of her focus and dedication. She  showed this last year when she had to balance school and major modelling campaigns, including one with NWJ.
The grade 12 pupil said she would have not been able to achieve most of what she had had not been for the support of her family, friends and teachers.
“I had a lot of modelling work last year but I always remembered that I had the responsibility of submitting my assignments so that my school work would not suffer,” she said.
When she is not jetting off to Cape Town where her agency Ice Genetics is based, Rio enjoys spending time with her four cats and little sister Tyla-Jade. She also works for Ice Models, a Durban based sister agency to Ice Genetics.
Last year Rio was crowned second princess in the Junior Miss Ushaka Marine World and also strutted her stuff on the catwalk at the Durban University of Technology fashion show.
Her teachers at Crawford described Rio’s work ethic as industrious and diligent with strengths in visual arts, music and the humanities.
“I love the arts and plan in the future to pursue my studies in either fine arts or fashion but next year I am going to take a gap year and see how far I can take my modelling career.”