‘The Imperfect’: Meet the modeling agency that is redefining beauty standards in Italy

Founded in 2020, the year of the pandemic, the Italian modeling agency ‘L’Imperfetta’ (The Imperfect) has a self-explanatory name. Its cast is formed exclusively by men and women with aesthetic “imperfections”, if evaluated under the cruel ruler of the fashion industry.

They have spots, scars, amputated limbs. They can be fat, bald or short, physical characteristics that would be an impediment to launch a career in traditional agencies. At ‘L’Imperfetta, they are an added charm, in a concept that has been redefining beauty standards in the world’s cradle of fashion, in addition to reinforcing the self-esteem of its contractors.

“For the first time, I felt beautiful,” model Lucia Della Ratta, who has albinism – a genetic disorder characterized by loss of melanin and skin pigmentation – said on Instagram. “I felt that it was my essence, as if it were me, as I really am”.

In addition to the welcome inclusive proposal, A Imperfeita has been successful as a business model. Its agents are already in the job market, in advertising campaigns for brands of clothing, accessories, underwear, cosmetics and supermarkets.

Two of them walked the runway at Milan Fashion Week, days ago, for stylist Marco Rambaldi. Founder of the agency, Carlotta Giancane is proud of her work. “I actually feel a bit revolutionary because I realize that all of this around me didn’t exist before,” she says.

Another of his models is Desireé D’Angelo. She suffers from alopecia and was bullied at school for years because of her baldness. She was convinced by a dance teacher to remove the hats and wigs that hid her hairless head, and today she is one of the agency’s stars. “I like my body, I like my quirkiness. In the end, I accepted it,” she says.