This 14-Year-Old Model Had A Total Cinderella Moment With Dior

Closing a runway show, much less a couture show, is a bragging right usually reserved for the likes Gisele Bündchen and Karlie Kloss. But at Dior's Fall 2016 haute couture show in Paris earlier this month, Sofia Mechetner, the ethereal beauty who nabbed that honor, wasn't a big name (yet). Even more mind-boggling: It was the 14-year-old Israeli's modeling debut. Dior's creative director, Raf Simons, discovered Mechetner in a Dior store in Paris. She grew up in poverty in a town outside Tel Aviv, sharing a bedroom with two siblings, and raised by a single mom holding down three gigs, according to The Washington Post. She signed on with Roberto, a Israeli modeling agency, which tried to connect her with Viva, a Paris-based agency. Mechetner and her chaperone (remember, the girl is just 14!) traveled to Paris in June to meet with Viva, but the agency decided Mechetner was too young for the runway. Believe it or not, the silver lining of the teen's trek to Paris lies in a selfie. Mechetner and her chaperone hit up a Dior store, where the chaperone saw Simons on the premises and the two took a selfie together. Then, Mechetner got introduced to Simons. Fairy godmother, meet your runway Cinderella. Israel's Channel 2 produced a news segment about Mechetner's unlikely entrée into the fashion orbit. The newly minted model, who's been drawing comparisons to Claudia Schiffer, has already inked a contract with Dior for $265,000, according to The Washington Post. We're pretty sure there's no lost glass slipper moment in this rags-to-riches fairy tale, though — Mechetner's walk was sure and steady. We're sure she'll have plenty more runways in her future.