Model of the moment: Arlenis Sosa makes colour pop

They used to call 24-year-old Arlenis Sosa ‘the Cinderella girl’ — because her journey, from life on a farm in the Dominican Republic to the dizzying heights of the US fashion world, reads like the stuff of fairy tales. It started when she was spotted aged 18 in the streets of Santo Domingo. Encouraged by her family, she travelled to New York to visit the Marilyn Agency (where her stablemates include Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell). She was signed on the spot. ‘I actually never went home!’ she guffaws. And why would you when one of your first go-sees is with Anna Wintour, and you’ve landed a huge cosmetics deal with Lancôme within two months?

No matter that she didn’t speak a word of English and used to get lost on the subway because she couldn't read the signs: she was under Wintour’s wing. After their first meeting, she was dressed up in Oscar de la Renta and sent off to the Met Ball on the arm of the designer’s son Moises, who’s now a good friend. And one of her first editorials was posing for US Vogue with fellow black models Jourdan Dunn and Chanel Iman.

She lists the British Dunn, along with Sessilee Lopez and Victoria’s Secret girls Clara Alonso and Karlie Kloss, among her closest catwalk compadres; her fiancé is the pro basketball player Donnie McGrath.

Her mother has recently been visiting ‘for three months. It’s been fun; I’ve been taking her around on jobs in LA and San Francisco so she can see how much I love what I do.’ And if she started modelling ‘because I wanted to be able to help my family out’ then it’s mission accomplished: she’s currently building a new home for her parents in the Dominican Republic, and she’s also established the Arlenis Sosa Foundation, which supports those with juvenile diabetes.

On the Deluxe shoot she is the life and soul, singing and dancing and snapping endless selfies. Celebrating life? ‘I am so happy,’ she confirms. ‘Just look at my smile!’

Photographs by Diego Uchitel. Styled by Orsolya Szabo.