If you’ve never been to SoHo NYC, I highly recommend going. Why? Well, because you may or may not run into somebody famous and not even realize it. I’ve actually experienced this in August 2017 at SoHo’s H&M with a 2017 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show model. Let me explain…
One of my good friends Sydney and I decided to go shopping one day in SoHo. After a long, successful day of shopping, our last stop was H&M. The both of us don’t usually shop there, but there was a huge sale going on at the time, so we stopped in. Since the store was extremely crowded, Sydney and I decided to split up because following each other around the store was not doing us any justice. Sydney went over to go look at the jeans, while I went to go look at some of the accessories. Next thing I know, this gorgeous human being and another gorgeous human being cross my path. I took a good look at the first gorgeous human being because she looked so familiar to me. It was completely obvious that she is a model, but I was not 100% sure. She was almost 6 feet tall and flawless. I ran over to go ask my friend if she knows where I could’ve seen this model.
“Sydney, does she look familiar to you?” I asked, while pointing towards the model.
“OMG, I’ve definitely seen her somewhere!” Sydney said.
“Right? I just can’t remember where she’s from.” I replied.
Sydney and I could not help but to stare at this model for an extra two minutes. We’ve definitely seen her from different type of store advertisements.
We couldn’t remember where we’ve seen this model, so we continued to shop and ignore the model’s presence. It wasn’t until ten minutes later, when we were finished shopping and ready to purchase our things, we bumped into the model again. She was in front of us in line with her friend. Sydney and I tried ignoring the model again, but we needed to know where she was from. We overheard the model’s conversation with her friends that went a little something like this:
“I know her! She’s from my agency,” the model said to her friend, while pointing at a model in an H&M advertisement.
After hearing this, Sydney and I screeched. Thank God the model and company did not turn around and think we were crazy. We were happy that we know for a fact that this model is really a model. The model and her friends purchased their items at one register, while Sydney and I purchased ours at the other registers. We all made it out of the store around the same time. We took snapped a picture of the model in H&M, so we could figure out who she is later on. On the train ride back, it hit me; I saw her in a Tom Ford advertisement. Sydney and I did my research when I got home and finally found her. This model was the one and only Amilna Estevão.
Months after Sydney and I’s SoHo shopping trip, we saw an Instagram post from Amilna stating that she’d be modeling in the 2017 Victoria’s Secret Show in Shanghai. Although we didn’t actually meet Amilna, we still thought it was pretty amazing that a Victoria’s Secret model was right in front of us in an H&M. How cool is that? I guess you could say that Sydney and I were starstruck. Our only regret from that day? Not getting pictures with the beautiful Amilna, of course.