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Riccardo Simeon Hoyte - My Story
Here is something about me and my back ground. I have a huge interest in fashion and everything around fashion. I love fabric and designs. I love to put together looks and create new styles from current fashion. I love to compare fashion from past to present and create looks that may be to come in future. As a male I love to take ideas from the female fashion industry and create more looks and inspirations for male fashion due to there not being many looks that are inspired for men. I also love to compare and improve female fashion. I have a dream to be a major stylist for, shops, fashion shows, events and people looking for style improvements. I am known by my peers as the fashion advisor and they always come to me for advice on upcoming fashion and looks. I have a huge interest in dancing and singing as well as doing sign songs. I am fortunate enough to have experienced this as a profession.

When I was a teenager back in 1999 I always wanted to make it into the fashion world. I wanted to be a model and a fashion stylist. These were both my dreams which I would spend the day daydreaming about when I make it. I was often bullied and ridiculed growing up being different from those at school and was always told by people that being deaf would make me not succeed in my dreams. This would make me more determined to prove them wrong.

The problem I had trying to make it in the modelling industry was that I am profoundly Deaf and rely solely on lip reading for my communication and body language and although I speak like a hearing person It was a problem to the fashion industry. I was told that as a deaf person I would not be able to make it in the modelling industry and that I was wasting my time. I was told that because I was deaf I did not have a look that would be required and I would be laughed at. This really shattered my confidence. I always considered myself to be good looking and a great personality whom is easy to get along with which the traits were needed in modelling but because of my one thing of being Deaf I was outcast. I felt really discriminated against and thought to myself why should being Deaf effect my ability to model. I just could not understand it. Whilst I looked on at other models I thought it was all visual and that there was no need for my Disability to get in the way of my ability to do something.
There was a time I went to a casting and I tested them by taking my hearing aids out. Along I went to this casting in Covent Gardens for a male ethnic model for a commercial shoot. I passed through based on my appearance. I remember being so overjoyed by this because it was the first time I was accepted to do anything by a model casting however bad news came along. I went to the shoot and when they found out I was deaf I was told bluntly to go home and that I was no longer required because they did not have time communicate with me. I was so upset by this that I decided to give it all up believing that there was no way I could be a model.

In light of this I would like to state that I speak very well just like any person who is hearing does. My only disadvantage is that I cannot hear the same which is why I have to lip read when a person is speaking. On a plus side of being deaf I am very visual as a result because I go by body language and facial expressions which makes me at an advantage for taking instructions on shoots. I am also good with emotions because I have grown up relying on the visual look of these in order to communicate. I also use British Sign Language as my 2nd language and this is strongly using hands and body language and facial expressions.

During the time I gave up my interest in modelling I applied for a Deaf Talent show called Deaf Idol (this was a imitation of Pop Idol) but in sign language and doing signed songs. It was a very big thing within the Deaf community and Deaf Media and was broadcast on BBC's See Hear programme. I went on to win this show. I went performing all over the UK for various charity shows and deaf events as well performed for Bristol and Glastonbury festival. (I still do this freelance and it is a big passion of mine) I also spent the next four years working for RAD Legal Service at the Royal Association for deaf people. During this time my confidence grew again and I started to get my interest and passion back for making it in the fashion industry.


I was watching a programme on BBC Three called 'Britain's Missing Top Model' aimed at models with disabilities and it was a great eye opener as well as giving me my belief back that I could make it as a model and achieve my dream of working in the fashion industry. I got in touch with Models of Diversity who support and accept models of all shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds or disabilities and was inspired even more by the power and passion that the founder Angel Sinclair had. She made me believe in myself even more and joined them instantly wanting to give my all and learn along the way. Models of Diversity gave me the opportunity to have pictures done on a professional photo shoot enabling me to see the potential I have. I believe I can make it as a male model.

I am profoundly deaf and proud with it. I do not believe that this should alter my ability to be a model and I want to make it and I will make it.
Riccardo