77yo Grandma Quits Job To Pursue Passion Of Becoming Top Fashion Model in South Korea

This goes to show that age doesn’t hinder one’s ambition and dreams! 

According to Nextshark, a 77-year-old Korean, Choi Soon-Hwa, quit her normal job and successfully pursued her dream as a professional fashion model.

The amazing lady is now the oldest professional model in Korea and to say the least, she’s not slowing down anytime soon. Prior to this, Choi worked as a care worker for 20 hours a day in a hospital. Choi was quoted as saying,

“It was hard to even get myself lunch. The stress was excruciating – it was as if a volcano was about to erupt inside me.”

Before her modelling career took off, Choi was in debt and she used up all her money to pay off her mounting loans. However, she decided to seize the opportunity when she saw a TV commercial about senior models.

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어이쿠 제가 디자인만 했답니다~?? 제작은 전문가가~ – – @theshowproject_ma @sungkeun.p – – #더쇼프로젝트 #티에스피모델 #모델#패션모델 #광고모델 #일상 #패션 #최순화 #모델최순화 #photography #female #femalemodel #followforfollowback #시니어모델 #photo #일상 #photographer #촬영 #포토 #fashionmodel #koreanmodel

A post shared by 모델 최순화 (@soonhwa01) on Apr 30, 2019 at 8:49am PDT

Following that, she joined several modelling classes to learn the art and she was eventually signed by a modelling agency called The Show Project. Choi finally made her runaway debut with the same agency and since then, everyone in the fashion industry has fallen in love with her.

Designer, Kim Hee-jin, 32 said that Choi was hired for her Seoul Fashion Week show because of her eccentric looks. FYI, Kim normally makes young adult clothes.

Kim said,

“There is something very unique about Choi – she has a quality that is different from anyone else [in her generation], and I thought it goes well with the kind of originality that I strive to achieve when making clothes.”

Initially, Choi used to dye her hair because the patients at her hospital didn’t want someone “too old” to take care of them.

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A post shared by 모델 최순화 (@soonhwa01) on Nov 22, 2018 at 5:52pm PST

But, thankfully, she doesn’t have to colour her hair anymore because her grey hair has become part of her unique style and many designers like her natural hair. Good for her!

Having said that, life was never easy for Choi because she had to go through hardship before she attained success. After her husband left, she had to raise both of her children as a single parent whilst working a full-time job. She is truly a superwoman!

She finally said,

“During my years as a single parent of two kids, I would wear the same clothes for as long as 20 years.”

Thus, Choi said that it’s her time to live her life because her generation has been “forcing themselves to be too frugal” – unlike our generation who spend too much on unimportant things. If you didn’t know, South Korea has been very welcoming to seniors as social media influencers and fashion celebrities. Nice!

All in all, we are glad Choi has managed to pursue her passion and we hope she has a long career in modelling. All the best, Choi!

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