French model Ysham Jackson balances high-fashion symmetry with a memorable face. A birthmark on his right cheek works as a calling card, embraced by photographers and casting directors who favor unretouched individuality.

He walked Alexander McQueen’s fall 2012 show in his first full season and spent the next several years working across European luxury and downtown New York, from Givenchy and Dries Van Noten to Hood by Air. He fronted Hilfiger Denim for spring 2015 and shot the Faces editorial for GQ Style Germany the same year.

The cultural footprint came from a different direction. Frank Ocean folded Jackson into the Blonded universe, first in the Biking visual in 2017 and later on the photo T-shirts Ocean released through his own store. For a generation of listeners who came to Frank Ocean through Blonde, his face became part of the iconography surrounding the album, now a decade old and still the last full record Ocean has released.

The runway placed Jackson in front of European luxury casting directors; Frank Ocean placed him inside one of the defining albums of the 2010s.