“Model Citizens Vote” Enlisted Top Fashion Influencers to Encourage Millennials to Vote

As the November congressional midterm election grows closer, dozens of fashion insiders have launched initiatives to encourage people to exercise their right to vote. This week, a group of fashion influencers added their own contribution to the movement by launching Model Citizens Vote, a fashion-themed social media voting campaign featuring over 40 popular influencers including, Chella Man, Barbie Ferreira, and Aaron Philip.

Model Citizens Vote was established by friends Cody Milestone and Devon Kelley, as a non-profit organization designed to help encourage millennial voters to flip Congress from Republican control to Democrat control in November. In July, Cody and Devon enlisted 40 of their fashion-influencer friends, who combined have 2 million Instagram followers, to shoot a promotional campaign at Spring Studios in New York City. Each of the fashion influencers were captured independently and as a group wearing custom-designed T-shirts reading, “Model Citizens Vote”, “Resist = Vote” and “Stop Trump’s Tour of Destruction.” The campaign was captured by fashion photographers Heather Hazzan and Marcus Cooper.

"My friends and I were talking about what we could do about it and we realized that we had power in our hands with our Instagram followers, and that harnessing that following could reach millions of young people to urge them to register and vote," Cody told i-D Magazine about the inspiration behind the campaign. "We don’t want to live in Donald Trump’s America, and if enough young people vote, we won’t have to." The organization also released two short videos to accompany the still image campaign. In the videos, influencers explained why the midterm election is important to them and the overall well-being of the nation.

According to the organization's press release, the goal of the fashion-themed campaign is to attract millennials to visit the Model Citizens Vote website to review important voting information like applying for an absentee ballot and finding local polling places. Visitors of the site can also donate $25 to the organization and receive a free tee shirt along with suggestions on how to post themselves wearing the shirt on Instagram, and join the movement.

Considering the rising rate of progressive millennial voters, organizations like Model Citizens Vote can help encourage this group of voters to show up to the polls beyond presidential elections.

Get the Teen Vogue Take. Sign up for the Teen Vogue weekly email.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: These DC-Area Teens Are Fighting to Lower the Voting Age to 16