Delusion will get most nowhere, but it’s gotten América González quite far. “You have to be delusional,” she says over the phone, fresh off the plane. “Like any other person I have my insecurities, but I’ve always been more stubborn than intimidated.” Growing up in Venezuela, she was, admittedly, a goth—one who planned on becoming a general practitioner until she was scouted on Instagram in 2019. 

“Like any other person, I have my insecurities, yet I have always been more stubborn than intimidated. Growing up I was the goth, emo kid—in so many ways, I still am—but fashion was this opportunity to give myself the range to just… be myself.” —América González

Convinced by her sister, she started posting more and adding high-traffic tags to her captions to attract agents. Three years later, she walked more runways than any other model in 2022 and has her eyes set on her next delusion-turned-reality: walking men’s fashion week. Of her new goals, Gonzalez doesn’t doubt the space she can take up: “I mean, I’m here, I’m queer, and I’m not going anywhere.”

This cover story appears in the pages of V144: now available for purchase!

Photography Inez & Vinoodh

Fashion Paul Sinclaire

Makeup Sam Visser (Art Partner)

Hair Jimmy Paul (Susan Price NYC)

Model América González (Supreme)

Manicure Deborah Lippmann (Home Agency)

Producer John Nadzi (VLM Productions)

Production manager Michael Gleeson (VLM Productions)

Lighting director Jodokus Driessen (VLM Studio)

Digital technician Marc Kroop (VLM Studio)

Photo assistant Joe Hume (VLM Studio)

Stylist assistants Coco Knudson, Timothy Cheng, Jesse Pickel

Makeup assistants Shimu Takanori, Micka Omura

Hair assistant LaMesha Mosley

Manicure assistants Bojir Hasanov, Joelle Rodriguez

Retouching StereoHorse

Location Pier 59 Studios