ZULEYHA KURU top and BODE skirt. Photographed by Harold Julian for the April 2026 Issue of Vogue Philippines
Born in the Philippines and raised in Hawaii, Vogue Open Casting finalist Charissa Bigornia has spent years preparing for this moment. Now stepping into her first Vogue Philippines’ photoshoot, the model shares how faith, motherhood, and perseverance shaped her journey.
In 2023, following the success of Vogue China’s Open Casting, whose winner Fanfan has since walked for brands including Prada, Simone Rocha, and Burberry, American Vogue duplicated the concept for a new generation through Vogue Open Casting. For its initial launch, Anna Wintour, chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, had said, “It’s going to be exciting to see how the Open Casting feature on our Vogue app will give access to so many more people, and that’s the beauty of modeling now; it’s a celebration of individuality. I’m looking forward to meeting the next generation of faces who will define today.”
For Charissa Bigornia, the opportunity arrived surprisingly while scrolling through Instagram. “I saw it as an ad,” she recalls via our Google Meet interview from her home in Oahu, Hawaii. “I remember they did a casting a couple of years ago, and I was so inspired by the girls walking, but I wasn’t ready back then.” This time, the moment felt different. She had been building a portfolio and returning to modeling with renewed focus, though hesitation lingered. “I sat with it for a while,” she says. “I felt a pull to it, but I was also thinking, ‘Maybe it’s not for me.’” By a twist of fate, she noticed the deadline had been extended. “I thought I had missed it,” she says. “When I saw they added seven more days, I thought, ‘Maybe that’s a sign.’” Submitting her entry required some improvisation: digital photographs, an introduction video, and a questionnaire. “Being a mom, I had to schedule time to shoot the clips,” she explains.
“In the end, I filmed them at a mall against one of those blank walls because it’s actually hard to find a white wall sometimes.” While her father’s family is from Ilocos Sur and her mother’s is from Manila, Bigornia moved to Hawaii at just 11 months old. Growing up between these two nations, she understands her life as shaped by the experience of belonging to two archipelagos. “Being Filipino raised in Hawaii means always thinking about others,” she says. “Hospitality is just ingrained in us.” She remembers spending hours dressing up with her best friend in her mother’s closet, assembling extravagant outfits from whatever they could find. “We were always dressing the craziest,” she recalls. “Feathers, heels, sunglasses, everything.”
Her upbringing followed an unconventional educational path. Bigornia was homeschooled for much of her childhood before later attending both private and public schools. “I was always outside,” she says of those early years, growing up near the ocean and spending time hiking and exploring the island landscape. When she later entered school classrooms, she remembers being more observant than outspoken. “People always thought I was shy,” she says.
Her first love in life was ballet. “As soon as I could walk and talk, I told my mom I wanted to be a ballerina,” she says. “That was my life. There was no plan B.” For 12 years, the centuries-old art form shaped her routine, instilling poise, discipline, and a natural understanding of movement. When a knee injury eventually ended her training, modeling emerged as an unexpected continuation of that same language of expression. “It’s like dancing,” she says. “It’s still movement and expression.”
Even so, Bigornia approached the fashion industry cautiously. She first began modeling at 17 during a visit to the Philippines, but returned home determined to complete her studies. After graduating, she attended Hawaii Pacific University, where she studied music and business through a program that combined arts and marketing. Music occupied her attention at the time. “I did voice lessons, and I was in choir,” she says. “That was really my passion.”
When the pandemic interrupted her studies, Bigornia moved to Arizona and began working for an airline. The job came with flight benefits, which she quickly turned into an opportunity to pursue modeling more seriously. “My dream was modelling,” she says. “I would use the flight benefits to fly everywhere and go to castings and do jobs.” Back at university, she worked part-time at Victoria’s Secret, where she developed an eye for styling and discovered how clothing can transform someone’s confidence. “Seeing someone come in uncomfortable and leave feeling amazing was really fulfilling,” she says. The shop floor even became an informal runway practice space. “People would ask me why I was wearing four-inch heels,” she says, laughing. “And I’d say, ‘I’m practicing.’”
She didn’t know if modeling would become a career, but she believed preparation mattered. “I always thought I was preparing for something,” she says. Less than a year before entering the contest, she gave birth to her son Asa, an experience that reevaluated her determination and the future she hopes to build.
This ambition crystallized when Bigornia stepped onto the set of her first Vogue Philippines shoot. What she encountered was a collaborative environment where everyone shared the same sense of duty. “Everybody there had been working in their professions for such a long time,” she recalls. “It felt like this collective moment where everyone was thinking, ‘this is our day when our dream comes true.’” For Bigornia, modeling carries a deeper meaning beyond the image itself. “When I’m modelling,” she says, “it’s like letting someone see a part of your soul.”
The shoot took place across several locations in Hawaii, including a cliff overlooking the ocean, a jungle stream near a waterfall, and a beach close to her home. At one point, she found herself hiking down a steep trail in full glam. “I was literally in full haute couture hiking down a mountain,” she laughs. The wardrobe featured a global range of designers, from Chanel to Zimmermann and Temperley London, alongside Asian designers like Shushu/Tong, and Vaishali, selected by the styling team.
Her son Asa and her mother visited the set during the beach shoot, a moment that became the highlight of the day. For her, the visit reflected the balance she is learning to hold. Modeling may be the dream she has pursued for years, but motherhood remains the center of her world, and the two are not at odds. “People sometimes think motherhood stops your dreams,” she says. “But for me, it’s the opposite. It’s made me want to chase them even more.”
By LAWRENCE ALBA. Photographs by HAROLD JULIAN. Styling by KYLE KAGAMIDA. Beauty Editor JOYCE OREÑA. Videographer: Vincent Bercasio. Makeup: Kecia Littman. Hair: Steve Elias. Talent Agency: Taylor Golda at TNG.
