How Wisdom Kaye Went From TikTok to Balmain

Before the runway shows and the Met Gala, Wisdom Kaye was a mechanical engineering student filming outfits on the bumper of a 2005 Toyota Corolla because he couldn't afford a tripod.

From Houston to Playing It Safe

Born in Nigeria, Wisdom moved to Houston, Texas when he was just 4 years old. In high school he fell for fashion, studying icons like Hedi Slimane, but when it came time to pick a major, he played it safe and enrolled in mechanical engineering at Texas State University.

A Corolla Bumper and a TikTok Vogue Challenge

Then in January 2020, with a little push, he started posting his outfits on TikTok. His outfits weren't designer. He was thrifting and hunting vintage, building a one-of-one look on almost no money, and filming it all with his phone propped on a car bumper. His TikTok Vogue Challenge videos, rapid-fire compilations of creative outfits, exploded, and by mid-2020 he'd already crossed 2 million followers.

From Viral Videos to Balmain's Runway

The industry came calling within months. IMG Models signed him, and by late 2021 he'd made his runway debut at Balmain's Spring/Summer 2022 show during Paris Fashion Week, walking in a black-and-white ensemble accented by futuristic sunglasses.

The Met Gala and TIME100 Creators

By 2024, he arrived at the Met Gala in custom Robert Wun. Today he has over 13.8 million TikTok followers and builds campaigns for some of the biggest names in fashion. In 2025, he made TIME's inaugural TIME100 Creators list, all from an eye for pieces most people walked right past.

Wisdom built a legendary wardrobe on thrifted and vintage finds, before any of it was designer. Crawli searches every major secondhand marketplace at once, so the piece you're hunting for is one search away.