Mona Tougaard

Tougaard was born in Aarhus, Denmark, to a half Turkish, half Danish father and a Somali-Ethiopian mother.^[10][11] She has two older siblings from her mother's previous marriage. Her mother died when she was 9.^[12] She was scouted at age 12, and won the Elite Model Look Denmark contest when she was 15.^[13] She was a finalist in the global competition.^[14]

Tougaard was discovered when she was 12 years old in Aarhus, Denmark and 3 years later she won the Elite Model Look in Denmark.^[15]

Tougaard debuted as a Prada exclusive in 2019. Between two seasons she opened for Loewe and Fendi, also walking for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Stella McCartney, Valentino, Miu Miu, Versace, Burberry, Dior, Victoria Beckham, Max Mara, Lanvin (which she closed), Salvatore Ferragamo, Alberta Ferretti, Givenchy, Dries Van Noten, Paco Rabanne, Chloé, and Saint Laurent among 40 shows.^[16] Later she appeared on the Prada and Miu Miu F/W 19 campaign.^{[citation needed]}

She has appeared in advertisements for Prada, Louis Vuitton, Loewe, Chanel, Max Mara, Chloé and Ports 1961.^[17] She appeared on the cover of i-D's Post Truth Truth issue with contributions by American model Adesuwa Aighewi.^[18]

For the F/W 2019 season, models.com deemed her a "top newcomer",^[19] with Vogue noticing, she "swept Paris Fashion Week, landing nearly all the city's key shows".^[20] She also ranked as the "Breakout Star" in models.com's "Model of the Year" Awards.^[21] Currently, she is one of the "Top 50" models on models.com.^[22]

She appeared on a cover for British Vogue's April 2021 issue and on the Italian Vogue in August 2021.^[23] Both she and Somali-American model Ugbad Abdi appear on the August 2022 cover of Vogue France.^[15]

In 2023 Tougaard appeared on the cover of the British and French Vogue.^[24] For the F/W 2023 season Tougaard walked 39 shows and booked advertising campaigns and for the S/S 24 season Tougaard walked 22 shows.^[11][25]