Prior to Sunday evening, 19-year-old Henry Samuel had only ever walked in one other fashion show. He already has his pregame soundtrack down, however: Before hitting the runway, he gets pumped up by listening to Rihanna and Future.

But since Samuel is also a guitarist like his father, the musician Seal, it’s possible something a little jazzier could pop up on shuffle. “When I’m playing guitar it’s usually rock or blues, but when I’m listening to music, it’s usually rap or Steely Dan,” Samuel told me by phone on Sunday afternoon. “I listen to a lot of Steely Dan.”

Naturally, Samuel’s mom, the supermodel Heidi Klum, also offered him her own catwalk wisdom. “She has different ways of getting in the zone and I have my different ways of getting in the zone,” Samuel said. “But her advice is just staying calm, being present, and being very motivated.”

Samuel and I chatted a few hours before the fledgling model made his stateside runway debut for the New York City streetwear giant Kith. That evening, the label staged its first show in six years on the city block outside of its recently renovated Manhattan flagship store on Lafayette Street. As nature would have it, a mid-August downpour drenched the streets of NoHo not 30 minutes before the outdoor show was set to begin. After much ado (including clear Kith-branded umbrellas being thoughtfully placed at every seat), the models—including rapper Jim Jones and New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson—hit the turf runway during a merciful break in the clouds.

When Samuel turned onto Lafayette Street in a light-wash denim set layered over a zippered track sweater, his mom and younger brother, 18-year-old Johan, cheered him on from the front row. After the show, Klum told me she thought he’d walked “like a pro.” It helps that Samuel, who signed with Next Management in July, had already walked his first runway earlier this year: He was the only male model featured in Lena Erziak’s spring haute couture show during Paris Fashion Week in January.

As a legendary catwalk veteran herself, Klum—whose 21-year-old daughter, Leni, is also a model—admits the whole experience has all been a bit surreal. “Henry here on the catwalk today, my youngest son moving into his college dorm. Things are changing,” she said. “It’s only his second show and he did so amazingly. It’s so fun to see your child having joy in what he’s doing.” (Later, on Instagram, Klum wrote: “So many beautiful Models on the @kith catwalk in New York tonight, but I only have eyes for you @henrygunthersamuel.”)

For Samuel, who lives in his hometown of Los Angeles, it’s both fun and stressful to have his family sitting in the front row. “I’m very lucky to have a family that can support me in that sense, but also it’s a little bit [nerve-racking], ’cause I’m kind of putting on the show for them, too,” he said.

Nonetheless, he’s been getting into the family business in more ways than one: He also loves to hang in the studio with his dad, where they play instruments and mess around on Ableton. “I love labbing out on production software with my dad,” he says. “My dad’s very into messing with guitar pedals, and I watch him for hours.” The teen picked up his first guitar a decade ago, around age 9 or 10, when he discovered Metallica and AC/DC, which may or may not have been because he’d first heard the latter’s music on the Iron Man 2 soundtrack.

And perhaps due to his mom’s longtime hosting gig of the fashion-design reality show Project Runway, he also loves sketching designs for clothes he hopes to someday produce with his brother Johan.

And like any true 19-year-old aspiring musician, he also just got his own DJ rig.