Late last year he was beaten up by six men after he tried to protect a female friend.
In January he had NHS surgery to put his cheekbone and eye socket back into place.
Weeks before the attack, he'd appeared in a fashion show and been approached by a modelling agency.
He told the BBC: "For the first three months the nerves in my face were so damaged any quick kind of movement felt like I'd got a bag of Lego bricks in my face all jumbling around - it was really painful."
But he suddenly received a text asking him to appear in a fashion show in Mayfair.
Richie's also a former Colchester United youth player, but now it looks like his future's on the catwalk.
