One Model's Story

[BetteT]

OH ..Oh...Oh! Tell us some more, please!

[model_mom]

This time the journal is mine...my memory is not the best, so I write everything down.

Ford New York called in December and they want Ali to come to New York for show castings in January.

Ali's Dad hit the roof... my first thought was that you have got to be kidding, and Ali was running around the house calling all her friends telling them she was going to New York. The debate went on at our house for a week before Dennis caved in....he never had a chance with Ali and her sisters ganging up on him. I was running around trying to figure out how I was going to get a break from teaching without losing my job.

I sat Ali down and told her that I wanted to make sure her attitude was going to be different than it was when we were in Paris. She has everything going for her but without a postive outlook people would see right through her. She was so excited about going,I believed every word she said.....

[model_mom]

Jan.5th 2003...

I am determined to save money this time so I booked a room at the Chelsea hostel...if you are gasping right now then you magnify that times ten when I saw the place. Ali will be moving in the model apartment tomorrow but this is it for tonight. There was one bathroom to share for the floor and it wasn't long before we found out that we weren't the only live things in the room....bugs. It was late, when we arrived,we had no place else to go so we slept with our clothes on sitting up with the lights on. I read somewhere that bugs like the dark.

[model_mom]

We were up as soon as it was daylight outside. I went downstairs to talk to a clerk that was locked up behind a glass window....not a good sign, I had paid for two weeks but I ask for my money back and after a few minutes of me talking rather loudly about the bugs,he handed it over. The highlight of the morning was the fact that they have Krispy Kreme doughnuts here!

It's snowing, so we took a cab down to the Ford apartment and moved Ali in. It's really nice with a large central room with a long table. There's a spiral staircase that leads to a living room in the loft. Two bedrooms and a bath are upstairs and there is a small bedroom with bunk beds downstairs. Ali has the bottom bunk because she doesn't want to bang her head on the ceiling. There is another large bedroom and bath next to her room and we peeked inside. It looks like Ali's room at home,clothes are everywhere and the beds are a mess. Something tells me we are in the right place. There is a housemother that lives here too but she has her own room. we looked in the fridge and all the food that was in there (very little) was labeled with each models name. We left Ali's things there and went to meet Ali's agents at Ford.

[model_mom]

We decided to walk and it isn't long before we are walking in the wrong direction. I ask a nice young man where Houston(as in Texas) was and he said,"Oh, you mean Houston and he pointed us in the right direction. The agency is on Greene street ( it has since moved uptown). Ali was a little nervous but everyone was so nice and made her feel so welcome. ( I am going to refrain from using names except for a really special lady named Charlotte who later became Ali's agent when she was moved to the main board) We met the new faces agent, she talked to us about Ford's plans for Ali while she was in NY. She told us that Fashion Week runs from Feb.6th through the 14th and they would like Ali to try out for the shows. Today she had go sees at Teen Vogue, Vogue and Cosmo Girl. She also met with a women that was casting for a Levi's commercial. Ali said the woman ask her if she could ride a horse.

[model_mom]

We went to a little store on the corner and bought Ali some groceries to take back to the apartment. It's very windy and it snowed all day. Our umbrellas turned inside out so we threw them away. We stopped by Ford and picked up Ali's castings for tomorrow. Her agent told her that she was getting a positive response from the clients. I have a cell phone this trip so we called everyone back home to tell them the good news. One of her clients today told her she had a Calvin Klein look...I hope she knows what she is talking about. I left Ali at the apartment,(the other models weren't back yet) and went to stay at the Howard Johnsons down the street. I have to find a cheaper place to stay tomorrow. I am so tired, I just realized I ate a whole box of Luden's cherry cough drops.

[model_mom]

I met Ali at the apartment today,she was still in her PJs wondering what to wear when she answered the door. I know... don't ask. All she wears at home are blue jeans, tee shirts and her boots so the change in wardrobe is leaving her a little stressed. Her new friends were laughing their a** off but they had her fixed up in no time. Their names are Asta and Anica. Asta won the supermodel of the world contest in 2001, she was from Lithuania and Anica is from California. She is currently on a large billboard in Times Square advertising Target.

What a crazy day. Ali and I have never been so cold in our lives. The temperature reads a minus 2 degrees and all we have on is our light weight jackets we bought from home. we walked to the agency to get some polaroids taken by someone from Teen Vogue. She had 12 go sees today but we only made it to 10. She stayed in the office at Vogue a long time and tried on clothes at Calvin Klein. We met up with another model from Ford name Camilla. She is from Brazil and she is so funny. We were talking about how cold we were and Ali kept saying she was freezing. We went into McDonalds for lunch and Camilla walked up to one of her friends and said,"I am freezer". We laughed so hard they almost threw us out. We called the agency before Ali went back to the apartment with Camilla. Her agent told Ali she has "OPTIONS"!!!

[god_save_hedi]

this is by all means the most interesting thread here!
i love reading the story, keep it up, model_mom!

[blueberry_night]

thanks for the story!!!!!!!!!! *subscribe*
*going to Ali Turner thread*

[model_mom]

sidenote *Because it is so cold.... I spend a lot of time in lobbies while Ali is at her castings and go sees. I like to people watch but I also got into looking at the ceilings. We go into many older buildings and some of the architecture is amazing. I thought about bringing my camera with me and recording all the ceilings for a coffee table book but I have second thoughts when I see how many security guards are watching me watching the ceilings and wondering why I am hanging around.

[smartarse]

edit - *off topic*



** loved the journal! loved your experiences! your journey was indeed adventurous. Tyra was spot on when she showed Heather K. [cycle-9] getting lost in Shanghai. I pictured you and Ali doing the same...

with all due respect, thank you for sharing, model_mom

[model_mom]

That being said....I am getting ready to go to California to see my grandson Max. He's 9 months old and really handsome.....maybe I need to talk to the Gerber people....no just kidding, his mom( my middle daughter Sarah) would kill me.
I haven't seen him since February so I can't wait! I promise I will be back to post the rest of our NY adventures soon.

[Paws]

Thank you model_mom

I look forward to many more posts from you.

[cold_sun]

Have a lovely time in California, cant wait to her the rest of your story

[parisianchloe]

cant wait for more posts! Have fun in california. Its great to have such a real insight into the foundations of a models career. Your daughter is amazingly beautiful, as im sure youve known since the day she was born!