I am filming now on tape
Tyra Banks'
America's Next Top Model. One of the most popular tv shows in the US and in many other countries, looking for the next American model.
The selections started at the beginning of the year to end in November with a winner. Vogue Italia will be photographing the Top Model. All of the girls that were interviewed, mostly students, have a common dream: becoming a model.
This doesn't only happen in America. It happens everywhere, including Italy. The dream of becoming a model still exists. For young people it's like entering a magic world, where everybody will admire them and in which they will make a lot of money, and if all goes according to tradition marry a rock star.
I am in the jury of the tv show and I am surprised by how many girls show up. They are not all beautiful, but you have to at least be photogenic. It's true. But some of them are truly ugly!
Today, made exception few cases,
to become a model you don't need to be a traditional beauty, but you need to have a face that shows character and a slim body. It happens a lot that they ask me how with all the beautiful girls we have in Italy we end up choosing the ugliest ones! Sometimes a flew or a singularity makes you look more interesting than the faces we are used to.
A model's looks doesn't have rules, but personality and obviously need to be photogenic. This needs to be understood, to not be disappointed when you are trying to become a model. Even though parents and friends tell you you are more beautiful than models we see, it's not enough, it's an illusion. Only a professional, an agent or a photographer can tell you that after a casting.
It's a job that requires many qualities. Beauty is important, fundamental, but it's not the only rule. The ability to interpret a dress or to move in front of the camera, or on the catwalk for the designer, to understand one's flaws or strong points and to valorise them. Patience is another asset, waiting a long time in the halls of magazines, to stay put in winter with a temperature below zero wearing summer dresses while smiling and not getting sick, to get pampered, have your hair done and dyed whenever the designer or the photographer feels likes it.
Of course when you become famous, a celebrity, it's great, but the road is long and tiring. More than we think!
Franca Sozzani
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