Commercial Modeling Versus High Fashion Modeling

[BetteT]

Here's the basic rule: It's not the magazines that determine whether or not it's "fashion modeling" ... it's what they are advertising. I they are advertising clothing of any type ... it's fashion. If they are advertising anything else ... it's commercial.

 

[Mariann]

Here's the basic rule: It's not the magazines that determine whether or not it's "fashion modeling" ... it's what they are advertising. I they are advertising clothing of any type ... it's fashion. If they are advertising anything else ... it's commercial.

Okay, thanks for your view. See, I thought that high fashion was about the photography, pose, and style, I thought high end products whether beauty, cosmetics, skin care, jewellery, clothing, etc could be classed as high fashion because of the way they are captured.

I thought commercial was more simpler, more about smiling, etc. I thought that it was another genre of modelling, sure high fashion models can do commercial and commercial models can do high fashion. I have heard successful models have an 80% HF and 20% commercial body of work. My idea of commercial was about the style of images.

What two people on here have said is that high fashion is about clothing and that cosmetics such as Dior and Channel are classed as commercial. How do you categorise models who shoot nudes, often they are artistic and can relate to high fashion especially if they are modelling a bag or bracelet?

Where do editorials come into this?

 

[BetteT]

I know that this is very confusing, and that is because there is no hard and fast rule and everyone has their own ideas about this. We speak in generalities ...

Here is what I've gleaned from talking to a lot of people about this very thing ... and as you can see ... there's a lot of overlap. And as you mentioned, models usually do both types of modeling, at least the most successful ones.

See, I thought that high fashion was about the photography, pose, and style, I thought high end products whether beauty, cosmetics, skin care, jewellery, clothing, etc could be classed as high fashion because of the way they are captured.

You are partially right. The way they are captured is the "style" of the shoot ... so any product may be shot in a commercial style or a high fashion style. But the shoot itself is either a fashion shoot or a commercial shoot, depending on the product. Just depends on what you are talking about.

I thought commercial was more simpler, more about smiling, etc. I thought that it was another genre of modelling,

That is the "commercial style" ... not the actual shoot.

How do you categorise models who shoot nudes, often they are artistic and can relate to high fashion especially if they are modelling a bag or bracelet?

The models may be either fashion or commercial models, depending on who they pick and the "style" of the ad. A bag or a bracelet is fashion ... artistic or not ... it's still a fashion shoot.

Where do editorials come into this?

Usually considered fashion editorials .. since most editorials are about clothes and/or accessories. However, if it's an editorial for something like a car or fitness magazine, that probably would be commercial .. a commercial editorial. A bit of a grey area .....

 

[happycanadian]

yeah - i think there are two things we're discussing here:

1) there's the actual, literal definition of "fashion modelling" and "commercial modelling". and that is as simple as whether it's fashion that's being modeled or whether it's something else. to be honest, i'm not certain where accessories fall into this. i would consider swimsuit and lingerie to be commercial shoots, as i would also consider for example an OMEGA watch campaign to be a commercial shoot. same with a Louis Vuitton luggage ad. but perhaps people in the industry consider accessories to fall under 'fashion'. i honestly am not sure.

2) then there is the definitions of "commercial" and "high-fashion" which relates specifically to the style of the shoot, as Bette had said. SO you can have a fashion editorial that is shot in a commercial style --- meaning the things that you had mentioned previously (more generic lighting, smiling models, approachable posing, etc). or a commercial shoot for a car or whatever that is shot by a high-fashion photographer with hyper-stylized lighting and a supermodel and so it would be in a high-fashion style, despite still being by definition a commercial shoot.

 

[happycanadian]

in terms of models specifically, when someone refers to a "commercial model" they're talking about someone who primarily advertises things that don't fall under the FASHION category. for example, Tyra Banks. the majority of her modelling work has come from swimsuit, lingerie and cosmetics campaigns -- thus she is a commercial supermodel. versus someone like Kristen McMenamy, who has done very little commercial work and is mostly featured in campaigns and editorials that are advertising clothes and typically at the most exclusive level in the industry -- thus making her a high-fashion supermodel.

the most successful models tend to have done a lot of both. Gisele is a great example, because in a single season she can be the face of fashion campaigns like Versace or Givenchy, whilst also landing commercial campaigns like Pantene ProV or American Express.