How Much Can an AVERAGE Model Expect to Get Paid? (PLEASE READ POST #1 BEFORE POSTING)

[SwanDiamondRose]

editorial doesn't pay well. it's for you to use to build your book. a good book of editorial work gets you commercial work. but still within editorial work, pay varies widely from model to model. models are asked to not talk to eachother about what they are getting on the same shoot sometimes. shows pay well in my experience. you need to be with an agency that values you, so they get you the money that gets them the $.

 

[á la Balenciaga]

You think???? Here's one for you....

Get up at 5:30 am and drive for 3 hours to the middle of nowhere. You get there and go through makeup and styling,climb a cliff about 20 feet up,spend two hours doing this shot,then climb down and change because for the next shot you're going to walk off into a lake and freeze your a** off....another couple hours for this shot then clean up and change into a new outfit so that you can climb up a hugh tree and spend some time hanging onto it to get the right shot....climb down,change and head off into a hugh field of waving grass...where you have to stop every 15 minutes or so to have someone pick the tics off of you.....end of day 9:00 pm.....then you have another three and a half hour drive back from the boonies on some back country roads till you get back to civilization.

The paycheck for this editorial shoot...$150.00 for the day...no gas,food or hotel money.

Who's fault is this???? The agency.....the client or the model who can't say..."thanks but no thanks?"

i'd be a pissed off b*tch if they handed me a check for $150 after I did all that!

Modeling isn't very glamorous. You sacrifice a lot!

 

[model_mom]

editorial doesn't pay well. it's for you to use to build your book. a good book of editorial work gets you commercial work. but still within editorial work, pay varies widely from model to model. models are asked to not talk to eachother about what they are getting on the same shoot sometimes. shows pay well in my experience. you need to be with an agency that values you, so they get you the money that gets them the $.

We found out very early on about the editorial rate and about the fact that the tears from the shoot are used to build your book.......


the kicker on this one was the lack of travel and lodging expenses.

 

[affinity]

wow, i never thought that models were paid so little. you always see models dressed so well, i imagined they were making quite a living but i suppose they wear what they're gifted with in place of their pay. it's a bit of a trade-off, i suppose, nice designer pieces over money to spend.

 

[Elise1986]

wow, i never thought that models were paid so little. you always see models dressed so well, i imagined they were making quite a living but i suppose they wear what they're gifted with in place of their pay. it's a bit of a trade-off, i suppose, nice designer pieces over money to spend.

yeah, but most of the time you get to see the models who already made it in the business. and they wear the expensive stuff. pics of others arent't that frequent. i guess people forget that there are lots and lots of aspiring models out there that have to sacrifice in order to become successful.

 

[model_mom]

Bravo!....to that post. Most of the time you hear about all the glitz and glam....but the numbers are in the thousand of girls who have tried to make it in this business and never even get a whiff of what it feels like to be a successful model. (one with extra money in the bank)

 

[Elise1986]

thanks

imo the model business can be compared to the music industry or the film industry. there are very few that are able to succeed and a lot of them just try. and those who succeed earn lots and lots of money.

regarding the models ... most of the highly paid and highly successful models have been discovered by an agent and then been promoted by a photographer or designer. at this point their careers kicked off.
like Lagerfeld once said: you don't choose modelling, modelling chooses you!

 

[LOVEITALL]

Elise1986 & model mom are right on.... look at the development boards of agencies.... they come, try, work, may not work, some get lucky, some don't.... new faces come and go. Gotta give a try though - it's a chance to make it big! REALLY BIG!

 

[Elise1986]

Elise1986 & model mom are right on.... look at the development boards of agencies.... they come, try, work, may not work, some get lucky, some don't.... new faces come and go. Gotta give a try though - it's a chance to make it big! REALLY BIG!

exactly
imo it's important not to focus only on a modelling career, but to also finish school and have a main pillar to rely on, if it doesn't work in the modelling business otherwise they have nothing, no good education and no modelling career. for those who make it, it sure is a huge opportunity to meet the right people and make money.

 

[agee]

What is a rough estimate / range of how much a new model or up and coming model*, gets paid for the following type of work?

Mass market catalogs like Newport News or MetroStyle:

Luxury catalogs like Neiman Marcus, Saks, Holt Renfrew or Bloomingdales:

Hip Catalogs like J. Crew, H&M or Mango:

Newspaper ads like Macy's, Kohl's or Target:

Event campaigns like Guess, Gap or Abercrombie & Fitch:

Event catalogs like J. Crew and Victoria Secret Catalog (not the big names

I know that my categorization may not be perfect, fell free to adapt / modify my list. Thanks.
-----------------

*For the sake of clarity, let's say a model that has not cracked the Top 20 on the Models.com list, note she does not have to be ranked at all

 

[BetteT]

In the US ... most catolog jobs for main stream retailers in the major fashion cities (NY, LA, Miami, Chicago) pay about 150 an hour ... or about $1,000 to $1500 a day (up to 10 hours). It also depends on your experience ... your agent will negotiate your rate on these gigs. And smaller markets pay a lot less.

And you agent will take about 20% of that off the top as comission ... and bill the company an additonal 20% too.

 

[CharlottefromCA]

Exactly! The face has to be flawless, perfectly symetrical, her skin must be smooth and with tiny pores, her bone structure defined, in addtion to being beautiful in the traditional way. And then she must have a certain broad spectrum appeal to almost every person on the planet. Very few women have this look ... it's extremely rare. Most models just don't have the "face" ... especially runway models, who usually have a more edgy look.

For cosmetics ..

I never really understood this.. because you have these perfect girls (Toni, Daria, Hilary..) and then they pop up in the magazine and they are airbrushed to death... sometimes almost unrecognizable.

 

[khyrk]

Natasha in an interview 2 years ago said she is paid 3000-10,000 euros for a runway show. You can only imagine how much her fees have gone up since then. She also mentioned she was paid 200,000 euros for a single campaign so maybe that was for the Gucci Fragrance contract for the entire year.

 

[BetteT]

Beauty and frangrance campaigns pay the most, other ad campaigns less but still very good money, with runway and editorial paying the least in most cases. That explains the big difference. Of course ... if you ever reach top model status ... it goes way up from there because the agency can negotiate a better price for a "famous" face.

 

[LOVEITALL]

Even working as a "test" model for a big fragrance/cosmetic campaign can pay upwards of $2,000 a day. Showroom work for big designers pay that amount too. Catalog work is boring but pays the rent! You're right about runway and editorial - it doesn't pay but the exposure is priceless. There are jobs that work in trade too, look books and fit models often work in trade.

 

[Gabriel29]

Does anyone have any idea how much Victoria's Secret pays their non-contract models to walk in their shows every year?

 

[Miss-V]

how does a model get more than one agency? lets say the agency shes with is small-how does she get sent to another country to get another agency etc??

 

[juanpyx]

Do models get paid more for have the cover of a magazine and a editorial inside, or is the same thing that they had only the editorial?

 

[BetteT]

how does a model get more than one agency? lets say the agency shes with is small-how does she get sent to another country to get another agency etc??

This thread is about how much money models make.

To learn about agencies and how models get marketed by them ... ask here: So You Want to Be a Model? (Part #2). Read post #1 before posting. There is a part #1 to this thread, (link to it is in post#1). If you go to part #1, and search the thread for the keyword "mother" (as in "mother agency) " you will probably find your answer already there.

 

[Miss-V]

thank you!