One Model's Story

[model_mom]

Febuary 14th Friday

Ali left early this morning to go for hair and makeup at her show. I took the train down to the World Trade Center site. When I came out of the subway there was just this hugh empty area of space. You knew something was suppose to be there but it was gone. I just stood there awhile and thought about what it must have been like that day. It was incredibly sad.
I left and picked up Ali something for Valentine's Day and took a box of candy by the agency. When I walked in Ali's agent wanted to know if Ali had thought anymore about going to Paris for the show castings...I told her no thanks, she's going home.

I went to Ali's show on the Pier at a hugh riding stable. It was all fixed up like a circus. There were tightrope walkers and trapeze artists and a clown walking around on stilts. The show started with beautiful ladies riding out on horses....no Ali...then a circus parade theme brought the rest of the models out. They walked around in a big circle around the arena. Ali was in the last group....they were the depressed group.. their heads were down and their feet were dragging. It was so cold but there was a large crowd attending the show. Everyone had on their coats and hats , so I know the models in the show were freezing.

Bad weather is coming and our flight was cancelled and rebooked for tomorrow. We have to stay overnight in Chicago on Saturday and catch a plane home on Sunday. The day after we left New York city recieved 25 inches of snow and all the airports were closed. We were so lucky we flew out when we did.

 

[model_mom]

Ali returned to NY at the end of Feb. for a Spur magazine shoot...we never saw the editorial.
In April she booked the Tommy Jeans Campaign with Matt Gubler, and a lot of other models. It was photographed by Terry Richardson and Ali had quite a story to tell from that one. Because of this campaign she was finally able to climb out of the hole financially,buy herself the pickup she had always wanted. She also was able to buy the horse and trailer she needed to barrel race.

Later that month she flew to Miami for a shoot for an editorial for Italian Elle.

In May of that year she flew to LA for an editorial for the same magazine.
This was also the month that she did the "Teen Vogue" shoot with Raymond Meier.

At the end of May after many battles with Ali's new faces agent at Ford,
Ali switched to Next and this is how that happened. Ali and i were walking down the street to a casting for Bruce Weber and two agents from Next approached us and ask if Ali was Ali Turner. She said yes and they wanted us to come talk to them. Ali said no thanks and we went on to the casting.....on the way back they were standing outside smoking and they stopped Ali again. One of them said,"Aw, come up stairs and talk to Faith. What would it hurt?" Ali said,"Mom what do you think?" by this time I was so fed up with what was going on at Ford,I said "Why not"?

We went upstairs and talked to an agent and Faith and she said she would like for Ali to switch to Next. Then she said,"Do you know that Ali is working tomorrow with some of our models for a shoot for ID Magazine? As usual we were clueless. Faith ask us to meet with her agents on Sunday for lunch to talk things over. Ali told her we would meet with them and we said thank you and left. I called the agency and sure enough Ali was working tomorrow for ID magazine.

 

[parisianchloe]

ill be so sad when you leave model mom, you have been so helpful. thankyou again for posting this story!

 

[nyc_art_style]

Is Ali still modelling?

 

[sethii]

this is her thread - needless to say it contains 'spoilers'

http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f52/ali-turner-1205.html

 

[Rochas]

Why did Ali end up going back to Ford modelmom?

 

[yourbestfriend]

That's inteesting. If I read correctly, the agents at Next told Ali she had a job for i-D before Ford even told you guys? hmmm

 

[model_mom]

We went to brunch on Sunday at the Tribeca Hotel with two of the agents from Next. They talked to Ali about what they felt they could do fo her career if she switched to their agency. By the time we were finished with our meal,Ali had pretty well made up her mind to do it. They told her to come into the agency on Monday to sign a contract. They also told us not to contact Ford, that a letter would be sent to let them know.

We were at breakfast on Monday and Ali turned her cell phone back on. She had missed nine calls from Ford. Ali had made friends with a main board agent from Ford named Charlotte and she did return her call. Charlotte told her that everyone was "just shocked"! We had been trying for months to get Ali on the main board and a new agent.
I had even met with Katie Ford to ask her to do just, that and she kept telling us she was taking care of it. Sometimes you get an agent that you just don't mesh with and that was one of the main reasons Ali wanted to switch to Next. Katie Ford even called my phone to say they were willing to offer Ali a major contract with a dollar figure and advance money. I ask her where was all this when Ali was with Ford,why are you offering it now? It was tempting to say yes but our minds were made up.

 

[model_mom]

Ali's short career with Next....

We met with The owners of the Next agency on Monday. They made up a comp card for Ali with the pictures from France and Ali signed her contact on Tuesday.

On Tuesday she was working for Bon Ton not a step up but at least it was a money job.

JUne 5th&6th She had a shoot with "Issue Magazine" with seven other girls (white tank tops and white cotton underpants) I don't know the magazine and I never saw the tears from this.

Monday June 9th Shoot for Umo Vogue with Bruce Weber in Van Courtland Park. A few girls and the whole rugby team. We never saw the magazine. Ali said it was a lot of fun...I bet!

June 11th...Ali was confirmed for the Glo Jeans campaign ($5000.) talking about money or what you make if you're working is a big no no but members are always asking about how much models are paid for this or that.

Ali wanted to go home for awhile so she booked out for the month of July and August and returned to New York for the show castings in September.

 

[model_mom]

To the agencies defense...Ali was never your typical model. She wanted things her way. When she wanted to work she worked but she was always wanting to go home and get away for awhile. It was said by her first agent that she was difficult to work with and that her attitude was anything but positive. You can't build a major career if your not willing to give it 100% and Ali was never willing to do that. But she did have her moments....

 

[BelleModèle]

Oh model mum, it will be sad to see you go. :[ Are you sure you don't want to stay? haha

Thank you again for posting this story, it's so interesting to see the real side to the modelling industry. It's so honest and refreshing.

 

[maraschin0]

Ooh this is so interesting!! Thanks for posting model_mom, it's really nice to read about Ali's experiences

 

[model_mom]

In September of 2003 we were back in NY.We always stayed at this cute little hotel right by chinatown called the Pioneer of Soho. They gave us a discount rate and the rooms were clean. It wasn't fancy but it worked for us. The owners told us it was the site of the original Tammeny Hall building.

September 5th and 6th Ali worked as a fit model for Kenneth Cole and she was booked for his show. her agent called to see if she would go to Milan and Ali told him if she made enough money during the shows she would think about it.

Sept.8th and 9th.. Ali had a shoot at Diane Von Furstenbergs for Womens Wear Daily. We ran into Gerren and Heather Marks at the castings today. (15 castings today) 16 castings on Tuesday the 9th.

Sept. 10th for some reason Ford and Next wanted Ali's hair lightened. We spent a lot of money keeping it that way. A big part of the day was spent at the hairdressers and for a fitting at Kenneth Cole. Douglas Hannant booked Ali again too. Ali went to see Ralph Lauren again today. He told her all about his ranch and his horses and ask Ali what kind of horse she had.

Sept 11th- There was a large parade tonight as a Sept 11th memorial. Down by the site there were two beams of light shining up in the sky. Hundreds of people joined the parade as it headed down to the memorial. We went up on the roof of the hotel to see the towers of light. I don't think we will ever forget how moving it was.

Ali did the hair and makeup test for Kenneth Cole today....$1000.00 a day for each day she worked.

Friday September 11th...the Kenneth Cole show
After all the time we spent in NY,this is the show I will always remember. Ali looked like a million bucks. She had three looks and it was amazing to watch her.
They did a write up about her on Models.com Some of the other models in the show were Dewi, jacquetta,Liya K.,Liliana,Isabeli,Anouk,Elise,and Frankie. Ali always loved the movie "the Horse Whisperers' and sitting on the front row was Robert Redford and Scarlette Johansson. That was all Ali could talk about after the show.

I really believe this was one of the last big seasons for the glamour or beauty look. The Bug- Alien look was moving in and if you review a lot of the shows that season you will see what I mean.





Sept 9th

 

[model_mom]

September 13th....fitting for the Douglas Hannant show and a show tonight for Venexianna. Someone stole some items out of our room tonight while we were away. We think it was the maintenance man because he is the only one with a matching key. Thank goodness the manager is going to replace what we lost.

Sept 14th....Ali woke up with "pink eye"! They use the same makeup brushes at the shows and you can almost bet that is where she picked it up. We had to find a clinic and get some drops before it spread to the other eye. Ali has the Douglas show tomorrow. What are we going to do?? I called Ali's agent and he said to go anyway.

 

[model_mom]

Sept. 15th Monday

I went with Ali to see what they thought about her doing the show with her eye the way it was. Patrick (Douglas'friend) talk to us . I told him Ali had 'pink eye'. He said,"What's that"? but didn't seem to worried about it when we told him and told her to go get ready.
I picked up passes for Amy and I and went back to the hotel.

Douglas' theme that year included all blondes and was called "Blonde Ambition". By then Ali's hair was as blonde as it could be so she fit right in with Hana,Dewi,Eve,Linda V.etc. She had three looks for the show. A green halter gown,a little lilac suit with a cropped jacket and skirt and a long white jersey gown. In the goody bag was a blonde haircolor kit. Amy and I got a good laugh out of that one.

Ali has a fitting for the Vivienne Tam show....I think this must be a last minute thing, because the show is tomorrow night at 9:00pm.

 

[model_mom]

Sept. 16th Tuesday
Amy and I went to Ali's show tonight in the tents at Bryant Park. Hana opened and closed the show. Ali just had one look but she looked gorgeous. I almost didn't recognize her when she came out. It always amazes me how they can take my little country girl Ali, and transform her into this beautiful creature. I noticed that the young girl named Heather that we had met at some of our castings was in the show too. As we were leaving we saw the designer and Ali had her picture taken with her.

Ali had a few other smaller shows the rest of the week but didn't book any of the 'big shows'. She met with an agent from Paris at the Next office and her agent talked to her about Milan. I don't know what was said but my guess is she told them she wasn't going.
She's wanting to go home and they want her to stay for another week. Our flight leaves on Sunday so she needs to decide by then.

 

[model_mom]

Ali stayed in NY at the model apartment and I flew home on Sunday. She booked a job for Addias for $2000.00 and did a shoot for YM and 'S' magazine. She flew to Dallas for a shoot for Dillards (2,500.00) and flew home in Oct to stay for awhile. She told Joel that she didn't want to come back to NY and wanted to be booked for money jobs. He talked to her about sending her to Miami in January. He was always very nice to Ali and I know he probably was sick of her not making up her mind about what she wanted to do, but he never lost patient with her and they parted on good terms.

The reason Ali switched back top Ford.....

One person....Charlotte.
She called Ali in November and ask her to please come back to Ford. I'm not sure what she said to Ali but whatever it was Ali wanted to switch back. Charlotte had a good friend that worked at Next and she must have got wind of what was going on with Ali.
When Ali was at Ford before, Charlotte told us she was from Missouri too. In fact she lives about 2 hours away from us and she always took the time out to talk to Ali when she was in the agency. We had ask several times if she could be Ali's agent but it didn't happen. Evidently Charlotte told Ali that if she came back that she would work really hard for Ali because she believed she had great potential. Ali still had money on the books at Ford that we had never seen and had been charged a $600.00 for an apartment that we had never stayed in. She promised to take care of all this for Ali and that sealed the deal.

* Someone told us quite a bit later that agents are paid to a commision to scalp 'hot models' from other agencies. I always wondered if this was the case with Ali....but since she was not very "hot" by that time,I always wondered about this.

That aside...Ali did trust Charlotte and that was something she hadn't done in a long time.

 

[model_mom]

To Charlotte's credit she did everything she could to help Ali's career along but Ali kept disappointing her time after time. She had the patience of a saint but a year later she finally gave up and I don't blame her. Ali just didn't have it in her to live the kind of lifestyle it takes to make it big in modeling. She wanted it her way and unfortunately that's not the way it works.

Ali returned to NY in January of 2004

She did a Bill Blass show the first part of January and a did a 10 page editorial for Russian Elle. Ali booked a shoot for Liz Claibourn for $2000.00 on the 13th and flew to LA for a shoot for Spur. She's never been paid much for editorial work but for some reason this job paid $3000.00! She's doing the shows in February again.

Feb. 2nd Ali did a shoot this morning for Cole Hahn. (one hour...$3000.00) The pictures from this shoot made the cover and an inside editorial for Women's Wear Daily.

Our friend Douglas booked Ali for his show again this season. Ali just thinks he's the greatest. Charlotte took us out to dinner tonight and told Ali she needs to change her image. She wants her to dress and act the part of a model. (UH Oh!) She told Ali she was going to be "BIG" if she learns to act the part. We love her to death and Ali told her she would do her best.

 

[nyc_art_style]

thanks model_mom!

 

[model_mom]

Wed. Feb 4th
Ali woke up this morning throwing up all over the place. I ask her if she wanted me to call and cancel the day's castings but she said no. She doesn't look so good and it looks like she's lost weight since she came to NY. She went on her castings (18) and i went to Saint Patricks Cathedral to think about some things.
Ali booked another show today Matthew Earnest and she's on hold for good ole Ralph again....what is it with that casting director? It's like she keeps holding this golden ticket in front of Ali each season and then just ripping it up right when Ali thinks it's a done deal.

She went to see the people who book the Kenneth Cole show and they ask her where was the healthy happy young lady they saw last year??? They told her she needed to go home that this rat race wasn't the place for her.

Charlotte called Ali when she got in and was totally pissed she screamed at Ali about the Ralph casting and ask her what the hell did she have on for the casting. I took the phone away from her and hung up...by this time Ali was crying.