So You Want to Become a Model? (PLEASE READ POST #1 BEFORE POSTING)

[evenodd]

Im not 100% sure if this has already been asked, but if it has please feel free to delete the post.

Is there a point of trying to start up modeling after 21?

 

[BetteT]

Not so much for fashion modeling ... because it takes a few years to develop a good portfolio and your skills and it's pretty much over at about 25.

There are exceptions, of course ... but statistically it's too old.

Commercial modeling is another thing ... doing ads and commercials for anything other than fashion ... like cars, detergent, insurance, etc. Commercial models can be any age, since they must look like average person .. depending on what the client needs to depict. Well ... they are never just average... commercial models are still better looking and more photogenic than an average person, but they must be able to come off as average, as we'd all like to be.

 

[cologne_rocks]

Yes, to sign an contract with a motheragent at the age of 21 can be a hard job, but if you consider 2yrs development etc it could become impossible for you to sign with a NYC based agency. I know there are expetions like Iris Strubegger who started out at the age of 25, but all in all not such a good situation for fashion models. Even if you're signed abroad, it is not possible to build up a market for you.

 

[evenodd]

Ah thats very true. Thanks guys

 

[Surfbunny]

^it's still possible to work (successfully) as a fashion model, but most likely not in the major markets, i.e. New York, Paris, Milan.
If you have a commercial look, I would go for that. Much better m$ney.

 

[kelsea]

so two years of development is pretty normal?
i always wondered why very young girls (jac, for example) have been able to start so young, when there are all these beautiful girls her age that could easily do what she did. why do the agencies hold them back? is it better to start later?

 

[fritmayo]

so two years of development is pretty normal?
i always wondered why very young girls (jac, for example) have been able to start so young, when there are all these beautiful girls her age that could easily do what she did. why do the agencies hold them back? is it better to start later?

Studies, maturity, readiness to stay far from familly, skin problems... there are plenly of reasons which can make the progress of the girls around 15-17 years old more or less complicated.

 

[cologne_rocks]

so two years of development is pretty normal?
i always wondered why very young girls (jac, for example) have been able to start so young, when there are all these beautiful girls her age that could easily do what she did. why do the agencies hold them back? is it better to start later?

It's actually always different. There are girls like the Kenny sisters who walk for Prada and Burberry two months after starting out and there are girls like Iris Strubegger who need 5 years until they finally go aboard and do big things.

Problem nowadays is that agencies tend to avoid very young girls or girls who cannot model fulltime since they're still going to school.
School is CAREER KILLER NO 1. How many "school girls" have we seen who did exclusives for Calvin Klein or Prada etc and show never up again?
When you do those big things you have to turn fulltime, the earlier the better. Customers, Casting Directors (from Magazines), Photographers etc notice that you were in that show, they want to book/see you, and they don't want to be twice told "No sorry, xxxx is in school, she's not available".
If they're twice told that you're not available due to school, they don't want to hear from you again, and if you show up the very next season at the castings for fashion week and they hear you're still not modelling fulltime and see the same pictures in your book that they've already seen the season before, then they consider this "lack of new work" as "lack of improvement" and do not book you. You're only new in your first, and being "new" is always a good reason to be booked. But in your second season you're not new anymore. You're "out" when there didn't happen something like a development process in the meantime
This is always the same, and only in a very few cases (such as Jac and Garrn) it's different.

What happened to all these girls telling that it's "so easy to do modelling and school at the same time?" Hanna Rundlöf, Franziska Drude, Naty C, Auguste A.... This list could go on forever, but the possibility that you fail in this business because of "not beeing available due to school" is very high. I'm not an agent, but i know some girls from first hand who failed this way.

 

[kelsea]

thank you so much!
you answered the next question i was going to ask too...and wow, you proved an amazing point about school, so true.

 

[Fontenrose]

so two years of development is pretty normal?
i always wondered why very young girls (jac, for example) have been able to start so young, when there are all these beautiful girls her age that could easily do what she did. why do the agencies hold them back? is it better to start later?

Starting young is a big risk, for the girl and for the agency. Starting at 12 (like Jac) is very problematic because the body is still changing a lot at that age. A girl could start a one year career.

Starting at 15 puts a girl's education at huge risk for the last two years of high school (if she has success she is expected to jump in full-time).

Starting after high school the girl is usually already fighting to stay slender, since the industry wants her to look like she did as a tall 12-year old. However at least then she is a bit less subject to what other people around her say, and a bit stronger about rejection. The only problem is that she is competing with the actual 12-15 year olds (who will have the same issues in a couple of years, unless they have a rare physique).

Development time can be very compressed if an agency is really pushing a girl.

 

[cold_sun]

wow, so many good comments in this thread, you're all very helpfull !

my question would be, how decisive is the agency for a girl's career ?
i mean among the good ones, say next, supreme, frod + nymm, is there an actual 'difference' between them ? they all have their 'stars' so doesnt it rather depend on the model herself ?

 

[fritmayo]

my question would be, how decisive is the agency for a girl's career ?
i mean among the good ones, say next, supreme, frod + nymm, is there an actual 'difference' between them ? they all have their 'stars' so doesnt it rather depend on the model herself ?

it of course mainly depends by the model herself, and...obviously of the client feedback that agencies can not always feel right (if it would be possible it would be an easy business...)
if on forums not knowing all details it is obviously more easy to blame the agencies, fact is that if u take new faces arriving in an agency like IMG, they actually have exactly the same management, the same tests, meeting with the same important clients...

if clients say no...it is very quickly over, and a change of agency will usually dont help much. If client say yes, but that the girl wants to go to school instead, it is not agency fault, if the girl needs to loose 2 centimeters but that in 6 months she makes no effort to loose it, it is not agency's fault too....

 

[kelsea]

it would be interesting to know which models (if any) sent pictures out the old-fashioned way and were rejected by the majority of the ny agencies, and then one took them on and they became a huge hit.

 

[cologne_rocks]

Lindsay Wixson

 

[kelsea]

wasn't that because of steven meisel though?

 

[fritmayo]

it would be interesting to know which models (if any) sent pictures out the old-fashioned way and were rejected by the majority of the ny agencies, and then one took them on and they became a huge hit.

it is not just for the girls who apply by themselves.
u might be very very surprise that it happens like that for a big proportion of girls. Even in girls i know directly who has or who work on top, they were never wanted by "all" agencies, and for some of them to find just 1 good agency was not that quick.
of course just after few good jobs, there is suddenly big interest from agencies, but when the girl has zero experience and still stuff to improve to look at her best, even the the scouting team of the biggest agencies has big miss almost every month...

 

[kelsea]

i see.
this is somewhat encouraging

 

[Fontenrose]

LAtimes interview with Lauren Hutton (she's promoting a movie) mentions her modeling ethics.

latimes

...
In various ways, your career has been about marketing as a model and as a businesswoman. Has your approach to marketing evolved over the years?

It evolved in the beginning. I'm the only model I know of who refused to do cigarettes, even though I was a user. Virginia Slims wanted me to be their first model because I was a big deal, and I refused to do it.

How come?

I'm a user, but I'm not a pusher. Those are two different things. And it was very easy to see that this was aimed at young girls. I might as well be a kingpin in Mexico. The biggest drug- lords in the world were the tobacco people.

One of the scariest things was the first Vogue collection I had. This was the mid- to late '60s, and I got to go to Paris for the first time with [photographer Irving] Penn to do the collections for Vogue. They asked me to do a leopard-skin coat. And I remember my heart going up and down to my feet, and I realized I couldn't possibly put that on. Even if I hadn't already been to Africa two times I knew what a leopard was and how rare they were. I said to [editor] Polly [Mellen], "I can't do this." And she sort of puffed up.

First Polly told Penn. And I'm cowering back there. Actually I was starting to get some of my stuff together, because I figured I was going to be on my way back to New York. Because you don't say no to them, especially when it's your first collection and you're a little beginning model. And Penn said, "That makes sense. I won't shoot no matter who you put it on."

So anything I wouldn't do myself or use myself as a model, even when I was a little young model, I wouldn't do.

The only thing I've done that I wasn't proud of doing was Slim Fast. But I did lose 10 pounds with it. I had gotten up to 140, which is huge for someone who spent all their life at 116. But you can only do it as a crash diet.

At any rate, it's definitely out of hand. I often think it's like open season on the American public at all times. Shoot the U.S. consumer any way you can. . . . I think the world's on fire. I haven't slept in 10 years.

I wanted to ask you about posing for Big. How did that come about?

You mean why did I do nudes? I had never really done it. All your career you get asked by Playboy and by this and that, so I never did any of that stuff. I had young sisters, and I didn't think it was good for them in school to have a nude sister. I didn't want people looking at me going down the street and making me more of a mark than I already was.

But then by the time I was 61, I thought it would be good then because I was in good shape, and I wanted to show them what a 61-year-old looked like. Without fake this and sucked out that. All you have to do is just take care of yourself.

What kind of response did you get?

My goddaughters liked it. I guess I got a good response. Big was a strange magazine. It must be sold in Europe. It only comes out four times a year, and the whole issue will be on one subject. Like Brancusi or San Francisco.

...

 

[lawbstar]

I feel like I'm about to ask the dumbest questions ever. but anyways,

Is there any point to applying to an agency that isn't in your vicinity? I would love to sign with a good agency in NY or LA but I live in San Francisco.

Also, what is the outlook for models with large boobs? ***Edited*** I feel like most models I see are flat chested or A-B cup and frequently go braless.
Thanks

 

[GlowGirl]

hopefully this isn't a silly question, but I was wondering...if I wanted to get into modelling but concentrate on lingerie or swimsuit modelling, how would I go about that? I'm not interested in high fashion modelling, but I guess I was just wondering if it would then fall under the "commercial" category. if so, would I go to agencies and simply tell them thats what im interested in? could I still go to open calls?