Showing posts with label modeling business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label modeling business. Show all posts

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Model Mishaps and Nightmare Castings


On the printed page modeling looks glamorous, filled with luxury products and fashion, gorgeous makeup and hair, and most people think the model was pampered into these looks and just had to show up and be beautiful, and then get paid.  The reality is, it takes so much to actually get to the point where a photo appears in a publication or a model walks down the runway.  Rather than just having a rant about the injustices and abuses in the modeling world, I wanted to share with you some of the cringe-worthy stories I have heard from my model friends over the years.  We laugh about these things now but they were anything but funny when they happened.

It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, right?  One model friend was working on set in Japan and had a large light fall on her head - ouch - and on another occasion had to work with a very nasty monkey that wanted nothing to do with her - yikes.  Another friend became sick with a high fever while on a shoot for a magazine in Algeria, but the shoot went on.  Only when the magazine came out did she see that in one shot she was standing bare foot in broken glass, in a shot she can’t remember even doing.  Noticing a trend here?  It can’t be overstated enough how important it is for models to have travel health insurance.  It is as important as your passport and ticket!  

A couple of my friends who worked with Armani had equal parts reverence for the famed fashion house and fear, both of the casting process and of the actual work.  Armani has it’s own showroom complete with runway which is lit from underneath.  Models of all shapes and descriptions on the casting were provided with a sheer bodysuit that they had to wear without anything more than a small g-string underneath, and walk the runway barefoot in front of the casting directors and often Armani himself, all of whom sat under lights at the end of the runway to conceal their expressions.  The models in the dressing room waited for their turns while trying to maintain their modesty, everyone looking down or away and feeling intensely awkward.  Let’s be clear that models are often down to their strings in front of stylists and dressers, but when they are actually being paid for a booking, and not just in front of a bunch of other models on a casting waiting to seal their fate with a barefoot, nearly naked walk down a runway in front of people you can’t even see. 

The casting wasn’t the only situation the brought fear to these models.  One had to wear shoes that were two sizes too large for her and naturally one shoe fell off while walking on the runway in front of a group of Japanese buyers – she smiled, picked up the shoe and continued her walk – what else could she do?  Armani himself came charging into the dressing room raging at her and the dressers and before the model could pack up to leave, her agency had been called and she was in hot water.  When it was realized that the model was only given shoes that were clearly not her size and forced to wear them even though it was impossible, she was reinstated.  Imagine the feeling walking into the salon the next time to work, receiving glaring looks from the dressers??  Nerves of steel!

Sometimes a model doesn’t even get to the set before a drama unfolds.  Nearly all my model friends have had a hair stylist who burned the tips of their ears or their neck with a hot curling or straightening iron, another had one hair stylist actually coat her hair with Vaseline to glue it down (she thought it was gel).  It is no easy feat to remove Vaseline from hair and it finally took repeat washings with a grease-cutting dish detergent to remove it from her hair.  Stylists who pinch, poke pins into a model, or mumble about her or him under their breath, or editors and art directors who talk about them thinking they are deaf and can’t hear them, are all hazards of the business and woe to the model who lets these things ruin the experience for her.  For every horror story there are lots of great experiences models can have working, traveling, and learning about the fashion, beauty and branding businesses. 


There are as many modeling mishaps as there are models and I will share more in the future.  On-set horror stories from the point of view of photographers, make-up artists, and stylists are just as numerous and I will share those too.

Next time you look at those glossy pages with those stunning unicorns in gorgeous fashion, consider that there might have been a nightmare casting before the model actually booked the job, a stylist who brought the wrong sizes, a hair stylist who had too much caffeine, a makeup artist who didn’t clean their brushes and had pink eye herself, and maybe even an editor who had a vision they couldn’t express and no one understood.  These images don’t come easy – they are just supposed to look like they did.

                                                               XOXO  Shelley


#modeling mishaps #nightmare castings #modeling business #getting into modeling #fashion business #modeling isn’t as easy as it looks #facethis.blogspot.com #Shelley Goodstein
 




Friday, May 19, 2017

Modeling Biz: What Makes an “It” Girl?

The parameters of what constitutes beauty are shifting, finally, opening the doors of the modeling industry to faces and body types that don’t fall into the typical looks that have traditionally populated the modeling agencies, runways, campaigns, and editorials for so long. While the definition of what makes a girl a beautiful model is changing and broadening, there is no denying that the models who rise to the top in a sea of long-legged women with squared off shoulders, high cheekbones, and wide-set eyes, have to possess something more, something that can only be described as “it”.  So what is “it”?


Ask industry pros and they will all tell you something different, be it a unique look that can be transformed while the model remains recognizable, a model with a great personality, personal style, drive and determination, or simply a “spark”.  Maybe it’s a combination of all of these, or even a model with a look that symbolizes where culture and fashion are that that moment in time. 


However it is defined, there is no denying that there is always some unique quality that makes one model special amongst thousands.  Naomi, Cindy, Claudia, Christy, and Linda, supermodels of the 80’s and 90’s, became so famous that the world refers to them to this day by their first names.  No two were alike or interchangeable, and all had “it” in spades. 


Kate Moss is perhaps the most famous model who embodied “it” as she broke nearly all the beauty standards of the early to mid-nineties with her boyish figure, her short stature (5’6”), wide-set doe eyes and freckles.  She was the antithesis of the Amazonian supermodels with womanly beauty and bodies.  Discovered at age fourteen by Sarah Dukakis of Storm Models UK in the JFK Airport, she must have stirred something in the agent’s gut that this girl would change the industry and turn it on it’s ear.  How else to explain her interest in a small, thin, girl barely in puberty?  Because, she had “it” and Dukakis felt it. No matter where the fashion industry was at that moment, Kate Moss changed it forever, ushering in the entirely new era of the waif, youthful sexuality, and a stripped back, uncontrived, raw beauty that endured until the arrival of the Brazilian bombshells of the late 90’s.


The best scouts and agents are always on the lookout for the next model possessing this elusive quality, knowing that they might, if they are lucky, find just one in their entire careers.  Many models have “promise” but rarely “it”. “It” cannot be cultivated, taught, or created.  “It” is often so out of the scope of traditional beauty standards that it triggers a gut feeling that there are models where to whom the beauty standards of the business do not apply.  But to think having “it” is a golden ticket to success would be a mistake.  Without the best agency that has the right industry connections, without a strong work ethic, without a great support network, without amazing timing, “it” doesn’t matter.  “It” takes a village to succeed.  Every single day in every corner of the world, scouts, agents and casting directors are on the hunt for that elusive girl that has “it”.  She is so rare that the chances of finding her are slim.  But when they find her it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. 

                                                             XOXO  Shelley 

#modeling business #what makes an “it” girl? #model scouting #what makes a supermodel? #getting into modeling #how to break into modeling #modeling 101 #facethis.blogspot.com #Shelley Goodstein





Thursday, July 14, 2016

Modeling HOW TO: Stand out and Get Noticed!


Most models will tell you stories of long castings stuck in corridors, looking around at a sea of clones all dressed in tight black clothes, wearing heels, and with their hair pulled back in a pony tail.  How is a model supposed to stand out and get noticed?  There is no golden ticket answer, but how you present yourself and the impression you leave can go a long way in increasing your odds of separating yourself from the pack and getting the booking.


For over a decade the modeling industry has seen an extremely limited range of models, which is the polar opposite of the “cult of personality” of the supermodel era.  Knowing how agents and clients perceive you is critical: do they consider you professional, mature, focused, committed?  Do they see you as a waif when you feel like a bombshell?  There can’t be a disconnect here or it will mean a much bigger struggle to achieving your dreams. 


There are golden rules to creating a great reputation as a model so pay attention: 


  • Always be professional:  Strive for a good relationship with your bookers and agents, since you must work as a team to build your career.  Always being professional, means being reliable, cheerful, a team player, on time, and never being a know-it-all.  If your agents and bookers know you are ambitious, focused, and a good listener, they are more likely to go above and beyond to help you achieve your dreams.  Ask them how you can build your brand to get more attention from editors and casting directors.  Be interested, and interesting!


  • Be original:  The old adage that you should always be yourself because no one can do it better than you is true, and no more so than in building a modeling career.  Don’t be a cookie-cutter model. No one can do you better than YOU!  And do yourself a favor and don’t look at all the other models in the model apartments or at castings and measure yourself against them.  Ever.  Everyone is building their own career, so concern yourself with yours.  That goes for fashioning your “look” on another model – it doesn’t work, and a copy is just a copy. 


  • Know your strengths and work them:  Whether it is high cheekbones, long legs, amazing eyebrows, a great body, a supermodel walk, a chameleon face, or a great personality, see it for the advantage that it is and work it.  Are you a good mover, or a power poser? Are you athletic or super feminine, androgynous or sexy?  Own it and make it work for you.


  • Be aware of your social media presence:  This is somewhere that you can have more control over your “model image” and show your strengths to their best advantage.  But be careful what you show – clients DO look at model’s social media accounts – it matters!  If you are athletic and can do cartwheels, here is your platform to show it off.  If you are a fun-loving model who likes to dance and giggle, make a little clip and post it to show you have a great personality.  Just remember – the industry is watching.

Be fearless:  Stay true to yourself because clients and agents notice a confident, focused model who is a pleasure to work with, who delivers, and is professional.  There are too many models with hang ups, insecurities, or a bad attitude, so don’t be that model – and you will stand out for being the opposite!  Be YOU!




#business of modeling #standing out  #know your strengths #how to succeed in modeling #be unique #be original #beyourself

Sunday, March 30, 2014

How to be a model: It should cost you NOTHING! FREE tips




I have been represented by some of the top modeling agencies in Miami, Chicago, and currently work with the prestigious Ford Agency and internationally with Silver Agency in Paris, and one thing I know for sure is that it should cost you NOTHING to break into the modeling business or to sign with an agency. Truly the only thing you need is a digital picture in great light, which is FREE assuming you at least know anyone with a smart phone.

The reason no-one will tell you this is because this is how people make money. Modeling conventions, modeling schools, workshops, conventions .... Don't get me wrong advice about what to do and how to look your best is all good, but the truth be told -most girls that get signed with an agency that have been "schooled" are told to forget about almost everything they learned.

Getting agency representation is the first step to becoming a model and any agency will tell you that they do not require their new models to show up with a professional portfolio on day one. In fact, if they sign you, most agencies will want you to work with a few particular photographers and groom your look to a specific market. Many girls I know spend a small fortune on sub-par photographs that the agency immediately takes out of their books. It is better to have 3 great, strong photos than 20 so-so photographs. One thing I have learned over the years is that a client will remember you by your best and your worst photo. You never want to let them see anything less than great! A first impression in this business is a lasting one.

Study the agency or company website you want to be represented by and find out what it is they require and give them exactly what they are asking for. This is not the time to try to be clever. Again, give them EXACTLY what they are asking for. 

Many agencies may also have an open call day or some may have online submission. Below is Ford Model's submission guidelines and you will notice that they specifically ask you NOT to submit professional photos, NOT to wear makeup and NOT to pose.




Agencies are looking for that "IT" factor. Yes you must be 5'9", you must be thin - but just as important is your personality, energy and spirit - they are looking for diversity, not a cookie cutter mold of measurements.

The most critical warning I can share with you is that you must prepare yourself for rejection. As a wanna be model, or working model, this goes with the job. I have not gotten jobs because I am both too tall or too short, because I have blue eyes or simply because they really wanted a blonde. Once I was booked for a job with a very dark black girl and the art director was upset that I looked so "fair" next to her and proceeded to direct the makeup artist to make me appear darker. We were already on location and the makeup artist only had some brown eye shadow with her so she proceeded to try to paint it on my face. It was humiliating. Rejection is a never ending part of the model experience so you must expect it and prepare to learn how to handle it. If one agency turns you down, try another. And never sign with an agency that wants to charge you money for classes or photos first.

There are many examples of famous models who were initially turned down for representation. Tyra Banks was rejected by many Los Angeles agencies before landing at Elite. Gisele Bundchen has reported that she was turned down by 42 agents before she was 17. Both of these women have appeared on countless magazine covers and runways around the world, earning them SUPER-model status.

People of all races, ages and backgrounds can become a model. Some make alot of money and others do it to have fun, but one thing is for sure - it shouldn't cost you a penny to try!! Check in with me here at A Model's Secrets for more advice on how to become a model and tips I have learned behind the scenes. Check out my post about How to MOVE like a model for a photo {HERE}

XO
Shelley