Whether you live in America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain which includes Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, or if you stay in Europe, be it Italy, France or another European country, or if you are from any corner of the globe, the model world and the work which is carried out is often most accessible if you live or can travel easily too the larger cities, often the capital of countries throughout the planet are most popular with the fashion industry movement.
This information i hope you will find useful if you would like a career in modeling, it's an eye opener.
The television modelling program Top Model is not the only way to start the ball rolling for a career in modelling, there are other directions which are available, such as using a modelling agency, or maybe several agencies, as these can give, and in actual fact are, an important insight into just what is needed, if in fact you are wishing to have the experience, of being a model in whatever capacity, be it facial, hair or a beauty model and of course if your wish is to become a catwalk runway model, for the clothes designers worldwide show collections, which travel the world showing the talent and expertise of the top fashion designers, showcasing their latest clothing collections, during perhaps one of the numerous Fashion Week's, held around the world, the four most famous known are New York, London, Milan and Paris, which fashion designers attend to showcase their creativity.
The Fashion Week shows are held twice a year in a variety of locations throughout the world, the most usual are the city named places i wrote about earlier.
Also not forgetting the commercial aspects of certain model's and cover magazine photo shoots or advert campaigns for various products throughout the globe for various brands and companies, which many of the worlds supermodels have been linked to, some have been greatly assisted by the brand in their own rise to fame in the model world. The model's that are in a competition or agency have the chance to experience first hand all that the job of a modelling career has to offer and exactly what is needed from them, the model, to attain the status of each modelling aspect for specific modelling jobs, editorial or commercial. A help to see and understand if you have a future career prospect and if your expectations are achievable and if the specific is for you.
Being a model is like any other job – you have to bring the right skills and attitude to it. Without that, you are doomed to failure. Among the things that help make for a successful career:
- 1. Self Discipline. You have to be able to get to go-sees, shoots, jobs, meetings and appointments, in good condition and able to perform. If you can’t do that, people will find out very fast, they talk to each other and they remember.
2. Commitment. Modeling requires sacrifice of time, resources, effort and giving up other things you could be doing that you may enjoy. You can’t just hang out and wait to do jobs when called – you have to spend a lot of effort and perhaps significant money preparing yourself for work as a model.
3. Ability to get along with others. Models have to work with photographers, art directors, clients, makeup artists, agency staff and other models. All of these people and others influence which jobs you get and don’t get. Any of them may be able to keep you from getting work, even if you are the person with the best “look” for the job. And all of them talk to each other. If you are abrasive, obnoxious, rude or just someone they don’t like to work with – you won’t get much work. In the long run, people tend to hire people that they like to work with, and you are trying to get hired all the time.
4. Self Confidence. No matter what you really think or feel inside, you must show that you are confident in your ability to be what the client needs you to be. Self doubts need to get left at the door of the go-see or studio.
5. Teamwork. Modeling can be a lot of fun (as well as a lot of hard work). You may find that you are the center of attention, people fluttering around you all day, the object of constant praise, and made up to look like something you only hoped you could be. At times like that it is very difficult to remember that this isn’t about you. It’s about what the client needs, and you are there to be just that. If you look the best you have ever looked, and that isn’t what the client wants, you have failed. As a model you are playing a role, and you need to be what the role calls for, not what you want to be.
Your “look” is not nearly as important as location and attitude.
Are you surprised that looks aren’t at the top of the list?
Is your “look” important in getting you work? Of course it is. In fact, when you show up at that go-see with your book, it’s the single most important thing that will determine success or failure at that moment. You have to look like what the client wants to hire.
But that just means that once you have the other things that are needed for success, “looks” is the tiebreaker. It’s the other things that really count. If you didn’t live where you needed to so you could show up at the go-see, it wouldn’t matter what you looked like. If you didn’t have the commitment to invest the time and money in pictures, comps, a decent wardrobe and self-presentation skills, it wouldn’t matter what you looked like. And if you didn’t have the discipline to get a good night’s sleep the night before, get up early, prepare yourself and arrive on time, it wouldn’t matter what you looked like. In all of those cases you would be disqualified from competing long before a client ever saw you.
Now, given that, what do you need to look like? Well, in the fashion world that’s pretty well understood. Tall, very thin, beautiful (maybe not pretty, but beautiful) and you have a shot. But “commercial models” generally have a different look. Clients and agencies usually want what is referred to as “generic good looks” by type of appearance: soccer moms, executives, doctors or whatever fits the role that the client is casting for in that ad campaign.
A good commercial model is a commodity: able to fit any number of roles – because that is what the client is buying: a person to fill a role. Actors can be excellent commercial models because they can easily take on the “look and feel” of the person that is to be portrayed.
Commercial models don’t have to be “beautiful” – and many of them aren’t, although they tend to be more than just “good looking”. A commercial agency always wants to have some “traditional models” (meaning young, very attractive women) in their group because that tends to attract the attention of clients to an agency. But it is the others – children, older men and women and “character” models, in all ethnic categories – who do a large percentage of commercial modeling work.
Barring a miracle you need to be 6 feet (for men) or for women 5’10” tall, give or take an inch to be a fashion model. But commercial models are the majority of models in this country, and they can be a much wider variety of heights and shapes. We have found that female “petites” of 5’6” and above generally find ready acceptance in the marketplace. A few very exceptional women of 5’4” and above can get work, but it is much harder. Male models can be as short as 5'9" in some markets, but taller is strongly preferred. Those shorter than that can work only very rarely in the commercial market, except for Asian models, who can be much shorter.
For the most part, models need to be thin. There are exceptions. "Plus models" are fashion models who meet the normal criteria for fashion models in all ways but one: they are dress size 10 to 18 or so, and they have a toned, proportionate body with about ten inches difference between waist and hips. In addition, in some cities there is work for heavier models (up through plus and XL sizes) as Fit models, but this is a very limited, technical specialty. Fit models can also be shorter than normal fashion model requirements. Commercial models can also be heavier than the "slim" normal. For older models (40+) an extra 10-20 pounds or so is generally acceptable. At all ages there is also some limited work available for "overweight" models, who tend to be more "character" types.
Location is the single most important thing needed to be successful as a model. You need to be where the jobs are! as with many jobs, supply and demand. Location location location.
It’s possible (remotely possible, not likely) that you may be flown to a job at client expense some day. It happens. But it only happens after you have been selected for the job – and that takes place where the client and the market are. For "fly to" jobs, that is almost always a major market city like New York or Los Angeles.Here’s how it typically works:
Clients call agencies and tell them what their requirements are for upcoming jobs. The agency matches those requirements against the people in their files, and selects the models they think are likely to be chosen for the job. The comp cards or portfolios for those people are sent to the client, who then selects the models that he actually wants to see – and those people then go on a “go-see” or “casting”. Sometimes the first part of this process is omitted, and agencies simply have their models “go see” the client. There can be as few as one and as many as hundreds of models at these go-sees, and usually a considerable majority of them sent out by their agencies won’t be selected for the job. This is a competitive business, with lots of competitors and, at any given moment, few winners.
You don’t get paid to go to castings, go-sees or auditions, so a great deal of a model’s time is spent on things like go-sees that don’t actually make them any money. And nobody pays your expenses to get to these things, either. That may be OK for someone that lives in the area and can afford to take time off from whatever else they do for an hour or two. But it is simply impossible for someone who lives in Ohio, Texas or even Maryland to commute to these things hoping that they will get a job. The economics don’t work.
If you are going to be in the commercial or fashion modeling business you have to live within a reasonable commuting distance of the marketplace. We generally advise no more than 50-60 miles away, and even that makes pursuing a modeling career very difficult.
If you want to stay home, and home is more than 100 or so miles from where the work is, an agency can’t do much for you.
Editorial modelling is where model's or indeed a model is used in photographic picture photo shoots to promote fashion usually in fashion related magazines, the model's in such photo-shoots are usually picked for their individual characteristics, which may be needed to display and put forward the edge which is required by the fashion product being photographed, which is then being promoted by the photographer and the model in the photographers shoot. Some would say editorial model's are more high fashion and edgy and possibly more akin to a runway or catwalk. Article written in fashion (Vogue) magazine, together with the photograph attracting attention is a type of editorial work.
If she or he is a model and you know her or his name or you recognize her or his face, she or he is an "editorial fashion model." Seems simple enough, but it isn't.
"Editorial fashion models" work in New York City, London, Milan, Paris and other mostly major cities throughout the worlds countries for the simple reason that very, very little editorial fashion work is booked out of anywhere else. There are exceptions, of course: Miami in winter (but often using New York models), and sometimes Los Angeles or Chicago, but these are just that: exceptions. If you want to be a fashion model, you go to New York. There are lots of opportunities as well (Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo . . .), .
For women, if you want to be seen on the cover of a national fashion magazine, to sign a lucrative national ad contract, to become a "supermodel", or even to be a "fashion model", you need the following when you start:
- 1. Be between 15-19 years old.
2. Be between 5'9" and 6' tall.
3. Be thin. Really, really thin. Something like 105-115 pounds, except for Plus models, who can be dress sizes 10-20 or so, depending on the market.
4. Don't have especially large breasts (34C is generally the upper bound of acceptable), lots of stretch marks, tattoos, piercings or highly tanned skin. Dark skin is fine, lots of tan is not fine.
5. Be beautiful. Not necessarily pretty, but beautiful. An interesting, beautiful face is at least as good for a fashion model as is an "all American" look.
6. Have the right personality for it: a strong commitment to modeling (not just an interest in it), an ability to take rejection (something most beautiful girls aren't good at), a thick skin, not a lot of modesty (nobody cares what you don't want someone to see, we have a fashion show to put on . . .) and a lot of self confidence.
7. Be willing to relocate to a major market, with New York City, London, Milan and Paris, strongly preferred.
8. Be willing to travel to strange locations with no friends there to support you, little money, little help, lots of opportunity for both good and bad things to happen to you.
Requirements for men are a little less stringentand have been changing in recent years. Depending on the market city, men need to be 5'11" (6' strongly preferred) to 6'2" (in some cities, 6'3") tall. The traditional male model is slim: size 40 jacket, 30-32 waist. However, in the last few years there has been a strong movement in Europe, now reflected in the major American markets, for much slimmer men. While in smaller cities, the traditional male model can still be successful, in New York especially, jacket sizes of 36 to 38 are now generally preferred by many agencies, with waists proportionately smaller as well. Men can be older to start. Age 18-25 is fine.
Editorial fashion jobs are booked almost exclusively through "editorial fashion agencies" - and those hardly exist outside New York in America at least.
Commercial modelling is where model's or indeed a model is used in photographic picture photo shoots to promote products to a more general audience and would maybe therefore be pictured on an advert banner, or banners or even billboards these commercial adverts and commercial model's are used for their open appeal, on a broad spectrum to be accepted by the people, who would then be attracted to buy certain products being advertised, which the promotion is trying to capture, a certain type of character audience. Some would say commercial model's are more friendly looking and beauty related. Catalogue photographs are a type of commercial work.
Most agency models are "commercial" models - meaning that they appear on local or national print ads or television shows, in catalogues, work in local fashion shows and trade shows and similar kinds of work. They don't get huge fees (although pay can be very good indeed), national recognition or lucrative national ad contracts, but they are the backbone of the modeling industry.
Editorial models also work as commercial models, although the reverse is rarely true. In smaller market cities in the US, most agencies concentrate on "fashion print" or "commercial fashion" models, who tend to be tall, slim and beautiful in a more mainstream way. This is "commercial fashion", a subset of commercial modeling.
Very, very few commercial models make a living at it. It is not a career, it is something they do on an occasional basis while they do something else "full time". Outside of the major markets (New York, Chicago, maybe Miami and Los Angeles) it is doubtful that there is any city in America in which more than a dozen people make a good living at modeling, but in virtually all cities and substantial towns there are many, usually hundreds, who are in the modeling market, and who occasionally find work. In other places like London which is the major market place setting in the United Kingdom which is Great Britain although other cities in the Uk are available to support model work it is the main city of the country that provides the work for the industry. This is true in most countries for example, in Europe the other main places where work through modelling arises is Milan in Italy and also Paris in France and of course there are other places which support the industry but the ones i have mentioned are the most important prevalent capitals of the counrty.
The requirements for being a commercial model are very different from being an editorial model. It certainly helps if you look a lot like a fashion model, but there is work available in most markets for many other types. Models can be older, shorter, heavier and need not be pretty or beautiful - "interesting" often will get work, and “generic good looks” is the most common look required. Commercial models are asked to play roles in pictures: “young mom”, “active retiree”, “Doctor”, “executive”, and they look like idealized versions of these roles. In most of the markets we have surveyed the hardest demand for an agent to fill is for middle-aged men!
Things that help a commercial model are acting ability, an outgoing personality, easy availability for jobs, and good self-presentation skills.
The great majority of commercial jobs are booked through agencies, except for those that are given to friends or members of the client's family.
Maslow's or Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Motivational Model, diagram above.
There is a hierarchy - a food chain - in the modeling industry. We won't deal with staff like stylists, but in the chain you will find yourself in, it works like this: Clients rule the world. Advertising agencies speak for them - they generally determine who will be used in any campaign, although they may delegate some of that choice to a photographer. And from a photographer's perspective in the commercial world, the ad agencies (or in-house equivalent in the corporate world) are who they have to sell themselves to.
On a shoot, there may be a client rep or ad agency rep present - an art director, for instance. If so, they call a lot of the shots. Photographers have a fair amount of freedom in many commercial shoots, but ultimately their work is commissioned by the agency, and they do listen. And on that same shoot, the one person who takes direction from everybody is the model. (S)he is at the bottom of the food chain. She doesn't hire anybody, she doesn't give anybody directions, she doesn't determine the creative direction of the shoot. That is the responsibility of the art director or the photographer.
A model is a commodity. There are lots of them out there, and it is a competitive world. The ones that get hired are the ones that, first, have the look required to do the job, and second that other players higher in the food chain like to work with.
Models who want to argue, or even tell people that they are doing something wrong, are simply not wanted. You can be right. You can exercise your right to speak. You can be unemployed.
If you want to be part of the decision process, become an art director or photographer. Not a model.
We don't mean to imply that a model is not part of the creative process (we can hear the models screaming now) - but as the collaborative junior partner, whose job it is to be helpful and creative when asked, and otherwise to be quiet.
What we have just described is the reality of the world you commercial models say you want to enter. There are lots of individual photographers out there doing their own thing that these rules apply to much more loosely. And even for them, the rule applies. If you want to be hired (in any field, not just modeling) be someone that your employer wants to work with.
Of course there are many different models and forms of modelling work that makes up the industry of modelling as a career choice, and many avenues need to be explored, and some may be just touched upon briefly, where as others, are, or have, an individual appeal toward certain people. It is such a vast field to explore and if you are interested in becoming a model, then you must research thoroughly the possibilities which are available, and also beware, or rather be aware, that some modelling opportunities may infact lesson the chances, or increase the chance, you may have in this profession, if you so choose the path of the model career, there are important decisions to make, so much care should be taken when venturing into new situations.
Much as many jobs and careers require, a model must have belief, believe in themselves and be able to take criticism and act positively. There are many attributes which are required of you if you are to achieve a certain goal or goals in the melly of life. The possibilities may seem endless in key roles of ambitious career moves, and people must possess qualities which make positive impact within vital areas of employment so that not only themselves reap reward, but those around them affected in any way, also benifit from the positivity. The only way is up, yeah baby ! Be successful ... success.
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