10 things you should know before becoming a model.

My family thinks that modeling isn't a real job. My friends think that one day I'll be super rich and famous because of being a model. My agent thinks that I could lose extra kilograms and I think that soon I will be too old to be even a part-time model. Working in the fashion industry is a life goal for some people. All they see are pretty faces on front covers of magazines and glamorous campaigns. Modeling is fun - trust me, but it's also a hard, full-time job which sometimes just wears you off. It's a love-hate relationship, check out this site to see that we really all want to quit, but at the same time no other job can give us what modeling can.  Here are 10 things you should know before you get yourself into modeling!

1. Models don't earn as much as you think.
Paychecks look great, but you have to remember that 20% of your salary is for your mother agency and 50% is for the agency that represents you in the specific country. In the end, you also have extra expenses so there is a chance that you'll get maximum 15% of what you actually earned. Also - most of us work in Asia which, moneywise, isn't a dream destination, but neither is Europe.


2. Working hours are super-flexible.
Sometimes you get your dream job and you work only 4 hours and the next day you stay awake from 5 am till 3 am next day. There are no rules when it comes to working hours.


3. Glamorous is the last word which I would use to describe it. 
Changing in a back of a van or laying in the mud is not a definition of glamorous. And that's what we do sometimes. Standing on the edge of the swimming pool and hoping you won't fall down the hill behind it? Now even that doesn't sound extreme to me.


4. After a few years, you'll know how to survive everywhere.
China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Spain, Kuala Lumpur, Korea? Thanks to modeling all of those countries and even more will become a home from home for you.

5. Most of us are healthy.
Not all of models snort cocaine and smoke crack. We like to party, but if one survived more than two years in this then it's a sign that this person is a responsible human being. There are a lot of temptations in modeling world but it's enough to know how to say "no" to some things. People who achieved something in modeling are healthy, they exercise and take care of their body.


6. Fashion weeks are sometimes our worst nightmares.
Too small shoes, uncomfortable dresses which are too long to walk in, short breaks, early call times and late shows. All of that to get your dream job for a top designer.

7. Relationships are hard. 
Being a model taught me that being in a relationship is sometimes impossible because you are on the move all the time. Also - during your first contracts you'll miss your family a lot.

8. Reputation is very important. 
Not only more people will want to work with you but you'll get paid better if your reputation is good. Models who choose to party before shootings, fashion shows or even castings don't get much out of it. Just treat people (and your body) with respect.

9. Makeup and high heels after work are your enemies, not friends. 
You don't want to have anything on your face after getting rid of 100 layers of makeup and surely your feet don't want to walk in high heels after those 10 hours you've spent jumping in too small shoes higher than your paycheck.

10. Quitting modeling will be the hardest thing you'll ever do. 
Your time to shine may be over when you'll be 25, 30 but it can come when you are 17 as well. Taking a year off was incredibly hard for me and it still is, but sometimes it's better for you to take a break or quit. It's not a thing you can do forever and although it's great and teaches you a lot about other cultures and you get to see amazing places and meet great people - there's the time when you should grow up and settle down.


Some useful sites for (not only) new faces:
- Models Agents Managers Association 
- KModels
- ModelManagement
- Models.com

What does the limelight blot out?

 

All of us know the pretty faces from the covers of the magazines. Their beautiful eyes, perfect skin, wide smile, skinny posture. Getting to the world of modelling seems to be one of the most desirable things among youth. But after one becomes acquainted to this specific “dream” occupation it turns out not to be a bed of roses. 

                 

Most of people starting a modelling career are just kids, waiting for years to pass faster, to grow taller, trying to be more and more skinny, not sleeping the nights trying to imagine how great feeling it is to look at yourself at the cover of the magazine. Been there, done that.  After all the sweet things seen in the television, read in the magazines or on some websites I was full of excitement going on my first modelling contract to Bangkok. And then, all of a sudden, my whole world perception collapsed. They said it was normal, ordinary, that it is me who came out of the blue with some fossil outlooks about my peers.

               

 

            Being used to thinking that drugs are bad and people drinking alcohol everyday are those under serious problem and should receive special treatment I was treated as if I was a freak. It was acceptable, moreover, entirely normal if someone was getting not drunk – wasted, every single day. Doing drugs also wasn’t seen as a bad thing. The most important things was to be as skinny as possible. They could do anything to keep the perfect size zero. Being on a diet, or even not eating at all just to please the bookers, to get more jobs and to finally hear that you did good job, and that you are worth something. After hours of working everyday going to the club to earn some extra money, because pocket money wasn’t enough for food, everything was being spend on public transport. Trying to smile when you have a bad day, jumping in too small shoes and behaving as if everything was just fine after hearing all those mean words thrown in your face by clients. Bearing the pressure and all of the mentioned above just to earn maybe not even 100 dollars for three months. 

                What is the saddest thing about people who decide to earn for a living being a model? They are inconceivably smart, but they had no chance to find full employment in their countries for various reasons. All of them needed money.  One of my model-friends is a lawyer, another one needed to earn money to pay the tuition fee in order to finish her psychology university. Being dragged in the modelling industry it is hard to get out of this rat race. Every single disadvantage seems to be repaid in the moment when you see yourself on the cover of the magazine. It can bring a smile to your face but it will never make you forget what you have been through. 

              

                   Models are the most independent, lonely, stranded, but still emotional and helpful people I have ever met. Although people decide to leave modelling behind  - it have a huge impact on who they become. From a kid living in a fool’s paradise they change into an independent, strong person who can put up with everything and deal with the biggest problems.

                What does the limelight blot out? Tears, pain and the desperate rat race to perfection.

The modeling industry, hated or beloved?

       It is well known that more people will start to admire you after this simple sentence "I am a model". They start to see you in a brighter light, you seem to be taller, prettier, skinnier. On the other hand there will be more than hundreads of people looking at you thinking that you became dumb, starving yourself, not thinking about anything else despite being skinny. If you are travelling all around Asia they will judge you or be jealous of the places that you had a chance to live in. When you will work in Europe they will think of you as if you were a celebrity, the dumb one that will shave the eyebrows one day. Going to the USA will be the ground-breaking point, after this you start to be the top model, probably doing drugs, a heavy drinker, and someone who will never talk to you because apart from being aloof you will also hear that you started to be self-important. Also you will have more and more friends admiring what you do, craving your life not really knowing it. People who will stay by your side after your 3 months of absence in the city, not judging you, not thinking that you changed, just keeping it casual, they are the one to keep in touch with, they are your real friends and try not to loose them. Which will be hard because of all the time you spend abroad. It is tiring having to make a special selection of friends and trying to know if they like you for who you are or they like the image of you, which is not fake. You are like an actress, not being fake, but it is not you. Pretending, playing, that is what models do. It is not true what people think of us, how the see us. I am a model for over 3 years right now and I can honestly say that I changed, that is the one point where people are right about, but not in the way they think I did.

        I became more mature, independent woman. I am not a scared of life teenager. I know what I want and I am willing to do anything to get it. I take care of the loved ones how much I can and I try to show my love every single day realizing how fast time flies. It does bother me when people are surprised hearing me saying that I am not planning to be a model my whole life. They are looking at me as if they wanted to say "so what are you going to do then? do you even know how real life looks like?". I feel that people judge me. Everyday. It is not normal for them that a model can be also smart, that models are fit, not anorexic, we eat, party, read, study, travel, work, all at the same time.

I have never met in my life more positive, open minded, wise, helpful, friendly and honest people. Every single contract is an amazing journey on which I meet people that later I am happy to call my second family. I love them, care about them. They know about me more than I know about myself. We cry, laugh, eat, sleep, drink, live and sometimes even breath together. Every single one of them is special, different. And not to make it a sad story about how much I miss each of you guys out there let me say one thing. Models do not live at 5 star apartments, we do not eat lobsters every day, we do not have any slaves there who do everything for us, we are not super stars. We are ordinary humans earning for a living (not enough tho) shooting 12 hours per day, walking on catwalks and wearing fancy stuff. This is what we do.

              I have heared lately a lot of complaints that modeling industry is fake, stiff and that it is producing young anorexic girls. Well. Yes it is fake, but who would want to buy a skirt that doesn't look good on the advertisement? All of you who silently said "me" - you are hypocrits, just take a look at your idols, movie stars that you like and your latest purchase. You do buy what looks good, everything what looks good sells itself even better. So shut up. That is the truth. Modeling industry has striff regulations, but it would not be so craved by thousands of people if it would not be strict.

You do not want to be a checkout assistant, because everyone can do this job, but to be a model you have to be tall (girls min. 170cm, guys min. 180cm) and skinny (for girls the highest range of measurements is 90-60-90, and the agency will probably tell you to loose weight). Deal with it. It is not a fairytale. It is a job. You have to do what they say, look as they want you to, smile, strike a pose, work till late hours, come back home, sleep, wake up early and work again. Why? Because people need someone to look up to.

               We crave food, clothes, fit body, pretty face, money, perfect family, career. This is how the world is constructed and that is why such occupation as models and actors exist. We are like a products. You see us wanting to live our life. In order to achieve this you start to improve yourself. Becoming better and better everyday. Studying, working out, taking care of everything. You start living the life you wanted at the same time when we are standing on the backstage hoping that job will be done earlier than usually, sweating in the cute pijama you bought yeasterday, trying to smile jumping in too small shoes, walking 15km from work to home because once again we runned out of money, falling asleep in the make up, because we forgot that we had to take it off, missing our family and hoping that tommorow we will finnish early enough to talk on skype with someone. But in the end we love what we do and this is the one thing that connects us and make each of us  feel like at home miles away from it. Modeling is a beautiful job showing you how much you are able to handle, how smart, beautiful and independent person you are. But it is neither nice nor easy to do.

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Casting w agencji modelingowej - co i jak?

 

W tej notce po krótce opiszę jak wygląda casting w agencji modelingowej i co musicie na niego wziąć!

Zacznijmy od tego jakie wymiary i wzrost jest potrzebny do rozpoczęcia rozmowy z aspirującą modelką.

Jeżeli chodzi o wzrost to zależy od tego czego szuka agencja, jednakże nie możecie mieć mniej niż 170cm.
Modelki, które chodzą na wybiegach mają co najmniej 176cm.
Modelki które chodzą głównie na sesje zdjęciowe mają co najmniej 170cm.
Najlepszym wzrostem modelki (taki przy którym dostają podobno najwięcej zleceń) to 178cm.
A przedział, który podaje większość agencji to 170cm<"x"<181cm.

Wymiary w większości zależą od wzrostu modelki i od jej budowy anatomicznej.
Jeżeli masz 174cm i mniej to powinnaś być drobniejsza niż wyższe od ciebie dziewczyny.
Przykładowe wymiary dla poszczególnego wzrostu (biust, talia, biodra):
170cm - 84-58-84
175cm - 85-59-85
178 cm - 85-60-86
Oczywiście czasami dziewczyny przy 178cm mają 80cm w biuście, są to jedynie względy anatomiczne i nie należy się tym jakoś bardziej przejmować. Ale pamiętajmy o tym, że modelka nie może być też grubaskiem - nie dla anoreksji, tak dla ćwiczeń i dbania o siebie i swoją figurę ;).

Choć wiele agencji szuka modelek od 14 roku życia, to najlepiej (mimo wszystko) jest być w przedziale wiekowym 18-24. Jesteś wtedy pełnoletnia i nie potrzebujesz zgody rodziców na każdy wyjazd. Wątpię też, że jakikolwiek rodzić bez mrugnięcia okiem zgodziłby się na to, aby jego córka przykładowo reklamowała bieliznę w wieku lat 15... Dlatego też lepiej jest być pełnoletnią - jest to wygodniejsze dla agencji, ciebie, a twoi rodzice wiedzą, że jest to twoja praca i już możesz bez pytania ich o zgodę reklamować bieliznę.

Ważny przy pracy modelki jest też charakter. Nieśmiała szara myszka nie da sobie rady w tym świecie rekinów. Musisz być przebojowa i pewna siebie. Musisz wiedzieć, że to TY jesteś piękna.

Większość modelek zna też przynajmniej dwa języki. Jeden w stopniu komunikatywnym, drugi na poziomie przynajmniej zaawansowanym. Najczęściej językiem tym, który znają lepiej jest angielski. Musisz też być komunikatywna i otwarta. Nieśmiałość nie istnieje w świecie modelingu!

Przejdźmy do tego jak wygląda taki casting w agencji modelingowej.
Do takiej agencji można się zgłosić online, przyjść na dni otwarte bądź wtedy kiedy mają castingi na new face. Gdy zgłaszasz się online to musisz czekać na odpowiedź, która przychodzi dosyć szybko (chyba, że agencja nie jest zainteresowana współpracą - wtedy odpowiedź nie przychodzi wcale).

Jeśli jesteś już zaproszona na casting - co musisz ze sobą wziąć?
- szpilki najlepiej w kolorze czarnym bądź cielistym lub srebrnym - wysokie, nie byle 2cm obcas tylko co najmniej 10cm (ja biorę 13cm) - musisz na nich umieć chodzić, biegać i do tego na śliskiej powierzchni!
- top/bokserka przyległa do ciała - czarny bądź szary
- leginsy/ rurki
-  bikini
- zdjęcia swoje (jeżeli jakieś masz) na pendrive - nie chodzi o selfie tylko o profesjonalne zdjęcia z sesji.
Jesteś już na castingu - co ciebie czeka?
Najpierw zwykłe przywitanie, krótka rozmowa i przebierasz się w bikini.
Po przebraniu się mierzą cię (wzrost, wymiary).
Wkładasz szpilki i masz się kilka razy przejść (bez potknięć - potkniesz się możesz już wyjść z castingu).
Potem robią ci zdjęcia - polaroidy.

Czasami nagrywają też filmik w którym się przedstawiasz (video presentation). Najczęściej dają regułkę którą masz powiedzieć: "Cześć nazywam się....... Jestem z........... Mam. .....lat.......cm wzrostu ......(tu swoje wymiary)......." Po tym pokazujesz się - z boku, z przodu itd. Niżej wrzucę filmik który pokazuje przykładowy taki filmik. Wygląda on trochę inaczej ze względu, że jest robiony już dla profesjonalnej modelki nie dla kandydatki.

Jest też na takim castingu przeprowadzona rozmowa o wyjazdach, wyrzeczeniach, diecie i  ćwiczeniach, które jak zostaniesz przyjęta staną się nieodłączną częścią każdego dnia. A potem już się tylko dowiadujesz co masz w sobie poprawić żeby się dostać/dostajesz się/dziękują ci za fatygę/itd.