This week I am overjoyed to present to y’all, Miss Elle Wagner. Not only is she my suitemate and an absolutely charming lady, she’s also a killer professional model. For the past two and a half years, Elle has been a model for Wilhelmina International. However, she is definitely more than meets the eye, so before diving into the nitty gritty of modeling show biz, I wanted to focus more on the girl you’ll sit beside in class. Don’t be intimidated just because she’s a model, she’s actually quite amazing!
Born in Mountain View, California, Elle moved around and attended 4 different high schools, finally calling right here in Denver, Colorado home. A fun fact about her is that her second high school was a dance academy where she danced half of the day! Who knew the girl was a dancer too! Here at DU, Elle is an International Studies major and hopes to be involved in international conflict resolution overseas potentially in an embassy as an ambassador! Did I mention she is learning French too? When Elle is not at school or modeling, she enjoys “going to Wash Park to walk the dog I don’t have” or watching Netflix. Her favorite show is currently Long Island Medium though she enjoys Bob’s Burgers on occasion as well. If not watching Netflix, Elle can be found jamming out to Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve. When asked if she was a tea or coffee person, she enthusiastically chose Pickwick tea, the kind of tea her grandmother drank for breakfast often (so sweet). Finally, I asked her what her go to makeup item was- black mascara, hands down- she’s my kind of girl.
So now I bet you all want to know the real reason she’s this week’s campus celebrity. I began by asking her how she got into modeling in the first place. She explained to me that she decided to go to an open call audition at Wilhelmina International and was called back in just two days. She decided to sign with them on a smaller scale at first, and a year later she signed to larger departments within Wilhelmina where she has done lots of her international work. Elle is classified as a curve model meaning that her measurements and height put her in a category largely for lingerie and swim wear modeling. A typical modeling job (though they vary) consists of mainly photo shoots or short commercial or catalog type shots. When I asked what a normal routine was for a shoot she lit up with excitement.
“So after you are notified by your agency that someone wants you for a job, you get all the information about where to be and when and what to bring-sometimes they have you bring personal things, like shoes, I have big feet so I often bring my own shoes. Then you go through hair and makeup. Time in “the chair” can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 hours, it all just depends. Then after that you go to clothes and that usually takes a little bit. Once you’re dressed there are people that style you with like jewelry and props and stuff. Then you finally get to do the shoot. Normally it takes 3 to 10 hours, it completely depends. If it’s for catalog then you have to change clothes and accessories and maybe even hair and makeup if necessary and you do it all over again, and again, and again. Then when they are happy you get to leave!”
Then after a lot of explaining I got around to asking her what her favorite modeling memory was; I was not disappointed with her response.
“Last summer when I traveled to Spain for a job, I was trying to translate what everyone was saying since I speak absolutely no Spanish. The people at the shoot kept saying “guapo” which meant beautiful in Spanish and I didn’t get it. So at the end of the shoot I went cuckoo saying “guapo gaupo guapo!” and everyone laughed. It was great.”
Finally, I asked what she did to stay in shape, expecting some elaborate work out plan and craziness… But I was wrong! Elle said that she really does very little. “I do hot yoga once in a while, but I’d say most of my cardio comes from dance parties with myself in my room”.
Now if you don’t already think Elle is awesome, let me end with what she said about models.
“I don’t really look like this (referring to some of her pictures), even I get photoshopped like crazy. I want girls to know that it’s okay if you’re not like the models you see because it’s BS. Even I don’t look like that.”