The world of modelling looks from the outside to be infinitely glamorous – magazine parties, VIP benefits, gorgeous clothes and beautiful makeup. However, there’s a lot more to this way of life than meets the eye. For Fashion Week at HerCampus Durham, we’re going to explore 7 things all models will agree on.
Blisters are such a regular occurrence that they’ve become a permanent extension of your feet. The months of walking up and down a runway and squeezing into shoes 2 sizes too small has meant that models have just had to accept defeat. Their feet must simply retreat into socks and shoes, plastered, red and raw. These things could genuinely give you nightmares (and that is why I’ll avoid the explicit pictures and leave it up to your imaginations).
Black is the only colour. Castings are a morbid affair where all models look like they’ve arrived for a funeral. You can always tell there’s a casting going on somewhere near, when you walk past a sea of tall ladies dressed in black from head to foot – they’re not attemding an Addam’s Family-esque gathering, they’re simply attending an audition.
“Free the nipple”. Right, so models have no qualms about showing any nudity- bums, boobs, the lot. Modelling seems to desensitize you to the privacy that pervades most of society concerning the naked body. They have to strip off and do that many quick changes that they don’t even view naked as naked anymore.
Travel Travel Travel. Inter-rail? Touring South America? Trekking through South-East Asia? Pfft, forget that! Instead start modelling and travelling will become second nature to you. Eventually you’ll get to the point where being told that you’re going to Milan or Barcelona in a week is just like somebody asking you to pop out to get groceries from your local store.
Model/Actress. Frequently models are dressed in clothes that they don’t personally like and don’t think suit them. The makeup they wear perhaps might not be consistent with their own tastes. Yet, they still have to do a convincing job. They still parade down that runway absolutely owning whatever they’ve been dressed in, no matter how bizarre and wacky.
Constantly being belittled. Modelling is an industry that dominates the media. It’s everywhere we look, on TV, billboards, magazines, youtube…People depend on it for fashion inspiration, help when shopping and entertainment, so it baffles me that the women within the industry are pulled apart so much. Many people scoff and presume it is the easiest job in the world and that many who take part within it are “brain-dead”! They couldn’t be more wrong. The schedule of a model is exhausting, physically and mentally. Models are expected to be fit and ready to shoot even if it’s for a bikini campaign in the Alps (that’s not an exaggeration, it actually happened). So, modelling is not just striking a few pouts and going home. It’s about constant diligence, interpretation of clothes in order to bring across the right character and resilience against countless rejections!
Your agency is a second family (if you’re lucky). If you’re in the right agency for you, your agent watches your back and protects you, the other models support and advise you and everyone works as a team. Working together in such close proximity and in such circumstances as modelling requires, means you are constantly bonding with those around you. As you progress in your agency these bonds become stronger and models end up viewing those around them like a second family.