What is in a model's life?
Fashion is such a fast business. As Heidi Clum would say, "One day you're in, the next day you're out." It is all appearance, looking young, fresh and edgy. Who can blame the Fashion World? It makes the economy run and fast.
But what about the Models? How does this affect their life?
A Model's lifespan is only the look they bring. If you don't make an impact by 25, you fade into the background. Models who make it switch careers but stay into the limelight. Look at Tyra, she hosts her own show. Heidi has her own show too. That makes Petra Nemcova too. She mentors six girls in a reality show that's not quite "Top Model" and all the more harsh.
"A Model Life" with Petra Nemcova follows six girls' journey in Next Modeling Agency. By the end of the show, only one will be picked to be one of Next's 18 models in the Fashion Week.
Pull back the curtains indeed. We can see the harsh life even in the Agency alone. They haven't even booked jobs yet. They get critiqued left and right. Not only in their performances, mind, also how their bodies look. Michelle, the most anorexic looking girl with sunken eyes and ribs for torso, is what they call perfect and edgy. Theother girls with hips or bits of flesh, the agents are already saying they won't make it. Still, week after week, they are told to loose weight. What wieght?
Would you be angry at the agents for driving these girls to malnutrition or blmae the girls for doing it?
Sarah from ANTM Cycle 9 was sent home because she was too fat to be a regular model but too thin to be plus-size. How can a person be a model? Is it simply the looks, the personality or something more innate? All three are very subjective. One client might like a lot of character but some wants no character at all but looks alone. I've seen four Reality Show about modeling already. Each are very different yet same. Each client is very subjective and when all the contestants are beautiful, it all comes down to who would go the extra mile to get what they want.
America's Next Top Model, Janice Dickinson's Modeling Agency, A Model Life with Petra Nemcova, Make Me A Model, all these shows show the fashion world. They keep saying that the fashion industry is harsh and it is. The show gives you bonuses like a place to live in, challenges to win prizes and meet the popular people who mave and shake that world but it reality, when there is no show, a model's life is one full of struggles and woes.
In this country (Philippines), you can't be a full-time model. It doesn't pay. You are subjected to whatever a model is subjected to and you get very little pay. A professional model may earn Php3,000.oo to Php5,000 per walk but how many walks can you do a year? Fashion Shows are scarce and with competition, prices are being brought down. You can find a tall teen ager in the streets with edge in their looks, train her and pay her Php1,000.00 the whole night (Aprox, 4-6 walks). Cover model? Rarely. We have Actors, Singers and politicians gracing the covers and endorsing products.
So, a model life is one full of woes.
If you do wish to be a model, make sure your family is behind you. They not only give you support but also back-up. When you stumble, fall and be put down, there must always be someone there behind you to fall back on.
Fashion is such a fast business. As Heidi Clum would say, "One day you're in, the next day you're out." It is all appearance, looking young, fresh and edgy. Who can blame the Fashion World? It makes the economy run and fast.
But what about the Models? How does this affect their life?
A Model's lifespan is only the look they bring. If you don't make an impact by 25, you fade into the background. Models who make it switch careers but stay into the limelight. Look at Tyra, she hosts her own show. Heidi has her own show too. That makes Petra Nemcova too. She mentors six girls in a reality show that's not quite "Top Model" and all the more harsh.
"A Model Life" with Petra Nemcova follows six girls' journey in Next Modeling Agency. By the end of the show, only one will be picked to be one of Next's 18 models in the Fashion Week.
Executive Producer David Broome says A Model Life's aim is to "pull back the curtain on the modeling industry" and tackle issues like distorted body image, living in a big city on one's own, and self-esteem. As six models vie for a contract, walk Fashion Week's runways, and compete for ad campaigns, Nemcova acts as sideline coach. But really-gorgeous, pampered models as victims? More than you'd know. "Girls are anorexic and dying," says Nemcova. "It's stupid, but it still happens in this business." Broome cast a nutritionist to offer a healthy defense against fashion's never-too-thin manifesto. "Models pick up life-threatening habits to stay in the game," he says, "and the industry still spits them out."Clip from: http://www.marieclaire.com/world/articles/petra-nemcova
Pull back the curtains indeed. We can see the harsh life even in the Agency alone. They haven't even booked jobs yet. They get critiqued left and right. Not only in their performances, mind, also how their bodies look. Michelle, the most anorexic looking girl with sunken eyes and ribs for torso, is what they call perfect and edgy. Theother girls with hips or bits of flesh, the agents are already saying they won't make it. Still, week after week, they are told to loose weight. What wieght?
Would you be angry at the agents for driving these girls to malnutrition or blmae the girls for doing it?
Sarah from ANTM Cycle 9 was sent home because she was too fat to be a regular model but too thin to be plus-size. How can a person be a model? Is it simply the looks, the personality or something more innate? All three are very subjective. One client might like a lot of character but some wants no character at all but looks alone. I've seen four Reality Show about modeling already. Each are very different yet same. Each client is very subjective and when all the contestants are beautiful, it all comes down to who would go the extra mile to get what they want.
America's Next Top Model, Janice Dickinson's Modeling Agency, A Model Life with Petra Nemcova, Make Me A Model, all these shows show the fashion world. They keep saying that the fashion industry is harsh and it is. The show gives you bonuses like a place to live in, challenges to win prizes and meet the popular people who mave and shake that world but it reality, when there is no show, a model's life is one full of struggles and woes.
In this country (Philippines), you can't be a full-time model. It doesn't pay. You are subjected to whatever a model is subjected to and you get very little pay. A professional model may earn Php3,000.oo to Php5,000 per walk but how many walks can you do a year? Fashion Shows are scarce and with competition, prices are being brought down. You can find a tall teen ager in the streets with edge in their looks, train her and pay her Php1,000.00 the whole night (Aprox, 4-6 walks). Cover model? Rarely. We have Actors, Singers and politicians gracing the covers and endorsing products.
So, a model life is one full of woes.
If you do wish to be a model, make sure your family is behind you. They not only give you support but also back-up. When you stumble, fall and be put down, there must always be someone there behind you to fall back on.
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