So you want to be a model. You know you have the look, you know you have the charm and you take a helluva good picture. How exactly do you go about getting yourself out there to get modeling assignments and get “discovered”?

Well, here is how you don’t do it….

You do not just sit around the mall or Starbucks waiting for fame to fall into your lap because any minute now a casting director will come through, see you and say.. “come with me, I will make you a star”. Now, someone may come along and say that, but they sure wont be a REAL casting director. That kind of stuff rarely happens and maybe once every decade some lucky girl wins that lottery by being in the right place at the right time.

You do not put all your faith and money into unknown modeling agencies, especially those that do make promises of stardom, millions in earnings, tons of jobs in exotic countries… AFTER, you pay them thousands to create that perfect portfolio you really need to work with them. When it comes to modeling agencies, unless they are very well known and reputable, you must be very careful.

Many of them work by promising stardom to everyone and telling them how gorgeous they are(what the girls want to hear). They tell you there are 100’s of jobs you are perfect for. After you pay them for photos, shoots, prints, makeup, hair, this that and the other, they tell you they will call you. Wait… where are these 100’s of jobs?  Again… they will call you when they book you.

I have heard dozens of stories like that and most end up getting one job after months that payed 100 bucks for the 3k they spent on pictures for the agency.

When it comes to agencies just keep in mind that if they believe they can book you everywhere and make millions… they why do they need money from you? Reputable agencies make a fee from what the client pays the model. The client pays the agency, not the model.

Also, always be very aware of your market, this is where those scam agencies hook the model by telling them what they want to hear, not what they are right for. If you are 5′3″ and an agency telly you they will get you runway work in Paris, run out of the office. As a model, you must know your target market and not be swayed by smooth sales talk. There is no such animal as a 5 foot High Fashion Runway model, no matter how gorgeous she is. Kate Moss is an exception and she is still fairly tall at 5′7″.

Make sure that the modeling you would like to do fits you physically.

Now, if you are 5′3″ it does not mean you can not model, you just cannot model Paris Runway, but that is just a drop in the bucket of all modeling work. There are commercial catalog models, hair models, parts models, trade show and promo models, makeup models, fit models, fitness models, shoe models, hand models, eye models and any other bodypart you can think of. There is also a good amount of work in TV and movies as extras. Those jobs are readily available and filed daily in every city in the US large and small. There are many local fashion shows that book models and many events and exhibits that do as well.

Wow, thats a lot of work, but how do I find it? you may ask. There are a few ways. You can find work on your own in papers, job boards, client websites, etc. It may be a large task to do daily as there are 100’s of websites you would need to check on a daily basis to find the modeling jobs you may want. The other option is a model casting service.

A model casting service is a company that specializes in finding casting calls, auditions and requests, matches them to a client (a model) and sends the information to the model so they can apply. A model gives the service her information, her portfolio, and her job specifications as to what she wants to do. Then daily, the service looks for work for her and notifies her the minute someone requests booking for her “look”.

A casting service is a mix between an agency and a do-it-yourself job search. Modeling.net is a casting service. Their network and employees spend all day calling photographers, casting directors, etc. to find work for their members, then they email the members and tell them about the jobs. Casting directors also go directly to their site that lists all members and uses the online portfolios to cast their projects.

A casting service is a great option for models who either do not have an agency or do not want to sit around waiting for the agency to find a job for them. The casting service sends the model a list of jobs she requested and then the model submits her portfolio to the jobs she selects. It’s a good way for the model to get herself out there and get all the work he can. The casting service does not take any fee from any jobs the model gets.

The way the casting service is paid is with an annual fee for service that is very reasonable. Many models wonder why there is a fee. Well, it is a business that has 100’s of employees making calls to casting agents trying to find work for its members. Those people need to be paid and since they do not act like a agency in taking money from a booking, they charge a small fee, less than $1 per day I think.

There are a few levels of service as well. The first level is FREE, A free member gets to put up a portfolio for talent scouts and agents to see as well as explore many of the jobs and try the service out. If they decide they want a higher and more personal service level with jobs specifically matched then they can call and change the level of service.

Anyway, its a great option for anyone serious about working and reaching their dream. You can check it out at Modeling.net or Exploretalent.com.

Posted: June 30th, 2008 under Model Agency, Modeling Articles.
Comments: none

If you are pursuing a carreer in modeling you should take a minute and find your BMI. BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is the calculation used to see if a person is in a healthy weight zone for their height and weight.

Before I give you the formula keep in mind that this is only an approximation since a direct measurement is not taken and is based on research of what “most” people fit into.

The government has this definition of BMI from the cdc

What is BMI?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height. BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for people. BMI does not measure body fat directly, but research has shown that BMI correlates to direct measures of body fat, such as underwater weighing and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).^{1, 2} BMI can be considered an alternative for direct measures of body fat. Additionally, BMI is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight categories that may lead to health problems.

Being above or below is considered unhealthy.

Here is how you figure it out…

Take your height in inches and square it ( multipty your height X your height) so if you are 5 feet or 60 inches it would be 60 x 60 or 3600. Write that down

Now get your weight in pounds.

Using a calculator take (weight) / (the number you wrote height x height) X 703

so your weight times height squared times 703. That is your BMI

Here is the formula again.

Formula: weight (lb) / [height (in)]² x 703

Example: Weight = 150 lbs, Height = 5’5” (65″)
Calculation: [150 ÷ (65)²] x 703 = 24.96

You now have a number, look at the chart below and see where you fit in

Body Mass Index Chart

 Here is another chart that shows BMI

If you find yourself in the high area of this chart, here is a wacky flip flop shoe diet you can try.

Posted: June 29th, 2008 under Health and diets.
Comments: none

Check out these great female models courtesy of ExploreTalent.com and the models in the Exploretalent modeling community. This modeling video was made from the online modeling portfolios that the models use for promotion on the site. Explore Talent is the largest modeling community on the web and getting your own portfolio is free.

Posted: June 23rd, 2008 under Model Portfolio, models.
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Do you wanna Model?  Many people do, most have no clue at all where to start or even think of starting the modeling career.  Yes, breaking into showbiz may not be the easiest task around but if you have the right look and attitude it’s definitely doable!

What to do? well, you put 1 foot in front of the other and get yourself out there for all to see. Since we live in the age of internet, nobody needs to sit around the local ice cream shop hoping to get discovered.

A quick internet search for modeling in your city should give you direction.  There are 2 ways to go, traditional modeling agencies or the new breed of internet Do-it-yourself agencies such as exploretalent.com.

The difference is simple, traditional agencies have models apply and clients that they match models with for a fee from the client and the model if they are chosen. If the model is not chosen, then no fee is paid, however many agencies do charge models for photo shoot and portfolio fees regardless of if they got the job or not, when they apply.

The second Do-it-yourself choice is very new and very internet. Basically, the client tries to find the model on their own by putting out casting calls and modeling auditions through online agencies. By doing so they get a larger pool of modeling talent since many models are not signed with a particular agency, and, they get a great pool of brand new talent that maybe was not accepted by the agency and therefore never even shown to the client.

Aspiring models should work both channels of modeling job seeking to maximize their exposure and also get more experience at the auditions and casting process.

The Do-it-yourself model booking will probably not bring the model the thousands of dollars per hour that supermodels may make in Paris, but it can be a spring board to bigger and better work as the models book more and more work on their own, and by doing the booking themselves, they do not need to share the profits since most jobs are paid on a per job basis to the model.

Either way, models have more avenues of finding work today than ever before, and they should take advantage of it.

Posted: June 23rd, 2008 under Modeling Articles.
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 So this was a just added makeup vid, but its so cool

So the makeup products used are as so… Products used:
benefit lemon aid primer
barry m dazzle dust charcoal#11
barry m fine glitter dust #1
barry m super soft eye liner black
barry m shocking pink mascara
christian dior pro cheeks limelight
lumiere mineral silk blush au naturale
smashbox lip palette 2

So check out this makeup video

Posted: June 23rd, 2008 under Makeup.
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yep, this girl should in fact be a makeup artist if she is not already, she presents her tips to youtubers all around.

Posted: June 21st, 2008 under Makeup.
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Alessandra Ambrosio crosses over from strictly fashion into iconic status. OK, maybe thats a stretch, but she was featured on a cover of Rolling Stone a few months back which is truly rare.  Rolling Stone magazine does not normally use High fashion models for their covers. They tend to go with who is hip, hot and rock and roll, which is normally very far from the in one day and out the next high fashion scene. I guess you know you are a SuperModel when you cross into pop culture and become a household name. Yep, her name is listed on that cover along with Marlon Brando and Bruce Springsteen.

Wow, this almost reminds me of the old “SuperModel Days”, decades ago when names like Christie Brinkly and Cheryl Tiegs covered the magazine covers, all of them, Time to Vogue and every little girl wanted to be a cover girl.

here is Alessandra’s hot, hot, hawt cover of Rolling Stone. Maybe Alessandra is just the woman to bring back the days of Super huge Supermodels for another tour.

ohh, wait… here is one of the most known of the 80’s supermodels, Ms. Christie Brinkly, looking picture perfect as always with feathered hair, golden tanned skin and the very 80’s strapless bikini.

Posted: June 18th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Yep, seems the last season of the hit show Americas next top model crowned Whitney the winner. This seems so staged to me. I mean the show went 7 seasons with short and so called plus size models always getting a raw deal for being “just too short” and “just too fat” for fashion stardom.

Season after season we watched the always cast heavier girls get knocked out fairly early to a point where it seemed every season had to cast at least one short girl and one heavier girl as tokens of some sort or maybe as proof to critics that modeling is not about size 0.

So, I really gotta wonder how much the show needed a win by one of these “low chance of winning” contestants. We do always go for the underdog ya know.

Whitney is a cute girl, but America’s Next Top Model? Is she that stunning? Also, there have been many questions asked about whether she really is a plus size. A size 14? She looks much slimmer than that, but hey, you never know.

Whitney is cute in a very American South kinda way, but top fashion model? I don’t see it at all. my 2 cents of course.

Posted: June 17th, 2008 under Americas Next Top Model.
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Surfing around, I found this interview with model Adina Forizs on models.com

Everyone can agree, Adina is a stunning girl and one to watch for sure. At 20, she is a student at Budapest University. Adina is one of these girls who has been naturally blessed all around, stunning looks and a stunning mind to match.

adina forizs

She is majoring in engineering and hopes to become a civil engineer when the modeling

world tires of her, which may not be for a very long time to come. Adina is ahead of the game for sure not only planning out her career in fashion modeling but also her career afterwards.

WS: Dear Adina, Could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
AF: So my name is Adina. I’m from Hungary. My mother agency is Icon in Hungary. I’m twenty year old I started modeling a year before but I have been at university studying so I wasn’t full time. Now I have a break.
WS: What was your field of study ?
AF:If I finish I will be a civil engineer.
WS: You must be brilliant at Mathematics.
AF:I should be but I failed my exams. (laughs)
WS: What does a civil engineer construct? Is it more like buildings as in architecture…or structual things like bridges?
AF: There are two types . The first one is the people who think about the buildings … how the buildings should look and I am really more the other type who actually makes the building.
WS: How did the idea of modeling enter your life in the first place?
AF: A lot of times when I was walking on the street people would ask me if I am a model and I told them no…no…no. But then I was very curious as to why everybody was saying that I should be a model. So I decided to give it a try.
WS:Tell us about your going to Milan for the Prada.
AF:I was in Milan for three weeks and every day I went to Prada to do the looks. Then somebody told me that I was going to get the show and I was very happy about this but I didn’t know I will open. They told me five minutes before the show “You will open”.
WS: Now that was a well kept secret. Since it was so last minute, did the news make you more nervous about walking your first show?
AF: I was nervous but it was really fun. After I opened, I came back from the runway very happy.
WS:I imagined you learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes of how a show is put together
AF: Yes it was very interesting because I could see how the designer works. It was really interesting. They were working a lot when I first went there . When I went back they really put a lot of effort into everything that they were doing. They were so energetic you never saw that they were tired.
WS: I guess there was a lot of passion at Prada. Coming from such a scientific background, did this world of high fashion surprise you or overwhelm you?
AF: I don’ t know exactly what I expected really of it but I thought that this way is the normal way . I spoke to a lot of people …other girls. This was my first season but I spoke to those girls who were doing this for a longer time. It was another girl for instance who told me the Prada was very very good to do.
WS; Ah, so you did your research going in! Are you looking forward to photographing campaigns and editorials now?
AF: I hope so
WS: Oh we fully suspect you’ll be doing every major editorial in sight. Have you shot any editorials before ?
AF: No, only the test things in my book.
WS: Which makes it an even more amazing start then. Is there a particular kind of music you listen to ?
AF: No. I listen to everything depending on how I feel. I don’t have a special choice. I like the music when I go onto the runway . The music at the shows I did in Milan and in Paris was amazing. It really was like party music
WS: How about your current reading. Which authors do you like?
AF: I like the books of Paulo Coelho. I think he is my favorite author . I like books which provoke thinking
WS:Like philosophical works?
AF: Not exactly philosophy but I don’t like books with just stories… where people just act. I’ve been reading “The Fifth Mountain” and recently I read “The Alchemist” in English
WS: How many languages do you speak ?
AF: I speak Hungarian, English and German
WS: Is that because in Hungary you speak both the native tongue and German?
AF:No I studied in school, German for the past 8 years.
WS:And now I imagine you’re learning some French?
AF:No. Its a very beautiful language but the pronunciation is so difficult for me . I think its easier in German because there are rules and you just follow them
WS: I’m really impressed by your academic prowess. Do you see yourself going back to school soon to get that engineering degree?
AH:Now I would like to focus on this, the modeling though I never know what will happen now . I have a good start so I’m going to try to let it go for as long as possible
WS: Fantastic answer Adina. We know you’re going to be a great model and a very smart and inspiring one at that. Thank you so much for spending time with us!
AH: Thank you!

Posted: June 17th, 2008 under Adina Forizs, Model Interviews, Top Models, models.
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Calvin Klein is a household name and below are some of the fashions that make it so. This is the 2008 SS runway show in New York, I believe. Looks like shiny, satiny, simple dresses are in this year.

As always, the Calvin Klein color palettes are simple, light and white. The Calvin Klein shows tend to lean towards very natural looking models with barely any makeup and simple hair. For these dresses, that look definitely works, I like the hair pulled behind the ears.

Posted: June 9th, 2008 under Designers.
Comments: 1