Making Models

Today's modeling industry, as compared back to the 60s, offers a fun, glamorous career that really pays. This era in modeling ushers in a much wider arrange of "looks" and there are many opportunities for different types of models. Gangly teens and pre-teens, with reed thin bodies and mile long legs are raking in thousands of dollars, as runway divas. Consider Daria Werbowy and Gemma Ward. Wholesome but not so tall youngsters and "real people" are making excellent money in the Teen and Commercial Print Divisions.

Sophisticated men and women are sought after for high end clients like Chanel and Christian Dior. Picture swan-like Shalom Harlowe, resplendent in her Chanel suit hawking Chanel No. 5. And the proliferation of the internet culture, coupled with the globalization of the fashion industry, has allowed models of different ethnicities to be readily accepted. Case in point, the former queen of the runway, Naomi Campbell, who is African-American, Jamaican-Chinese.

The first step towars becoming a model is to get noticed and taken in by a credible modeling agency. To begin working as a professional model is all about joining an agency that will represent you and help you get modeling job assignments. One can go as a free-lance model but that won't get you far. A credible agency has the right connections and access to high paying and secure modeling jobs. Finding the right agency for your looks and talent is the entire game plan.

Simplified, there are 2 basic paths to follow. One, you are lucky enough to be scouted on the street or in a café or bar by a credible talent agent or a fashion insider that includes a photographer, a fashion designer or a make up artist. Or perhaps a major advertiser. This method relies on luck but not as much as you'd think. If you've been in a major city for a month, and nobody in the industry hasn't approached you, then you are not model material. In our case, for Manila and Cebu, it's three months. Though perhaps extreme, there is a lot of truth to this statement.

Agents, fashion designers, talent scouts, photographers, stylists, make up artists, clients who hire models and every other person related to the modeling industry is always on the lookout for "new faces". If you live in a major city, chances are you are going to cross paths with one of them.

Soliciting agencies directly is the second and most effective and reliable method, Be wary of some agencies who are not legally registered and are not paying taxes. However, finding an agency is also one of the cheapest, because it avoids any middlemen. Simply have a snapshot or two taken of yourself. Important are close up shots and a body shot displaying your features and proportions in a most flattering manner and very light make up is de rigueur. Then write a short covering letter introducing yourself, giving your specifications (age, height, weight and measurements). Mail or email it to a credible agency of your choice.

It is important to take note that some models were discovered in a beauty and personality contest. You see, the distinction between models and beauty queens have blurred considerably. Established models have joined beauty contests and vice versa. Most insiders, though, want to look at a minimally made up face, as opposed to a fully painted face, in most beauty and personality contests.