Editorial Fashion Models
“Editorial fashion models” are the stuff dreams are made of. These are the “high end” models who appear in the big-name
fashion magazines and in top-quality clothing and beauty product advertising. Daria Werbowy and Diana Dondoe were among the top names in 2005; Gisele Bundchen has been the closest thing to a new “supermodel” since the beginning of this century. Runway models may double as editorial models, but often they are in a separate division within a fashion agency. But there are other types of fashion model as well, some that most people have never heard of.
«Editorial fashion models» work in New York City (in this country) for the simple reason that relatively little editorial fashion work is booked out of anywhere else. There are exceptions, of course: Miami in winter (but often using New York models), and sometimes Los Angeles or Chicago, but these are just that: exceptions. If you want to be an editorial fashion model, you go to New York. There are lots of opportunities abroad as well (Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo . . .), but only one strong editorial fashion market city in the US.
If you are a female and want to be seen on the cover of a national fashion magazine, sign a lucrative national ad contract,
become a «supermodel», or even be a «fashion model», you need the following when you start:
1. Be between 14-19 years old. (Yes, they start that young.)
2. Be between 5’9″ and 6′ tall with long legs.
3. Be thin. Really, really thin. Something like 105-115 pounds.
4. Don’t have especially large breasts (34C is generally the upper bound of acceptable, and 34B is preferred), or lots of stretch marks, tattoos, piercing or highly tanned skin. Dark skin is fine, lots of tan is not fine (except in Miami, which is a whole different world).
5. Be beautiful. Not necessarily pretty, but beautiful. An interesting, beautiful face is at least as good for a fashion model as is an «all American» look.
6. Have the right personality: a strong commitment to modeling (not just an interest in it), an ability to take rejection (something most beautiful girls aren’t good at), a thick skin, not a lot of modesty (nobody cares what you don’t want someone to see, we have a fashion show to put on . . .) and a lot of self confidence.
7. Be willing to relocate to a major market, with New York City strongly preferred.
8. Be willing to travel to strange locations with no friends there to support you, little money and little help, lots of opportunity for both good and bad things to happen to you. If you are a male and want to be a fashion model, you need to start relatively young (18-25 or so), be six feet tall and wear a size 40 regular suit with a slim (32 inch) waist and a 34 inch inseam (all give or take an inch). You also need the personality and availability traits of the female fashion models. If you have all of that, you are a very, very rare person, and you have one chance in a hundred of becoming an editorial fashion model. No more than that. If you are anything else, you need to think about some other kind of modeling. Fashion modeling is usually a full-time job. You may have a part-time job for a while, but if you achieve any success, that job has to go. The way the agencies work, you don’t have time to do anything else. You make a living at fashion modeling or you get out of it.
