Monday, February 14, 2011

How To Become A Model

All over the world lot of people wants to be a model because it's glamorous, lucrative and you might want to be recognized in the modeling world. However, it's an extremely competitive and grueling business that will more likely break you than make you. Here are some troths about becoming a model, as well as some realistic advice to make it happen for you.

Decide what kind of model you'd like to be. Technically, anybody can be a model. However, do remember that if you don't meet certain requirements, the work available to you will be incredibly limited, and you may have to compensate in other departments (reliability, technique, etc).

A Plus Size Model. If your body is full and curvaceous, you may be able to be a plus size model.
A Cat-Walk Model. If you're tall and very skinny with a small upper body, you can be a catwalk model.
Other Types of Modeling. If you don't fit any of the face or body descriptions, perhaps you can be a foot, hair or hand model.
Consider your "look".

Get some photos done. These don't have to be professional but they should be created for the purpose of showing your ability as a model. Although agencies say they are happy with snapshots, that doesn't mean they want to see an out of focus shot of you out partying with your friends with a little note attached saying that you're the one on the right! As a bare minimum, you will need one head shot and one body shot.

Get your favorites printed into 8x10s. Save these in case you are asked to leave a photograph anywhere before you have professional ones done. Don't force these on people or try to hand them out. You'll be better off waiting for the professional shots instead of taking risks with an amateur photo.
Consider getting the photos professionally done. Professional photography, even if it is expensive, will give you a better idea of what kind of look you project. You will eventually need these photographs to snag an interview, so think of it as a worthwhile investment!.

Look up the number of a reputable modeling agency. You can find these in your area chance for this photo. They'll use this to compare to your head shot. They will ask you to walk and take your measurements, so be prepared for all of that as well. Learn to accept rejection or criticism politely.

Be professional. Be polite and always turn up on time to any appointment or shoot. If you're late or rude, word soon gets around and then nobody will want to work with you.
Be organized! Models often get called off places at the last minute and have very busy days. You need to be on top of things if you want to succeed. Buying a day-to-day planner can really help.
Confirm whether or not there will be a make-up artist on site for any work you are doing. 99 times out of 100 there will be one, but there may be the odd occasion where you are required to do your own make-up. If there is a make-up artist, then arrive fresh faced.
Be truthful about your measurements. Don't say you're skinnier than you are just to get a shoot. Once there, the stylist will have problems and you will get found out. Word will get around and you could find yourself without a career!
Treat modeling like a real job. Girls that don't take it seriously have small chances of succeeding in their modeling career. Realize that it is harder than it appears and there's a lot of work behind all that glitz and glamour at fashion shows.

Tips

You may have higher chances to become a model if you have a pretty face. However, this is not a requirement; most models actualor models. Any skills you can add to your arsenal will only help your future career.
You can also enter modeling contests. However, make sure you check that these are being run by a reputable agency.
If, for whatever reason, you've decided signing with an agency isn't right for you, you could consider going freelance. But be warned: the pay is usually considerably less and there are fewer safety precautions.
Get your parents' permission if you're under the age defined as being an adult. (18 years)
Get a website. It helps spread the word that you're out there and also serves as a place for your adoring fans.
Know your limits on style and bold shoot. If you don't want to do glamour work or are uncomfortable doing full bold shoots, speak up and don't let people push you past those limits. Also, consider where you want your career to go in the future. Sure, you may be comfortable doing glamour now, but what if you decide you want to do fashion or catalogue work in the future? You might be discriminated against if they know you have done this line of work.
Have a portfolio it helps when bringing to clients. Go to a Go-SE, and go- see the clients.
Show attitude.
Have a lot of Fun!
Magazines are a great source for beginner, freelance, and amateur models. You can make connections with photographers, make-up artists, and other models. While agencies do not use this site, it can help to build up a portfolio and find smaller paid assignments. Many photographers there work on a time-for-print basis. This is a great way to build up a portfolio without paying for a professional. But do note that you need four pictures to sign up, and you want pictures that will grab attention.
It may also be worth your while to try sites that allow you to talk to experts in the modeling Industry. These sites allow you to ask industry professionals questions and get the answers you want and many, like those mentioned above, also provide additional services like photo and portfolio advice, as well as management contracts etc.
Be careful when signing contracts or releases. Some contracts may require you to model exclusively for a particular agency. A lot of releases, which are more like mini-contacts that are done for a single shoot, will emphasize the photographer's right to an image, saying that they may do whatever they wish, but don't mention the model's rights. It is your image they are using, and you have a say in what is done with pictures taken of you. Make sure to discuss this before signing anything.

Fashion

Fashion is a term commonly used to describe a style of clothing worn by most of people of a country. A fashion usually remains popular for about 1-3 years and then is replaced by yet another fashion. Even though there are a lot of changes in fashion, most people do not easily except the changes.

A clothing style may be introduced as a fashion, but its use becomes a custom after being handed down from generation to generation. A fashion that comes and goes is called a Fad.

During the mid-1800's, a mass production of clothing was made fashionable and available to more people for lower prices. This encouraged more people to wear more stylish clothes which is why we are wearing what we are today.

Clothing is made out of all types of material such as cotton, rayon, spandex, and polyester, and they are just a few used. Some clothing may even be made of two or more different types, this is known as " Blending."

Clothing can be decorated or designed with all types of images and colors. The designs can either be embroidered onto the fabric, woven on to the fabric, silk screened, or ironed onto the fabric to create a desired look. Some images that have been used to enhance an article of clothing range from a simple design on front of a T shirt to a famous printing that has been woven into fabric creating a colorful piece of art that one can wear.

Fashion is something we deal with everyday. Even people who say they don't care what they wear choose clothes every morning that say a lot about them and how they feel that day.

One certain thing in the fashion world is change. We are constantly being bombarded with new fashion ideas from music, videos, books, and television. Movies also have a big impact on what people wear. Sometimes a trend is world- wide. Back in the 1970s, teenagers everywhere dressed like Mohammad Ali, Waheed Murad, Zeba and Rani.

Who dictates fashion?

Musicians and other cultural icons have always influenced what we're wearing, but so have political figures and royalty. Newspapers and magazines report on what President wears. The recent death of Diana, the Princess of Wales, was a severe blow to the high fashion world, where her clothes were daily news.

Even folks in the 1700s pored over fashion magazines to see the latest styles. Women and dressmakers outside the French court relied on sketches to see what was going on. The famous French King Louis XIV said that fashion is a mirror. Louis himself was renowned for his style, which tended towards extravagant laces and velvets.

Clothes separate people into groups

Fashion is revealing. Clothes reveal what groups people are in. In high school, groups have names: "Goths, skaters, preps, herbs." Styles show who you are, but they also create stereotypes and distance between groups. For instance, a businessman might look at a boy with green hair and multiple piercing as a freak and outsider. But to another person, the boy is a strict conformist. He dresses a certain way to deliver the message of rebellion and separation, but within that group, the look is uniform. Acceptance or rejection of a style is a reaction to the society we live in.

Fashion is a language which tells a story about the person who wears it. "Clothes create a wordless means of communication that we all understand," according to Katherine Hamnett, a top fashion designer. Hamnett became popular when her t-shirts with large messages like "Choose Life" were worn by several rock bands.

There are many reasons we wear what we wear.

• Protection from cold, rain and snow: mountain climbers wear high-tech outerwear to avoid frostbite and over-exposure.

• Physical attraction: many styles are worn to inspire "chemistry."

• Emotions: we dress "up" when we're happy and "down" when we're upset.

• Religious expression: Islamic women cover every part of their body except their eyes and Hindu women wear Sari.

• Identification and tradition: judges wears Sharwani or Suit, people in the military wear uniforms, brides wear Colored Gara or Shalwar Kamiz.

Fashion is big business. More people are involved in the buying, selling and production of clothing than any other business in the world. Everyday, millions of workers design, sew, glue, dye, and transport clothing to stores. Ads on buses, billboards and magazines give us ideas about what to wear, consciously, or subconsciously.

Clothing can be used as a political weapon. In nineteenth century England, laws prohibited people from wearing clothes produced in France. During twentieth century communist revolutions, uniforms were used to abolish class and race distinctions.

Fashion is an endless popularity contest

High fashion is the style of a small group of men and women with a certain taste and authority in the fashion world. People of wealth and position, buyers for major department stores, editors and writers for fashion magazines are all part of Haute Couture ("High Fashion" in French). Some of these expensive and often artistic fashions may triumph and become the fashion for the larger majority. Most stay on the runway.

Popular fashions are close to impossible to trace. No one can tell how the short skirts and boots worn by teenagers in England in 1960 made it to the runways of Paris, or how blue jeans became so popular in the U.S., or how hip-hop made it from the streets of the Bronx to the Haute Couture fashion shows of London and Milan.

It's easy to see what's popular by watching sit-corns on television: the bare mid-riffs and athletic clothes of 90210, the baggy pants of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But the direction of fashion relies on "plugged-in" individuals to react to events, and trends in music, art and books.

"In the perspective of costume history, it is plain that the dress of any given period is exactly suited to the actual climate of the time." according to James Laver, a noted English costume historian. How did bell-bottom jeans fade into the designer jeans and boots look of the 1980s into the baggy look of the 1990s? Nobody really knows. Once identified, fashions begin to change.