A little bit about me
Hello Steemit! My name is Layla, I am a young girl from France who work in the fashion industry for almost 9 months, but I am not very famous or anything. As a beginner I don’t get paid much, I didn’t earn anything during my first 5 months but things are getting a little bit better now.
Yesterday, a good friend of mine told me to try this website out and I'm very excited to introduce myself and get to know all of you here. I am French and lived in in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. So today, I would like to tell you what it is like to be a fashion model and what it is like to work in the fashion industry.
The world of fashion is very fascinating place, men and women. It is a world apart, where the most beautiful women in the world slide on the red carpet, and are surrounded by the greatest photographers of the greatest designers. But what about their lifestyle and their working conditions?
1) The Lifestyle
The world of fashion is deemed superficial, with champagne galore, red carpets and luxury goods. Everything is presented to make us dream, fashion models were well treated by the best makeup artist and were well dressed by the best designer, and they soon got used to this lifestyle. However, this job required you to be hard-headed, not deviate in excess, and more and more models become business women. Girls begin, in general, to 15, and total trust must be established with the agency which employs them, since conflicts are not uncommon with parents who still control the lives of their minor child. If the model finds work regularly in the year the investment is valid, otherwise the agency will release it without regret. With perseverance and hard work comes great success, at 18 years old, the model can make a big career, and the agency will help in its development. All she needs to do is to be confidence in herself , and take care of herself and her mind. Unfortunately, the diktat of measurements is still valid, even if the designers deny it. The size "model" is always required, and leads to excess of anorexia. However, this is changing, there are more and more famous plus size model who prove to the world that you doesn’t need to be skinny to be succesful, like Katya Zharkova and Kate Upton.
2) The working conditions
The customer is always the king, and the model must meet the criteria, and know how to sell herself. The beginnings are often difficult before being known and recognized. The models parade and pose for photos: they must be resistant physically and nervously to face the long working days. In Asia, a girl can have 10 castings a day, one session takes a lot of preparation, lighting, makeup, dressing, and one must be patient and always smiling. Models travel the 4 corners of the world, and with the time difference, they must adopt a healthy lifestyle. The salary range is pretty wide. Like, Grand Canyon wide.
Models employed by an agency can make on average, between $40k and $50k a year. Professional photographers pay models around $150 to $250 a day. Small time fashion models can make $30k to $60k a year. These models have to be steadily employed. Hard-working models can make around $200k a season—the really popular ones can hit the $500k mark. And of course supermodels can make millions of dollars a year. Some people are trying to change perceptions about the models, and we are seeing more new style of modeling, with the elderly, children and even anonymous.
Cheers,
Layla