How do you become a catwalk model?
If you're not able to get onto one of the Next Top Model shows and win it, how do you go about becoming a catwalk model, what are the requirements: looks, weight, height, health, qualifications, and commitment?
Judging by interviews with top models past and present, there is no easy way to be discovered. So many supermodels were discovered by accident while going about their daily lives with no thoughts about modeling.
Supermodel Iman
The great model Iman of Somalia was discovered in 1975 by photographer Peter Beard while she was a student at Nairobi University in Kenya. Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek, a refugee from war in her own country, was discovered at an outdoor market in Crystal Palace, London by a Models 1 scout.
Young model Freja Beha of Roskilde, Denmark was discovered on the streets of her home country by a modeling agent passing by in a taxi. German model Katrin Thormann was discovered during a visit to Berlin.
Sara Blomqvist
One of the busiest and most sought-after models of today, the Swede Sara Blomqvist, explains how she by chance got into modeling: "I was at a horseshow in Stockholm with a couple of friends when I was 13, and a scout from MIKAs model agency came up to me and asked if I was interested in modeling. My hometown is about a three-hour drive from Stockholm, so I didn't really do anything until I was 16 to 17, and then it just became more and more from there."
What was it the talent scouts, agents or photographers saw in these young women that told them they were looking at a future catwalk model?
Catwalk, or runway, modeling is about fashion, outfits that have been created by some of the world's most talented and imaginative artists. They are looking for male and female models who can make their clothes look at their very best. It is the designers and clothes who are the real stars, not the models.
Success is not simply a matter of being pretty or having an face that friends and families consider beautiful. Plenty of women are attractive, pretty, and even beautiful and very few of them stand a chance of becoming a catwalk model.
Striking appearance
Looking at models past and present, it is far more important to have a striking or distinctive face than a pretty one. Alek Wek, a phenomenally successful model, is not beautiful in any conventional or popular sense. In fact, many people complained that Alek was too ugly to be a model. But she is distinctive. When you see her, you remember her. She sticks out in a crowd.
At the recent London Fashion Week, where male and female catwalk models (their photographs are on this page) milled around outside before and after the shows, it wasn't their faces that told you they were models. In fact, without make-up, many of them models looked quite ordinary. The men weren't particularly handsome, and the women weren't beautiful.
What made them different from the crowds of people around them was their frame, their body shape, which was far slimmer than that of an average woman. Put bluntly, catwalk models are very thin, boney, and the women have tiny breasts. They're also tall, not freakishly so, but certainly aboveaverage. You won't see many catwalk models under 5 ft 9 inches.
Most women are simply too short and too heavy to be catwalk models. They obviously can't make themselves taller and many, even with dieting, cannot be slim or well-proportioned enough to work on a catwalk. Their hips might be too broad, their legs not slim or long enough, or their shoulders permanently stooped.
A good example of a wannabe model who does not have want it takes is Victoria Beckham who has slimmed sifficiently to be of model weight but looks all wrong. As well as being too short, she lacks grace, is unable to stand or walk properly. She might be able to sell a designer's creations via her celebrity, but certainly not with her body.
Potential to succeed
A young man or woman who has been spotted by an agent will not necessarily make it as a catwalk model. What the agent, and the agency they represent, is saying is they see potential in a person. If the newly-signed model works extraordinarily hard, is reliable and punctual, well organized, has adequate social skills, and avoids temptations such as alcohol and drugs, they have a chance of making it.
New models also need to be tremendously self-reliant, able to cope far from home, away from family and former friends. This can be difficult for a teenager or someone in their ealry twenties who is used to having their parents do everything for them. One week you might be at your family home in a small town in Denmark, Belgium, or the United States, the next week you might be in totally unfamiliar surroundings in a hotel or small apartment in Paris or Milan.
Lots of new models cannot cope with this. They become lonely and depressed, which affects their motivation and work. This can be made even worse if bookings don't happen as quickly as expected. So many potential models will give up and return home within the first couple of years of starting.
It can also happen that you work as hard as you're able, do what's aksed of you; you get along fine with people in the industry, your agent believes in you, but editors and designers just don't think your look is right for them. They might want a more aggressive look, something more striking, or it can be you're too aggressive and striking, and they want a softer look.
Although millions are spent on predicting trends, looks, and needs in the fashion industry, it is not entirely predictable. As a result, somemodels, designers, fashion houses, boutiques and department stores are going to fail. They simply will not be able to persuade people to buy what they're selling.
Sara Blomqvist's advice
Young supermodel Sara Blomqvist offers this advice: "It's all about having the right people on your side. My agencies are amazing and I know that they work really hard for me. I'm so disciplined. I plan where to go and in which order every evening, and then I try my best to stick to that plan. I usually see work as work, so I don't get that nervous. I kind of just go with the flow. I would never say that I think an item is really ugly though, that wouldn't be respectful to the client or whoever decided the look. Besides it's always good to have different looks in the book."
by Giles Devos. With thanks to Anna Wintour