How to Become a Model
What makes a successful model? This question must have been researched a million times — and returned with a million different answers. In other words, there’s no single formula that has set the criteria to become a smokin’ hot model — which lends credibility to the fact that anyone can become a model.
Anyone? Yes, just about. Do you have to be beautiful? Well, come to think of it, no one has defined beauty, either. Now, personally, I think British supermodel Kate Moss has a not-so-sensational face. But ever since she was ‘discovered’ at the age of 16 by a leading UK-based modelling agency, she hasn’t even had any time to look back. She must owe a lot to her agency, I’d say, which really groomed her to look ‘hot’.
If you’re tall, slim, photogenic and ‘pretty’ or ‘handsome’, that will help, of course, but that’s not everything. Perhaps the long and short of it can be summed in the three C’s: Contacts, Confidence and staying Career-conscious.
The above aspects need to be developed, and this is where model agencies step in and do exactly that – through various means such as building your portfolio, arranging shows and sprucing you up in more ways than one.
Model agencies staffed with professionals can help increase your ‘visibility’ factor — which is what you need to build your roster of contacts who matter. There’s no denying that it’s crucial to be in the right place at the right time to get the right exposure you need to launch or boost your modeling career. If you believe that your agency is working with you, you can be assured of windows that will open up opportunities.
And confidence, that’s something any aspiring candidate will need to breathe! To many, self confidence is not something that falls from the sky – and here again, your modeling agency can help you ‘unclutter’ your mind stay focused on exactly what’s needed of you. Clear away the confusion, and confidence steps in.
The last C – staying career conscious. It’s very easy to get frustrated in the glamour world of modeling. Again, your modeling agency is the one that will work for you behind the scenes in getting you assignments, so long as you’ve passed the previous two C’s. You have developed contacts; you’re confident about yourself, and ready to delve into the world of modeling. Stay focused on your career, and your agency will see your motivation and enthusiasm and believe that you can deliver. So would your clients.
So, what happens when you’ve completed your first modeling job? (That is, after the party?) Of course, you look for bigger, more glamorous roles. Here again, if your agency is a strong player, there’s every likelihood that you could sign up as a new face of Revlon or Nike! Why not? The modelling world has space for everyone who really wants to make it big.
What next? There’s always Hollywood. No kidding. A number of today’s ‘hot’ and Oscar-winning celebrities started off as models – Charlize Theron, Halle Berry and Cameron Diaz, to name a few. And oh, Angelina Jolie, too.
