Model Diaries #1 The Best & Worst Part Of Modeling

As featured on OYSTER MAGAZINE

By Bridget Hollitt – @bhollitt – IdleClutter

Backstage hustle, honesty, and a whole lot of popcorn.

I asked a bunch of my friends to tell me about their best/worst moments in modelling, and what their dreams are. Answers are anonymous to keep it real. Introducing the jumbled thoughts of a jumble of models backstage!

The Best

– Travelling, meeting awesome people who have changed my life and taught me so much.

– Walking exclusively for Prada.

– The people you get to meet. You literally make so many friends all over the world, learn more about culture and history through them than you ever would studying.

– The part of modelling that I love is being apart of the creative process of design. Often we get to experience the birth of a design, from being a bundle of different fabrics to something with life and character, that’s a pretty special thing to see happen.

– Modelling has helped me to open my eyes to other cultures of the world. I would’ve never been able to see the things I’ve seen if I didn’t model.

– The travel, the friends, getting free blow dries, and free pics for tinder.

– In an industry like this, the creative visions and exciting ideas have no limits and there are no boundaries when it comes to creating something you love. Every day I feel beyond lucky to live in a world where I am constantly inspired.

– Best experience would have to be going to Bali, the first trip totally changed my view on the world and was just an all round great time.

– Best part of the job for me would have to be actually doing my thing infront of the camera it’s such a good feeling when you and the photographer know it’s great, it’s a great feeling.

The Worst

– The waiting. I’ve spent 17 hours waiting for fittings sitting in an empty lobby with no wifi. 4 days in a row.

– When I got a third degree burn on my scalp from a crimper at fashion week.

– It was a smaller fashion show in New Zealand and the changing room was in a covered car park in the middle of winter. We spent hours waiting around in the freezing cold, barefoot and definitely not dressed for winter weather.

– The hardest part would probably be learning to deal with rejection. It’s hard to learn that you can’t take things too personally and that the jobs you do or don’t do don’t define or diminish you as a person.

– The blurred feeling between being made to feel extremely special to in-humane at times, being touched and pulled at constantly, a lot of people sometimes forgetting you’re human. Feeling like a “diva” if you speak up about anything even if you’re genuinely in pain, concerned etc.

– When bookers at my agency tried to use cheap manipulative tactics like money and the fear of being ‘dropped’ to get me to do something I really didn’t want to. Usually I feel like they truly have my back so this was a bit of a blow.

– Eating healthy and only healthy is really difficult because you get into a headspace of constantly thinking about everything you’re eating and it’s not that you’re starving yourself but if you eat the tiny bit of chocolate you will not stop thinking about it, and that can really effect your confidence.

– Nude underwear…the worst.

– To be honest the worst part of the job for me is the feeling of not having a home. I mean of course theres always where you grew up, where your parents live but its hard for models to have a place of their own because we go to so many different cities. We can’t necessarily have a partner or a pet in a little apartment somewhere until you really establish your career somewhere, where you know you’ll get work no matter what time of the year it is.

– I feel that people outside the fashion industry have an extremely warped perception of what modelling actually involves. There’s a layer of gloss that creates this mystical utopia where models have constant glamorous, high paying shoots, free clothes and amazing parties. It washes straight over all the 5am call times, the lack of personal space and the 10 hour days of look books changing through 100+ outfits in shoes 2 sizes too small.

– The fashion industry can be very superficial. It’s not very fulfilling to talk about appearances all day everyday. I find that it’s very hard to meet people in life whom you have a genuine connection with and even harder to find that in this industry.

– Shaving my legs every day!

– There are times when I feel as if I’m not even recognised as something with feelings, having my hair pulled in every single direction, my hair being ripped out and bobby pins being stuck into my scalp whilst my face is getting progressively irritated by the constant removal and applying of makeup.

– Watching friends feel worthless because of their size. For girls who really want this it’s heart breaking to see them struggle to succeed against a numerical standard of body size, on top of all the other moulds people in this industry insist you fit.

– There’s a lot of pressure. It’s not just you that runs your life, it’s an agency or sometimes even multiple agencies. Just because I’m a model and I’m young people automatically think that they’ve got an opinion of what I should be doing with my life. My life, my choices. My body, my food. Also just because I’m a model doesn’t mean that I don’t have feelings. Everyone assumes that what they say won’t hurt us. But if someone tells me to eat one more time, I’ll probably cry (not really but it’s really not nice when people say that)

– The unpredictability.

The Ultimate

– To be a Victoria’s Secret model.

– To be able to make a career out of acting. To be able to do what I love and create and perform, while making a living off it would be a dream. Also being surrounded by friends and family while doing so would be an ideal world.

– When I’m gone, I want people to remember my name and say it with respect for whatever it is I did while I was around.

– I haven’t figured out what I want to do yet, where I want to go. But my dream is to travel the world, and not just stay in hotels with resorts and spas, but actually camp on the side of mountains and in rainforests, I want to help build animal shelters and make a difference in the world.

– I think there’s a lot more to life than just working non stop and only going on a holiday over Christmas. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but I want to live my life in a way that I can tell people crazy adventure stories. Just squeeze as much out of it as I can really, and see what the world has to offer.

– My dream is to make the world a better place. And I hope that modelling can give me a platform to do that. It’s true that models have an impact on young girls/children and I want to be a positive influence for them and teach them that treating everyone equally is so important in life. I’d also love to be a movie star and do all the biggest campaigns in the world haha but that’s what every model wants.

– My dream is to do something genuinely stimulating & fulfilling, whether that involves modelling or not. At the moment it doesn’t, but it’s still early days.

– Hopefully one day I’ll work for Prada. Been my dream since I first started, whether it be walking for the label or shooting.

– I dream that one day Ill own a dog. I love them

– To make music everyday.

– What I want most in life is to have meaningful relationships with people. Kind of the opposite of what I do most of the time.

– A room full of bubble wrap and disco balls and 90’s hip hop.

– My dream is simple: to be the best I can be in this job. In the future, I’d like to look back and feel the absolute satisfaction of knowing that I tried my hardest in this industry, no matter the outcome. I hope to stay driven and hard working for as long as I see fit, and take whatever comes to simply enjoy where this crazy journey takes me.