By Gabby Neal
@gabbyneal__
The fashion industry can be brutal at times. The number of castings and go-sees a model can attend before actually booking a job is surprising – no wonder they need some thick ass skin. Imagine waiting in line for two hours, surrounded by hundreds of other girls, just as tall and gorgeous as you, all competing for the same job. To eventually only be turned down, reason being “If only you were a few inches smaller”.
Or how about being booked for a show, you’ve done all the prep, been going to the gym, eating and drinking right, gone to the castings, made the fittings, turned up on the day and sat in hair and make up. Only to be cut right at the very end. The designer has decided your look doesn’t work. It’s just cruel.
Still, there will always more go-sees and more castings for more jobs. As one door closes, another door opens.
It’s not only thick skin models need, it’s thick ankles – have you seen the some of the shoes they wear? I’m talking 5+inch heels. Screw that!
Alexander McQueen Fall 2009 – 12 Inches
The ability to walk in heels is a must for female models. Re-phrase – the ability to walk well in heels is a must for female models. And if you can’t, I suggest you learn. Basic modeling 101 is walking in heels and making it look easy.
We’ve all seen, if not experienced ourselves, the gut-wrenching (yet hilarious) moment when a girl goes crashing down in her heels. Those poor, tortured ankles attempting to stop the inevitable.
And if you haven’t – then I advise you to watch below.
Even the most experience catwalk goers are prone to an ill fated fall every once and a while. See Candice Swapnell at NYFW? Walking for Givenchy when her knees buckled and she (gracefully) fell to the floor.
I was at a show once (and yes I may have giggled quietly to myself) when this poor girl literally fell straight in front of me. The trooper she was, got up quickly, regained her composure, and finished the show. She looked so young and to be honest, almost as if she hadn’t walked in heels before.
I know I can’t talk, I definitely can’t walk in heels – I struggle to wear them sitting down. But thankfully, I am no model, so I don’t have to.
