This model will always work. All the bad things you've heard about the Moscow modeling business are true, say the models
The founders of the best modeling agencies in Ukraine talk about their success stories and the rules of running a fashion business in a special website project.
Alla Kostromicheva / K Models
Text: Venya Brykalin
Photo: Cate Underwood, style: Julie Pelipas
“I used to have a crazy rhythm: shows and filming were scheduled two to three months in advance, flights every week. Now I can choose my own job, I have the right to refuse something,” says Alla Kostromicheva. An exemplary off-duty top model looks at me from the screen: Medea’s clean, flawless face, her hair in a ponytail, her sweatshirt on her chiseled shoulders. Alla lives in New York and rarely visits Ukraine, so we conduct interviews via Skype.
Kostromicheva, one of the most sought-after Ukrainian models, admits that her rise to the top was not quick. Alla got into modeling at the age of 16, but for the first two years she almost didn’t work - she studied. After graduating from school, she went to Milan, where she made her debut at the Giorgio Armani show. At that time, the girl did not have any great ambitions, but she had a plan to go to university: in the family, education always came first. Having received a diploma in medical electronics, Kostromicheva returned to thoughts about a modeling career. At 21, she went to Europe again - this time to Paris. The first Fashion Week there - and immediately an exclusive for the House of Givenchy. But Alla made a real breakthrough when she moved to the New York agency Women. In the first season with the new agency, she did 55 shows, opening shows for Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent. This was followed by advertising campaigns for M.A.C and Bottega Veneta.
With the status of a top model, Alla has new ambitions. “Girls started contacting me on Facebook - some for advice on how to become a model, some asking for help finding an agency. Among them were very promising people. At some point I realized that it was in my power to help them.”
“For ten years in the modeling business, I have met almost all serious casting directors; I can always call or write to them. This baggage is very useful and is what sets us apart from other agencies. But recently I realized that the work of an agent to some extent conflicts with my interests in modeling: more and more often, castings where I come for work end with a discussion of our clients.”
Now there are about thirty girls in Alla's K Models agency, most of them are taking their first steps in Asia. “We try to recruit very young girls so that we have time and the opportunity to influence their development. Therefore, we are still only preparing the first generation of stars, but today I can identify six or seven people who will be successful.”
One of the agency's main hopes is 17-year-old Pasha Garulya with a jaunty gait and a boy's haircut. In her debut season in Paris, Pasha participated in Demna Gvasalia's show for Balenciaga, and is now successfully working on commercial shoots.
“I started my career ten years ago, during which time the business has changed a lot, and there is no single formula for success. Today, the question of status for a model is largely connected only with her vanity. Girls have the opportunity to earn good money, bypassing the stage of prestigious, but often low-paid work on the catwalk and in glossy magazines, which was mandatory for models of my generation.”
Kostromicheva's generation are characteristic models with classic facial features. Today, non-standard types are in fashion, transformable models that can transform depending on the task at hand. “As an agent, I’m interested in working with just such girls, although it’s very difficult to predict who will shoot.”
The unnatural selection that girls go through, driven by the dream of becoming a model and conquering the glossy world, is the main plot of the TV project “Ukrainian Supermodel”. Alla Kostromicheva has been hosting an analogue of the American show for three seasons. “This program is an entertainment product; our task is not to show the real life of models and expose the truth of the fashion business. I'm not sure anyone would really be interested in this. Our project may not turn the participants into top models, but it will instill in them discipline, an understanding of subordination and ability to work - those qualities that newcomers to the modeling business really lack. This show is a school of life, after which any trials will seem like nothing.”
A year ago, Alla gave birth to her son Salvatore - a risky step for a model. But the birth of a child only strengthened her position. “Due to pregnancy and childbirth, I took a break from work, which ultimately played into my hands: I returned to the business renewed - and this fueled interest in me.”
To my last question, does Alla consider herself truly beautiful, one of the most beautiful girls in the world answers simply: “I would really like to look good in a selfie, but, alas, I can’t. That's why I don't publish them. Otherwise, I’m happy with what I have.”
Masha Manyuk Linea 12
Text: Daria Slobodyanik
What I’ve been doing for a long time is not only modeling, it’s a mission: I help girls realize themselves. At Linea 12 we don’t “spoil” them, so years later they bring their daughters to us. It's a matter of trust." During our interview, several young models are present at Masha Manyuk's agency. They speak in whispers so as not to disturb the boss. The spectacular brunette Manyuk - sharp, categorical and demanding - has been in the modeling business for 20 years and ironically calls herself a “shark”.
Masha hardly remembers her modeling career: the girl with an economic education and a lively character did not stay in modeling for long. She says she quickly became bored, although her career included shows in Tokyo and shooting for Dior advertising campaigns in Paris. “The best memories of that time are travel. In the 1990s, I was only in Mexico three times, and for most Ukrainians then it was the stuff of science fiction. In general, at my age, modeling was an adventure. For some reason, for some reason, we flew to the exhibition of national economic achievements in Las Vegas on a huge Ruslan cargo plane. We were transported along with the exhibition objects - it was cheaper that way. There were no seats there - we rested in sleeping bags.”
20 years ago, Manyuk became the head of the Linea 12 agency, which a couple of years later became one of the three strongest in the country, standing next to L‑Models and 1Mother Agency. In 1996, the Manyuk agency became the talk of the world: its ward Diana Kovalchuk from Vinnitsa won the Elite Model Look in France, signed a contract with the Elite Models agency, became one of the first top models in the CIS, and Patrick Demarchelier himself shot the first lookbook for her.
“At Linea 12 we don’t spoil girls, so years later they bring their daughters to us. It's a matter of trust"
The director of Linea 12 is known for his unusual approach to selecting girls - Manyuk says that he always chooses models with character. “When a girl comes to our agency, first of all I listen to her. She talks to her colleagues, and I listen. If something bothers me, I go out and ask questions.
Stas Yankelevsky and Irina Timofeeva / L-Models
Text: Irina Pshenishnyuk
Photo: Kseniya Kargina, style: Nadiia Shapoval
“In my experience, out of ten thousand girls aged 14 to 20 years old, only one can work as a model. Yes, at the casting it seems that there are many girls with model parameters, but in fact this is not so,” says Stas Yankelevsky, director of the international department of the Kyiv agency L-Models. You can trust him: Stas has been involved in the modeling business for more than twenty years, and all the most successful models in Ukraine are from his agency. At the fall-winter 2016/2017 shows alone, she did about forty shows.
Yankelevsky started in the nineties, while simultaneously making a program on Kharkov television. He remembers that time with a smile: “Look at Style.com how funny Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell are at the 1993 Chanel show. Only Klein's models look like models; the rest are women who accidentally ran onto the catwalk. And our girls behaved the same way: they went to the point, took some ridiculous poses, and in the hall they applauded and said: “Oh, look, mine has gone!” Sometimes they carried flowers. Model status was necessary to maintain the image of a successful girl: she parked in her Audi, received $10, and left. It was all very funny."
The legendary scout Gia Dzhikidze, who discovered Natalia Vodianova and Irina Shayk, persuaded them to work together, but Stas went to L-Models. In 1999, the most sought-after models were the winners of beauty contests: chic ladies with an oligarchic-sponsor background, but Stas recruited completely different ones - very thin and very young. In 2000, Paul Roland, founder of the Women modeling agency, chose Stas's girlfriend to work in New York - and this began the collaboration between L-Models and Women. Stas believes that Paul has formed a new fashionable type. It was he, together with his partner Mohammed, who introduced the fashion for androgynous girls. Mohammed was one of the strongest bookers in the world: it was he who raised Irina Kravchenko.
“It was difficult to sell new types of models, but the worldview was changing, and from the 2000s the first top models began to appear in the country.”
“Stas’ program ran for ten years and was very popular,” says Irina Timofeeva, director of L-Models. - We used it to our advantage. When the Karin agency appeared and it was impossible to break through, we agreed with the designers: “It’s empty, you take the full lineup from us and you get a 10-minute story about your collection.” Lilia was the first designer to pay attention to us. She was very advanced, worked in Europe and was the first to start hiring thin androgynous models who did not dance on the catwalk, but walked.”
At first, it was very difficult to sell new types of models, but the worldview gradually changed, and from the 2000s the first top models began to appear in the country - Pirozhkova, Markina, Sasonkina, Telnaya. According to Stas, unusual appearance is now in fashion: “Casting directors are looking for faces on the verge of ugliness: protruding ears, an irregular nose, obvious disproportions. But such girls will do several shows, pose for a couple of magazines - and will sink into the abyss, but the beautiful ones will remain. Beautiful faces are commercial, they work longer.”
Yankelevsky calls sharply increased competition a feature of the modeling business today: “Thanks to Instagram, Facebook and other social networks, scouts and casting directors have received enormous resources. The real hunt for new faces has begun. Now it’s important not just to open the show, but to last at least three seasons.”
Irina Timofeeva considers the ideal age to start a modeling career to be 18-19 years old, although she admits that she starts working with 14-year-olds: “Otherwise someone else will take them.” This is why modeling is a business with the highest risks: “For us, everything actually depends on the children! We build their careers, but anyone can suddenly leave for another agency or leave. For us, this is a stab in the back, because we perceive even teenagers as business partners.”
“Directors, bookers, scouts - everyone should have very developed intuition,” says Stas. - I get a thrill from this business, but I can’t say that I fully understand it. Otherwise I wouldn’t be interested.”
Yulia Krinitskaya and Evgenia Timoshenko / Faces
Text: Venya Brykalin
Photo: Kseniya Kargina, style: Nadiia Shapoval
Regulars of Kyiv gossip columns Yulia Krinitskaya and Evgenia Timoshenko look and work like “yin and yang”. Yulia, a blonde with wide eyes and active gestures, jokes a lot and fits three stories into one sentence. Evgeniya is a brunette with a deep gaze, thoughtful and careful in her formulations. The interview takes place as if in fast motion: the story jumps from the past to the future, from general facts to the personal, from Yulia to Evgenia and back.
Personal experience is the foundation of Faces' work. Formerly models, Krinitskaya and Timoshenko left the profession at the beginning of the 2000s. Then there was the organization of national and international beauty contests, where their inquisitive gaze from hundreds of contestants snatched out potential stars of the podium. This is how the idea of opening my own modeling agency was born. Krinitskaya and Tymoshenko talk about their main successes and greatest hopes with noticeable pleasure.
According to Krinitskaya, the start to life was given to her by the legendary scout of the nineties, Gia Dzhikidze. He met 16-year-old Yulia in Kiev Passage and offered to conduct test photography. Then there was Paris and a contract with Karin, which was gaining momentum. But the accident put her modeling career on hold. “I had a story like any Cinderella from the post-Soviet space. Only in mine there was a pit stop, which made it possible to reconsider plans for the future,” Krinitskaya laughs, dismissing further questions. And he immediately switches to discussing the current affairs of his charges.
The main weapon of Faces is 26-year-old Yana Godnya from Uzhgorod. Having started her career with commercial shooting, six years later she made a sharp turn towards catwalk fashion - in the very first season the model received an exclusive Calvin Klein Collection, then followed by Céline and Louis Vuitton shows. Today Godnya cannot be found in Ukraine (she made an exception only for the shooting of the anniversary issue of Vogue), but her curls and freckled face adorn the best catwalks on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Faces that you remember after the first meeting are the calling card of Faces”
“Success in modeling doesn’t come overnight, that’s a myth. Some people need a year or two of hard work, others are forced to spend five years. Yana absolutely deservedly achieved the results she has,” say her agents.
The faces that you remember after the first meeting are the calling card of Faces. In a market oversaturated with supply, this is rare. Such discoveries at different times were Faces students Zhuzhu Ivanyuk, Mila Krasnoyarova and Victoria Kuropyatnikova. And today the Faces management pins its greatest hopes on 16-year-old Valeria Bubleyko, who can be seen in the Wella advertising campaign and in the lookbooks of designer Vita Kin, and 25-year-old Marfa Monk, with Teutonic cheekbones, a heavy look from under side-swept bangs and a boyish gait Hermès, Vivienne Westwood and Ann Demeulemeester were highly appreciated.
“The world is now living in a meat grinder mode. It all comes down to fast food, no one wants to savor it. The same thing happens with fashion and with fashion figures: with rare exceptions, clients are not ready to invest time and effort in future stars. Therefore, out of the general mass, only girls with an exceptional history and strong character make it to real fame,” says Krinitskaya.
“There are not many worthy people,” Tymoshenko continues. - And besides appearance, there should be a lot more that will make a model successful. One minor character trait can ruin your career. It’s sad to see gifted girls miss their chance, so we are always on the lookout and try to be there.”
Why do girls have so much patience? “With the advent of children, you learn self-control,” says Tymoshenko. “We often remember ourselves and our modeling past: both Yulia and I were just as young and inexperienced.” When asked if they are ready to put their daughters to the test of modeling, Krinitskaya answers with a laugh: “Absolutely! As serious modeling agents, we are preparing a new generation, which is why we only give birth to girls. Between us we already have four new faces.”
Vladimir Yudashkin / 1Mother Agency
Text: Venya Brykalin
Photo: Kseniya Kargina, style: Nadiia Shapoval
The 1Mother Agency office occupies a small room in a two-story mansion in the center of Kyiv. The atmosphere here is classic for a modeling agency: in the center of the room there is a long conference table, bathroom scales are nestled by the window, strictly under the stadiometer, and garlands of composites, the main working tool of models, are hung on the white walls. Our interview is scheduled for Saturday, but Vladimir Yudashkin is not afraid of working on a day off: he has just finished a Skype training for freelancers who scour the vastness of Ukraine in search of potential top models.
“Currently there are 25 girls working in the agency. About half are new faces, we are preparing them for launch on the international market. Now they are undergoing baptism of fire in Tokyo and Singapore. Another five are girls who are already in Paris, but will really “shoot” in a season or two. And of course, our stars who work at the top level,” says Yudashkin about the structure of 1Mother Agency. Among the agency's stars are Dasha Khlistun, who starred in Anthony Vaccarello's debut advertising campaign for Saint Laurent and opened the latest Paris fashion show for Chloé, Victoria Ignatenko, a regular participant in Dolce&Gabbana marathon shows, as well as Gucci exclusive Kristina Abibulaeva. Here is also one of the main debutantes according to Models.com, Evgenia Migovich, who in her first season did 37 shows and opened the Nina Ricci show.
“I got into modeling when I realized that monotonous office life was not fun. I sent my resume to a small agency and was immediately accepted into the team. After working there for only a month, I received an invitation to the Karin agency - one of the strongest at that time in Kyiv. Then I met John Casablancas, who had just sold the Elite agency. He was preparing a new project with a simple but brilliant idea: whoever controls the models can dictate the terms of the entire fashion industry. These people were scouts who look for girls and introduce them to modeling agencies. Casablancas was opening a network of scouting agencies StarSystem and invited me to take over the Ukrainian office. After working there, I formed my own vision, left and started my own company.”
“Whoever controls the models can dictate the terms of the entire industry.”
Today, in addition to the usual search for models on the streets, on scout tours around the country and on social networks, 1Mother Agency has established the DreamScouting system, which works as an Internet project. Anyone can, by filling out a form on the agency's website, propose a new person - and track the status of their application, including the process of signing a contract and calculating commissions. According to Yudashkin, the system is so successful that supply is many times greater than demand. “At the initial stage, it is very difficult to understand which of the girls we watch (and this is a huge number) will be able to become a successful model in the future. To do this, you need to have instinct and faith, because the key to the success of a modeling agency is to make the right choice and not deviate from it.”
It is easier to meet Yudashkin himself at the height of Paris Fashion Week than to catch him in Kyiv - for example, on the lively Saint-Honoré, when he accompanies a group of his new faces to a casting, or at the entrance to a show, where he patiently waits for one of his charges to help get to the location of the next show.
“The most important thing in girls is desire and character. To succeed in modeling, you need to have ambition, and, as a rule, we have to instill this in models, teach them to believe in themselves. It is also important to be open and easy to communicate with. But the side effects of Soviet upbringing - timidity and shyness - really interfere with work.”
According to Yudashkin, the perception of the modeling business in Ukraine has changed. Today, this profession is no longer associated with bathhouses and escorts, but is considered by girls and their parents as a serious step on the path to growing up. For many, this is an opportunity to earn their first money and see the world - the same as that provided by exchange travel programs or Work & Travel.
“The fashion market is growing at an unimaginable pace. More and more brands are appearing, increasingly organizing shows, shooting lookbooks and advertising campaigns - business, despite the crisis, is acquiring grotesque proportions, and this is certainly good for modeling. For our top girls today there is more work than they physically can do, so they have to choose from three offers and refuse two.”
Yudashkin’s plans include the development of a scouting system in Ukraine and the opening of representative offices of 1Mother Agency in Russia and Belarus, from where proposals from new faces are already being received. “Many models have difficulty obtaining a US work visa, so I want to open a scouting agency in the US, where the main work is concentrated.” Judging by the enthusiasm of Vladimir Yudashkin, the whole world will follow America.
Today we want to talk about the life of a model girl. What is the life and fate of girls who wanted to become models. Is everything good there or are there some negative aspects...
The world admires 8-9-year-old models, curling their lips at the camera at the request of their mother... At the age of 14, some young divas have already conquered half the world, and at 20-25 they went into the shadows without the right to rehabilitate their career... A cruel business, but for those who hope for maybe or a rich sponsor - you won’t understand this at the first steps of the journey.
After 2000, the popularity of the modeling profession simply began to peak. If before this period, despite the popularity of beauty contests, many were still influenced by Soviet training, puritanical upbringing, and the modesty of their parents by inertia, then later “the brakes failed.”
Then the media and the opinions of the younger generation were filled with propaganda of a carefree, beautiful and expensive lifestyle, which, naturally, bore fruit. I remember a period when girls wanted to be either models or singers, only a small part wanted to become something else.
And although everyone has heard and knows that today the profession of a model is not very different from the expensive, “most ancient profession”, this does not stop the girls. However, in modern times, the popularity of the modeling business as a working niche has declined - perhaps partly because the fashion for such a life has passed; over the years, many negative aspects of this lifestyle have emerged, and more prestigious alternatives have appeared.
For example, today it is quite “fashionable” to make a career while remaining beautiful; there is also such a niche for the existence of beautiful girls as sponsorship of rich men.
How many of them, girls who became models or dreamed of becoming models, achieved something in life? How many are at least more or less settled in life? How many of them got married and erased the past from their memory like a bad dream, becoming ordinary housewives, mothers of lovely children?
How many were left on the sidelines with broken destinies and unfulfilled hopes? How many were killed by rapists and crime bosses in fights with their own kind, in whose lives female models had the status of toys for decoration? This is exactly what our conversation will be about...
About the number of models and modeling agencies in Russia (2013 data):
“In Russia, this business began to emerge in the 90s. There are currently about 3,000 modeling agencies operating on the Russian market, but not all of them can be considered successful. Fashion houses existing in Russia are not able to provide work for all the models produced by modeling agencies, the number of which is growing every year. And not all fashion designers can pay for the services of modeling agencies.”
According to information for 2002, there were about 2.5 thousand modeling agencies and more than 150 thousand female models in Russia.
According to the current situation, it is unfortunately impossible to determine the number of female models living in Russia. But if we go by the figures of the lower profession - there are about 2 million prostitutes - then there are about so many models, or a little more.
And straight to the sore point: are the models mostly ladies of the ancient profession or highly spiritual, freedom-loving hetaeras? People who know the modeling business from the inside will say with confidence that there are no white and fluffy, pure and innocent people among those following the chosen fashion path, that 99.9% of them are the same corrupt “dolls”, but a little more sophisticated, smart, beautiful, than standing on the highway in abandoned Bobruisk. and sometimes they are the same, but miraculously found themselves in a better environment and dressed a little more expensively. Is this true?
The modeling business itself involves advertising, selling... a product, a brand, a brand... Quote from the movie "Gia": fashion is not art or even culture, fashion is advertising, and advertising is money, and for every dollar you earn, someone has to pay."
The attitude towards girls as a means of advertising, in addition to the attitude of society towards them, develops in the girls themselves a certain attitude towards themselves. Very soon they understand that while others make money with their brains, become engineers, lawyers, mine gold, create something useful, then they, models, make money with nothing other than themselves, their appearance. They have nothing but appearance.
Those who realize that they need acumen, will, and wisdom somehow “nail themselves” to the board in life. Well, many, having realized that they themselves are a commodity, after the decline in the peak of their popularity as a model, or against the backdrop of blinding fame, lose their integrity (if they had any) and become a commodity in every sense.
But let's lower the criticality of tone a little. Behind the numbers, the stories of supposedly “prostitutes”, the lives of the most ordinary girls... They played with Barbie dolls or, for the younger ones, listened to Via Gra songs in kindergarten; they were raised by society and parents raised by the same society. Very often people live in networks of stereotypes and dogmas that were not created by them, but still the choice is made by the person himself.
The girls didn't dream of becoming prostitutes, they dreamed of becoming models, they didn't know what was what in reality. Judging by the experience of my friends, we on the bench, as teenagers, imagined walking down the catwalk, being “photographed” in couture dresses... we didn’t think that there was a cool negative in all this, we wanted a beautiful life, but the main thing is fame.
Then, those who grew up with data suitable for the modeling business went to “audition” for different agencies... I don’t know anything more about the fate of some of them. I did not reach 175 cm in height, and, thank God, the appearance of children prevented me from becoming a famous fashion model.
But the girls I knew from the “dreamers” - who did go into this field and about whom I know something - got involved with bad companies, lived a comfortable life, but without a family, did not give birth to children.
And several girls with quite model characteristics - graduated from universities, led an ordinary life, had a small career, did not stand out from the crowd after their youth, gave birth to children by the age of 30.
Suddenly falling wealth, "falling" - in the literal sense of the word, on those who are a little luckier than others - spoils most people, and women even more so. Ordinary girls from the next yard are spoiled by their lives, the conditions they find themselves in, money and attention to which they are not accustomed.
But mostly, girls eager to fulfill their dreams of fame get stuck at the beginning of their journey, limited to only meager earnings at car shows, demonstrations of clothes of small brands, underwear, and even then many of them appear there with the goal of “hooking up” someone rich .
Very many people manage to hook up with this rich guy, but there can be no talk of marriage, she is used as a commodity, and then she again looks for someone like the first. This is how youth, youth ends, and after 25, maximum 30 years, the model, to put it mildly, is no longer liquid... And this is a very favorable situation, because there are enough cases when girls go missing, they are rolled into concrete, raped, killed.
And even if she became Miss Russia-00, she is not immune from the attacks of zealots, criminal authorities, psychopaths, quite the opposite: these elements stick to her like flies, along with fame she acquires a multiplying breeding ground for evil spirits, and at first, out of naivety, she is lost , thinking that everyone loves her and does not wish her harm.
Over the years of wasted youth, a girl who puts all her energy into a “career” as a model often does not have time to acquire any specialty; she, as a rule, is not trained in anything other than earning money by posing and defiling. And by the time she “retires,” that is, by the age of 25-30, she is left broke if she was unable to somehow find a different place in life or get an education.
Life puts you in a position to earn money somehow, and often this “somehow” is completely unsightly and unworthy. Accustomed to life in nightclubs, to a sometimes good existence in the capital or large cities, ladies do not want to return to their village with a bag on their shoulders; in their opinion, this is the end of life.
Therefore, many of the girls who came to big cities in search of the best, not finding it there, resign themselves to any situation, but at the cost of their honor they remain in their usual place of residence.
How many prostitutes dreamed of becoming models before becoming prostitutes? How much steel? And how much do they cost on the highways, and not even on websites in questionnaires?
But there are rural girls (according to one statistics) who just dream of becoming prostitutes, and the same number of guys as girls from their fellow villagers dream of becoming police officers.
But we live in a more civilized society, I hope...
And now about the seriousness of the modeling business. Yes, yes! We associate, and, you see, most other people associate this area with... (to put it bluntly) prostitution and something similar. But if you look at everything differently, a lot becomes clear. Let's depersonalize young or not-so-young beauties, pretty ladies, and remove the non-compliance with the moral aspect in some nuances, let's look at modeling as a business.
By the way, there are top models, photo models, supermodels, etc. But even those who walk the catwalk, they must not only walk like a shadow in a couture dress with a sour but pretty face past crowds of guests and fans - they must represent the company, be its face, carry the product in all its grandeur and beauty.
But girls want an easy, carefree, rich life, luxurious gentlemen, expensive cars, and not to work. Many do not even think about studying either a profession or a university, and beauty quickly disappears, the years fly by like birds, and now at the age of 30 she is just an uneducated, average woman with a spent youth, often without children and husbands.
A few plow like horses, and such people will be in demand everywhere, even if they are a little less than saints, and by mistake went into the modeling business, or even achieved something in it - they have become someone, not something. The problem for girls is precisely this, and not that they lack external data.
There are, of course, cases when a model becomes a star by accident and thanks to a miracle: her and her potential behind tons of robes and unnecessary things was noticed by some “producer-promoter” on the street or in an alley between cheap hotels, where she walked with downcast eyes, dyed hair into a bun, no longer hoping for anything. And here you have a wizard on a blue helicopter. But this is an accident and a rarity.
Basically - a lot of beautiful, really beautiful girls are left behind because they don’t want to do anything, they turn up their noses at the first successes, and they are quickly put in their place or sent back to the past.
In fact, millions of beauties walk around the world, beauty is banal, and youth will end sooner or later. But the newly minted stars, who have just received their first fee, do not understand this... They quickly find replacements; there are only a few people who have become legends for decades... and how many failed destinies?
From an article about the disadvantages of being a model:
« Test of glory.
Very often, having successfully starred in a couple of commercials, a model already imagines herself as a superstar. Presentations begin to be late, new demands appear on the make-up artist, working conditions and salary. Such antics usually end in failure, the star-studded one is deprived of the project, and a replacement is not so difficult to find.
In addition to type, the main factors taken into account are stamina and the desire to work in any conditions. Hence the conclusion: if you are not recognized as a muse or a catwalk star by fashion designers and customers, then there is no point in showing off. Even if you really want to show off the magazine, on the cover of which you, wearing the new Miss Sixty collection, came to a party with the host of the scandalous show. The only thing that will save you is an insane desire to work and the hope that maybe over time you will be appreciated.
Connection with crime.
No matter what the owners and representatives of modeling agencies say, people who earn money dishonestly (let’s call them that) are not averse to spending time in the company of beauties. They come to shows, presentations and, as if by chance, meet young beauties. Further - depending on the circumstances.
Many girls are captivated by the luxury and attention of rich men, but living with such a man is the same as following a thread over an abyss. For example, together with her fiancé, killer Alexander Solonik, Svetlana Kotova, Miss Russia - 96, was killed. Elya Kondratyuk, Miss Charm - 98, on the orders of her rejected lover, crime boss Ruben Grigoryan, was doused with sulfuric acid and then went blind.
Anorexia.
Losing weight is a lifestyle for any self-respecting model. If we take into account the statistics, 90% of the population of our planet wants to lose weight. What then can we say about people who actually earn their living with their bodies? Constant stress and the desire to be no worse than others push them to regularly restrict their diet.
Gradually, this becomes a habit, and in pathological cases, girls try to almost completely give up food. The trouble is that not everyone understands that this is a balance between life and death. Treatment for bulimia or anorexia is just as difficult as for drug addiction.
In addition to anorexia, the model also develops other ailments: varicose veins, prolapsed kidneys due to walking in high heels at a young age, and the problem of giving birth to a child due to too little weight.
Salary.
Only world celebrities earn millions. Basically, the models are poor girls. For work at an exhibition, presentation, filming or display they pay 1000 rubles per hour; for work accompanied by private individuals - 3000-4000 rubles. They pay $30-100 for a show, a certain percentage goes to the agency.”
Let’s add to this the daily routine, diet, long job searches, “early retirement,” society’s attitude as a representative of an unworthy profession, the harassment of dubious gentlemen, the risk of being raped, and so on.
There are positive examples, of course, like Claudia Schiffer and others like her, but these, I repeat, are a few out of millions of others whose destinies did not work out.
Oksana Fedorova, for example, is great, but she doesn’t live well because she became a model; she rather refused this title, as well as the title of Miss Russia, because she had brains, and not just beauty.
About Oksana Fedorova and others, about beauty contests, the underbelly of this business in the program “Beauty is a terrible power”:
Any wise woman, beautiful, who has lived her life, or who is in adulthood, will tell her daughter, even if the latter is very pretty and has a model appearance, that you will not be satisfied with beauty, beauty is not a panacea for ills, despite the opinions of literary classics, beauty saves the world in one of many other failed cases where it ruins many or turns out to be useless.
That you need to acquire a profession, and not even through studying at a university (although this is a good thing), but through your own efforts, achievements, perseverance, you need to become an individual. There are many beauties, but few beautiful personalities.
By the way, as an example of the cruelty of such a machine as the modeling business, you can take the life of one of the best models in the world: Gia Maria Carangi. The world's first supermodel.
From her father’s small tavern, she went straight into the modeling business, where she gained unprecedented success, but, being deeply traumatized in childhood by her mother’s departure, she was very vulnerable in adulthood and easily became addicted to drugs and other bad entertainment.
She fell ill with AIDS and died at the age of 26... 1986 - then she was one of the first women to die from this diagnosis. And it seems that we can say that the fault is not in the modeling business, but in her fate, but how many of the same “jiyas”, who were not even lucky enough to become even a little famous, ended their lives as pitifully as the first supermodel herself, and no one knows about them doesn't remember now.
Thanks to the Internet and global changes in the economy, the world of fashion and along with it the modeling business are changing. Nowadays, fewer and fewer girls dream of trying themselves as a model, choosing other directions in life, and this is understandable, because in the modeling business, especially in Russia, there are fewer and fewer tempting prospects that remain in the past.
Myth 1 “Big jackpot”
Many girls think that there is a lot of money in the modeling business. This is not surprising, because beautiful photos and fashion shows clearly demonstrate this: an ideal body, expensive cars, luxurious jewelry and chic clothes. But, as professionals say, the real fashion business, and everything related to fashion shows, photo shoots, videos, is very little developed in Russia...
All this, of course, exists: not a single advertisement will take place without a beautiful two-room apartment. Try, remove all the beauties from the covers of magazines, banners in pharmacies and stores, from car exhibitions - and what can you advertise? But models do not get big earnings from their work, since the prices are set at meager prices.
For shooting on the cover of a magazine, the model will receive a very symbolic reward, and photo shoots for serious advertising campaigns are offered to rare top models. Therefore, an ordinary model can count on shooting for all sorts of posters, catalogs and other work with a small budget.
In parallel with this, there is another area of activity of models, which is called “promotion”. People don’t really like to use this word because it is associated with handing out leaflets near the subway. But just for the promo, i.e. Large companies allocate money for presentations and promotion of products, and this allows models to earn extra money.
Russian modeling agencies often work a lot in this area, because here you can really make money. Sometimes models have the opportunity to choose an employer with a better offer, but often regular models agree to any contracts and look for work in any way.
There are a lot of beautiful girls in Russia, and in the minds of business, the work of models and photographers is not something worthy of serious payment, so most are forced to agree to a very modest remuneration.
In addition, models and modeling agencies compete with each other, drive down prices, and offer their services at a lower price. And there are many more free models who register on special sites where they post their portfolios and offer their services to potential customers.
With the development of social networks, special communities and public pages have appeared; advertisements from models and employers are constantly posted there. On social networks, there is a lot of activity and information spreads very quickly between interested people.
Looking through the offers of employers, you are surprised at how insignificant the remuneration is offered. And some girls agree, and each time they devalue the model’s work more and more.
Myth 2 “Beautiful life”
There is a myth that models are necessarily happy and rich. We've sorted out wealth - today it's very difficult to make money in the modeling business. Only top models working in the world's fashion capitals and having contracts with major brands earn wealth themselves.
Others have to be content with modest incomes, but at the same time constantly come into contact with the elements of a beautiful life. This causes a lot of different feelings and emotions that do not make you happy.
You have to look for and use all means to achieve your goals. But the model doesn’t have many of these tools and capabilities. The most realistic opportunity to improve your financial condition is to find a rich lover, and ideally a very rich one. But often only a few manage to find a rich sponsor.
Myth 3 “Dust-free work”
The founder of a famous modeling agency, who worked actively as a model in the past, is very indignant at how dismissively people treat the responsibilities of professional models.
For those who think that standing at an exhibition and handing out booklets is not work, she always suggests: “Stand up! Downtime 12 hours. And a stream of thousands of people will walk past you. And many will turn to you with complaints, attention, and their mood.
And you should always smile at everyone - from beggars to chavs. And at the same time, identify potential buyers and give them advertising materials.” Such toughness can only be learned in the army. But even the Honor Guard does not require a constant, sincerely friendly attitude. Without knowing it, girls at these exhibitions receive an education in the specialty “Personality Psychology”.
We must not forget the purely physiological aspects. Because models spend most of their time wearing very high heels, they almost always develop joint and back problems. And the constant fear of losing shape, combined with improper diets, disrupts metabolism.
The model’s daily routine does not involve regular meals at all: the girl often spends the whole day at exhibitions, and in the evening she participates in entertainment events or at holidays, where the tables are laden with delicious dishes. Such a life will definitely have a negative impact in the near future.
Myth 4 “You can’t get into the modeling business by honest means”
This is what mothers of beautiful daughters fear most. In fact, if you carefully and impartially study the modeling business, you will find out that working as a model is no more dangerous than working as a saleswoman and many other types of activities available to a beautiful and photogenic high school or student.
Even the most frightening invitations to castings from the street can turn out to be very profitable and promising. The only thing you need for this is self-confidence and a serious business approach. The reputation of a particular agency is well known and reflected on the Internet. By collecting reviews, talking on social networks and in reality with other models, you can find out everything.
Model agencies that provide various escort services usually do not hide what is the most important and significant part of their income. Therefore, you always have the option to agree or refuse.
Personally, out of curiosity, I wanted to try myself as a model. Of course, I understood that I wouldn’t work, I just wanted to experience everything for myself.
To do this, I contacted different modeling agencies. Now everyone has websites and pages on social networks. I also wrote to model scouts and met some of them in real life. No one hides their true proposals.
If the work involves escorting, intimate services or filming in a very explicit video, this is immediately announced.
Now we can draw conclusions - today it is very difficult to make money in the modeling business, and if there is no opportunity to earn money, then you will only have to watch the beautiful life and pretend that you yourself are living this wonderful life.
Every day you will take photos with the attributes of a luxurious life and post them on social networks so that everyone can see how happy you are, although in fact there is envy, dissatisfaction and disappointment in your soul.
Therefore, you should not go into the modeling business if you are hungry for big money. This work should be enjoyable in itself. It is important for models to love the whole process of photo shoots and experience the pleasure of finding new images and working together with the photographer. And most importantly, work hard!
The modeling business, like any other business, is cruel and merciless. It is only in appearance that the life of a model is beautiful and carefree: a penthouse in New York, a check for 20,000, a limousine under the window... Many people think that this is how it all is... In fact, here are just a few serious problems in the world of models and podiums:
1) low standard of living of models. For the most part, the models live for 10-15 people in one-room apartments in the cheapest neighborhoods. For example, the famous Russian model Anna Vyalitsyna recalls how at the beginning of her career she lived in a tiny apartment with 4 girls and 8 guys!!! The model admits that she often wanted to give up everything and go home, but thanks to the persuasion of her friends, she found the strength to stay and continue to fight for her place in the sun.
2) strict weight requirements. There’s nothing to write about here; everyone already knows stories about how, after another fashion week, several models died from chronic starvation and exhaustion. Some models died right during the shows.
3) sexual harassment. Former model Sarah Ziff specifically founded the Model Alliance organization, which is dedicated to protecting models, including from harassment (Harassment is sexual harassment using one’s official position). In the modeling world this is all too common. It is unlikely that there will be at least a dozen models who will escape this scourge of the fashion business. One of the most famous cases of the Model Alliance is the scandal with photographer Terry Richardson, who became famous for his provocative shooting in the style of soft porn. The methods of work of the prankish photographer turned out to be no less provocative. According to the stories of several aspiring models, Terry behaves more than relaxed on set and often forces models to do things that are not usually shown on the pages of glossy magazines.
At first, Richardson insisted that this was the revenge of girls who had no prospect of anything. But soon top model Rea Rasmussen took their side, confirming that Terry was not averse to taking advantage of her “official position” and going beyond the limits. However, the scandal quickly faded away. Richardson is still under contracts with major fashion publications because, whatever one may say, he shoots very coolly.
All these stories and data from a survey conducted by the Model Alliance at New York Fashion Week last February are confirmed:
More than half of the models started working at the age of 13-16.
Most parents do not accompany underage girls to castings and fittings.
More than 80% admitted to having tried drugs, of which 50% used cocaine.
Almost a third of models were forced into sex by people they encountered at work.
29% admitted to having experienced sexual harassment on multiple occasions.
Sarah Ziff herself claims that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many models complain not only of harassment and demands to lose weight (despite standard parameters), but also of depression, which, according to Ziff, is an occupational disease for many models. The alliance would also like to sort out the payment for modeling work. As you know, many designers pay girls “in kind” - clothes and shoes from shows. “And this is simply dishonest,” says Ziff, who encourages models all over the world to use their brains in their work, rather than beautiful eyes and long legs.
If we recall famous and successful models, we can see that they became such in most cases thanks to the patronage of the powers that be (of the modeling world, of course, these are photographers, designers, stylists, agents, etc.) The same Vyalitsyna was actively promoted by Max Vadukul, famous photographer of Indian origin. There were rumors that he had more than just a working relationship with the then minor model. This is not surprising, because as one model said: “The modest and moral have no place in the world of labels, drugs and rich men.”
You can give many examples when a model becomes successful thanks to an affair (depending on your luck) with a famous man.
Of course, there are exceptions to all rules and you can’t put everyone under the same brush. There are probably models who have achieved everything themselves, thanks to diligence and high efficiency, outstanding external data and an extraordinary mind. But statistics show that there are not so many such models. And behind all the colorful tinsel of the modeling business lies a huge swamp of intrigue, debauchery and everything that we can only guess about...
Thank you for your attention.
Ksyusha Petrova
There is a halo around the modeling profession from idealized ideas about a beautiful life: from the point of view of the average person, this is not work, but a continuous holiday. 90s superstars like Kate Moss and Linda Evangelista immediately come to mind with her famous line “I won’t get out of bed for less than ten thousand dollars.”
In reality, everything is not at all so rosy: this is confirmed by the recent event at Paris Fashion Week, thanks to which the working conditions of models and professional ethics were discussed almost for the first time in non-industry media and social networks. Russian woman Katya Ozhiganova, who now lives and works in France, shared with Wonderzine her observations about various aspects of the modeling business that are not usually discussed openly.
I came to France in 2013 to study computational linguistics: my university was in Strasbourg, and sometimes I went to Paris. One day, an acquaintance showed my portfolio to a casting agency. Casting Office. This organization deals specifically with castings, that is, it communicates between clients and modeling agencies. Everything turned out well: they liked me and began to invite me to filming. Usually large clients refuse to work with models: a designer or photographer can always represent himself and work for himself, but if you are a model, you need to attach yourself to some agency that will connect you with clients. I became friends with the casting director Brice Compagnon, and they began to invite me to different projects - it turned out that I was not tied to the agency, but could work.
It is worth noting that all this happened before the global heyday of street casting: although in France since the early 2000s there has been a magazine WAD, which promotes street style, they began to recruit non-standard models en masse quite recently. I tried to work with a traditional large agency, but quickly left them, and in the end I was invited by the guys from the small men's agency Rock Men, who knew me from the Casting Office. I'm the only girl in Rock Men.
There are many unpleasant parts of the modeling business that are not talked about much, and most of them have to do with finances. In France, for example, taxes are very high. Let’s say an agency enters into a contract with a client to shoot a lookbook. The client receives a piece of paper that says how much he must pay in total - naturally, the models do not know what amount is being discussed, this remains between the agency and the customer. About 30% is a commission to the agency, another 30% goes to all sorts of procedural things and taxes, and in the end the model is left with about 30–40% of the amount that the client paid for her work. The irony is that 36% is the mandatory minimum that models are required to pay by law, but in reality everyone cites this rule to avoid paying models more than 36%.
At the same time, a huge part of the work is not paid - for example, all shooting for the press (editorials). It is very rare that some particularly wealthy publications can pay for editorial, but this is rather the exception. Since about the 90s, an unspoken rule has been established: if you work for the press, you don’t get paid.
Girls come into modeling thinking it's such a relaxing pastime, and after a couple of years you look at them - they're all tired and dried out.
Another big problem is that many people, including those within the industry, do not take modeling seriously. A lot of girls come into modeling thinking it's such a relaxing pastime, and at first they think everything is cool, but after a couple of years you look - they're all tired and dried out. This is indeed a very exhausting job, and the damage to appearance is no joke: I have seen more than once how makeup artists neglect hygiene, for example, they paint all models with the same brush, and because of this I myself contracted staphylococcus. I'm lucky with my hair: I have short hair, so it's difficult to ruin it too much.
France is a country of trade unions, but there is still no model union. There is an employer who feeds, drinks and clothes you, but then you find yourself indebted for it all and cannot break out of the vicious circle. The situation is especially alarming in the United States, where models accumulate debts of almost ten thousand dollars per season. It is very important to control how much you owe and what you spend on: before, I always made sure that my debt did not exceed 500 euros, but now I generally try not to go into the red and refuse projects that involve my personal expenses. But some girls are in a situation where they can’t refuse work: the agency just says “be in such and such a place at such and such a time,” and no one asks whether you want to do it or not.
Most models' earnings are low: brands would rather spend more money to feature a celebrity in their campaign, and earning a thousand dollars a day like in the 90s is very difficult today. Therefore, many models have an alternative source of income. Very young girls are trying to combine work with studies, but in reality it is not at all easy: you can be warned about the shoot a week, or maybe ten hours before the start - it is clear that the agency will be more willing to work with those who are ready to leave at any time. moment.
I’m glad that I work in a small boutique agency: I can’t imagine how you can develop in a huge company where there are hundreds of girls and no one is specifically looking after you. In a small agency, employees are interested in you having a job; there is a personal approach to each model.
I understand why models are afraid to argue with employers: there is a real chance of losing their job. I hope those who are now entering the business will stand up for themselves
I take part in both men's and women's fashion weeks. At men's, everything is more relaxed: fewer shows, fewer people. In Milan, I was able to work as a freelancer: I was invited by designer Damir Doma, with whom I had been collaborating for a long time, and I was able to come to an agreement with Rock Men. I think that the global trend for fashion, which has powerfully manifested itself at past fashion weeks, will greatly influence the industry. This also has a negative aspect: models hired through street casting can be paid much less than modeling agencies, so agencies will try to reduce prices through fees.
I understand why models are scared to ask and argue with employers: there is still a real chance of losing their job. For example, my harmless text on Models.com greatly agitated the owner of Rock Men - despite the fact that I do not blame my agency for anything and believe that it exists quite worthy in the current system. I hope that those who are now entering business will agree less to the established rules of the game and stand up for themselves. Of course, there are many positive aspects to this work. What attracts me most is the constant change of scenery. I like it when people want me to play, and not be static and obedient, so I am especially interested in working on video projects - I hope that in the future I will completely switch to video.
I worked with Vetements, Damir Doma, Anne Sofie Madsen, Melitta Baumeister, photographed for POP magazine, Purple Fashion, Metal magazine and Chinese Harper's Bazaar. Perhaps what I enjoyed most was working with Acne Studios, they are very respectful of the models and value professional ethics. I took part in shows and also went to Stockholm as a muse model: we worked for a week on creating a new collection. This is perhaps the most interesting format of work: if you were chosen as a muse model, it means that the client liked something about you and your style. They consult with you, ask about your interests, favorite music and clothing preferences - it turns out to be a real collaboration, and not just you standing in front of the camera and breathing or not breathing.
Among the photographers, I was greatly impressed by her, she is not only a pro, but also treats her as a human being. I was very interested to see how she shoots: Weir almost always uses natural light, and works well with light and shadow. Perhaps one of the main advantages of being a model is interesting acquaintances and contacts in the artistic environment.
For me now this is my main job, but it’s temporary: I recently finished studying, went to St. Petersburg for a short time and was thinking of continuing my education in a different direction. I not only act, but I also take photographs - however, I am not inclined towards fashion photography, but towards something more artistic. I recently released my first photo book, it is sold in the Parisian showroom The Broken Arm.
