The Glamorous Life
of a Model?
Do models
always
look perfect,
always glamorous?
The life of a model is not
as easy as it might seem.
(The inspiration for this article was a freezing cold morning TV show
featuring a hapless model or two.)
Picture this - a photo shoot in a castle, the storyline - romantic and
glamorous. It's a cold November day and you have to look confident and
beautiful. It's going to take a lot to do justice to the scenery. After an
hour and a half of preparation, in make-up and getting dressed in a
chantung silk ballgown you're ready to face the cameras. But first you
have to tiptoe over a muddy field, navigate some rickety stairs and face
sub-zero tempretures while trying to look sedate and serene.
The photographer gives you instructions on how to stand, 'look this way,
don't smile, turn your head...' while you might be wearing as little as a
bikini. Remember, fashion shoots are planned months ahead of the time you
actually see them, so the pictures you see in the June issue of your
favourite magazine may well have been taken in the Autumn/Winter
months.
When you're a size eight trying to squeeze into a size six dress, things can
be a bit of a tight fit. If you could step behind one of those models,
you might see gaffer tape holding a dress in place, or some blu-tack holding
down a restless collar.
Then the photographer gets a 'good idea'... "Why don't we get her to stand in
that second floor window?". Wonderful idea. So now you have to climb onto
that window ledge via a ladder held by two helpful and encouraging
assistants while you're dressed in the tightest pencil-skirt you can squeeze
yourself into.
You've been posing all day, but you still haven't finished - the moon is
out, the wind is up, the light is fading and you have to hold in your tummy
and try and make yourself look sexy in a gold-sequinned dress with a great
big bull-dog clip in the back.
The next picture is you lounging on a chaise-lounge in a low cut dress, you
lean back thinking you look seductive and you're asked to stuff some
sponge down your front to give you more cleavage.
And you've had goose-bumps all day...
The glamorous life of a model?
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