On valentines day I worked at the curve show in Las Vegas. Curve NV is the swim, intimate apparel and sleepwear show. I was modeling for Affinitas Parfait Intimates. Parfait was the line I was actually wearing. Parfait is a full busted line with sizes up to 44 G, It was awesome to work for a big bust friendly line and everything they make is pretty and fun to wear. Lots of colors and styles to chose from. Anything that comes in a larger size is normally in boring colors or has granny bra written all over it. This job was a combination of fit, promotional and professional presentation modeling. After my day way done I went to go visit some of the other vendors. My favorites were beach bunny and Nu Bra. There were lots of new companies showing this year.

So the new year has brought on a whole new slew of opportunities and issues to my plate.  I’m very happy with the way things are going.  I have a solid plan to build steam around everything that I’m doing.  I’ve begun to deploy my troops on getting things done.  Everything seems to be coming together nicely.

All of my projects are moving smoothly and will be up and running soon.

Check out the video of my www.hauteshopLA.com shoot.

There is a way to get what you want and that means you have to want it %100.  I am seeing so many friends leave LA because they are not doing well because they don’t really want it.  For a while I was sad to see them go and upset with them for giving up.  Then I realized less competition out of the way! Why not decide against it if it isn’t what you want.  This industry is not a walk in the park.  That is repeated many many many times over and people still get mesmerized by the “glamour” of it all.  It’s not easy it’s not always fun to work 18 hours in the rain in a warehouse in downtown LA.  If you’re not slightly crazy and absolutely love this with every fiber of your being not only will you not make it you will struggle.  Figure out if your seriousl7 want it and will do anything it takes to get it.  Thinking outside the box is the main thing,  Oh and the excuse ” I can’t afford_____, I don’t have the money.” Will get you no where.  You have to figure it out and make it happen..  Sylvester Stallone didn’t have a pot to piss in and got Rocky made.  It determination and a fighting spirit.  Being a borderline masochist doesn’t hurt either.  Submerge yourself in your goals and go DO anything you can think of to make what you want to happen.

Ryder Make up Labs shoot

When you start believeing it wont happen for you,  things will slow own. ~Emma Stone

There are a few things you need in your modeling armory.  Proper undergarments being the most important.  When I say nude I mean the color that matches your skin best

Bra’s – always have and bring to work a bra that can be regular, halter, strapless or one shoulder.  Preferable one of the smooth ones in nude and black.

Under Pants – have nude seamless thongs at all times, also nude boy shorts are great for under skirts.  DO NOT show up at a fitting or runway show without these.  Commando brand is great for this.

Shape Wear and Nylons – at minimum you need 3 pieces of shape wear.  A bust to knee length shaper in nude, I have a spanx one and its great.  Also keeps you warm in cooler temperatures.  Waist to thigh shaper.  I have the shorts version in black and nude. These can also be bought in bikini style.  As another option I have a black mesh body suit that I wear under sheer things or prices that are a little itchy.  Control top nylons in various shades are a must.  Do not get in front of a video camera with at the very least control top nylons on.  I don’t care how skinny you are your diaphragm moves when you speak.

nude waist to thigh shape by spanx

After modeling for 10 years I have had the opportunity to work in several markets.  The word “market” is used to describe the location which you are working in.  I started in the Detroit market doing runway and promotional work.  I then began working in Chicago because it was 4 hours away but living in Detroit.  Chicago was my “extended market”.  I was commuting to work in all sorts of places like Miami and Texas and California.  Before I landed in LA, I was on my way to transitioning to Miami.  Knowing NYC wasn’t going to work well with me because I’m not 6 foot tall and weigh 90 pounds.  Having a 34D bust doesn’t really fly well their either.  So the curvier version of myself decided Miami was the place for me because I have a commercial look and the measurements of the girls working in Miami at the time.  Then along came California opportunity.  The first time I went was the last week of November in 2008.  Within 5 months of commuting back and forth I was living here.  I was on a business trip and decided to stay.  Four months later I went back  to Michigan to collect my  beloved  Kitchen Aid toaster and my dog.  That 4 months were some of the toughest months of my life.  I will elaborate on the trials, tribulations and troubles of that first trip to California and and my first 4 months living in LA in my book on modeling advice.

GLITTER magazine in Tokyo

When my first hiatus rolled around I nearly lost everything.  Nobody told me people stop working before thanksgiving.  The next year I decided that I needed to expand markets once again. Working in Japan wasn’t to hard to run across.  One of my clients referred me to another designer who like my measurements and decided I was going to be his denim fit model.  He manufactures in Tokyo so there I went.  The first trip I took to Tokyo, I ran the town trying to find and agent in Tokyo.  In my mind this was going to work out because I had previously had a spread for Jupiter and Juno purposes in Glitter magazine which is like the IN Style of Japan.  Turns out I was wrong, those eastern European girls are hard to compete with.  Second, I found an agent in London, made a trip there in October 2009.  Next stop was Paris in December.  This was a serious experience.  I have yet to get an agent in Paris, the competition is FIERCE!!!!!!!!!!!  I had an amazing time working in Paris.  Momartre is the only other place I would even remotely consider living besides LA.  I highly recommend a trip to Paris even for the hot chocolate.  I left the fashion capitol for last.  January/ February I went to Milan and Roma.  Amazing experience however, I found it tough to work with Italians.  I don’t speak Italian but I can read it.  I never thought any of that would happen to me.  My favorite place to work was Paris.  You just feel amazing there.  This winter I want to get to Greece and Madrid.  In recent weeks I have been picked up by and agency in Amsterdam, Barcelona and a global agency.  The ride to world domination is non stop.

DIGITAX PARIS

As of yesterday, I’m officially doing industry consulting,  If you have questions for modeling, TV, Film, Acting, music videos, music, parties, about anything you can think of I will be taking questions and pointing the qualified into the right direction and if I REALLY like you, make some phone calls on your behalf.  If there is any thing  my blog  doesn’t cover just let me know and I will set it up.

Rachel Mullins modeling advice

This subject has been irritating me for years.  The reason for working at anything is to support yourself.  If you want to be a model for the “glamorous thing that you think it is” DONT.  The fashion industry is a business not a beauty pageant.  Beauty Pageants are for people that need to fell pretty and external validation via beauty.  Everyone in any business is there to make money.  If you’re looking for validation try to win a Pulitzer or a Nobel prize.

The point I’m trying to make is, DO NOT WORK for any company that is making money from your image or services and not giving you money in return.  Giving “exposure” as a form of payment isn’t going to cut it.  They are only exposing you to more people who wont pay you.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t do TF or anything of the sort.  Do not let anybody make money off of you while you don’t make any money from you.  To make this work, the Pro’s need to band together and distinguish themselves as professionals.  No need to do business with those who dont make themselves professionals.  Imulate the way you would like to be.  Vogue pays, TV shows pay, Films pay, real businesses pay.  If you would like to do real business, I suggest you pay too.

EXAMPLE

From the about section www.vblazin.com An online magazine

From the Model Submission Section:

Company policy is, WE NEVER PAY ANY OF THE MODELS. We feel we don’t have to pay to expose you to over 4.5 million readers world wide. We never know promise the cover to anyone. We have to sit down and review your photos first.

From the Advertising section:

We’re now selling ad space. For a small price, you can have your business seen by over 8 million plus readers world wide. So where do you want to go? Let us help you get there.

Also we’re soon posting a classified section FREE. So if you have a job opening, or you’re looking for a job, feel free to contact us for details.

According to Vblazin they have between 4.5 and over 8 million readers.  If they all subscribe at $10.00 per year as that’s what most online publications charge.  If they have 6.5 million viewers at $10 per year that’s $65 million a year in revenue. 12 issues a year $5,416,666.70 per issue. I think you can do the rest of the math on that .

the final product, photo by jamal bayette & hair + make up by lyndsey gabrielle

I did a shoot for my book that is being published but it will go in my portfolio “book”.  There are a few things you need to get a good shoot together for your own purposes.

Pre – Production

1. Go through what you have in your book and see what needs updating or what you need in general.  Talk to your agent and see what is missing or what they would like to see you in.  If you don’t have an agent see what you need for a comp card on my comp card basics post.
2. Go through magazines and look at the ad’s or editorials that you would fit into or what you would like to branch out into.  Tare out what you would like to be, on a sticky note write what you like about it. The pose, hair, make up, location, wardrobe ect.
3. Book an appropriate make up artist/ hair person. A good photographer, stylist and a location.  See post on how to book the right people for the job. Shooting tf is all well and good but if you can get around to paying people even $50, if you can manage this the quality of your shoot will improve dramatically.  Locations are a little more challenging.  If all else fails book a hotel room. If your doing studio shots you can use any room with space for a back drop and ample electrical outlets.  Nice houses are great.  Try to get a space you can change in if your shooting out doors.  When I was shooting in Paris outdoors.  I and the MUA carted all of our things in suit cases and changed in various cafe restrooms.  You really have to be resilient when shooting out side.  When shooting in Hawaii, I did my make up in the woods.
4. Set a date and make sure every body keeps it. confirm everything the day before.
5. Put together your wardrobe or hire a stylist.  Show all parties involved your magazine tares to show what the goal of the shoot is.  They will bring what they need to make it happen.
6. If shooting indoors be sure that you bring water and snack for everybody if the shoot last more than 3 hours.

Production

1. Write out what it is that you need to the letter and be sure to pack everything you need for however many looks your doing.
2. Bring the food and drinks
3. Be prepared for parking at the location.
4. Make sure everybody has what they need.
5. I highly recommend bringing an assistant to help you run things while your in hair and make up or generally help out.
6. Shoot just enough of each look to get one amazing image.  You don’t need 5 images of the same look they are useless.
7. Be happy, be on, dont be a diva and take direction.

Post

1. See what the raw images look like.  Look for good face, good pose.  That shows expression and a nice body shape.  Accentuating your features.
2. The next day look at the proofs you marked and see what you still like.  Do those images look worthy of being published?  What needs to be retouched.
3. Put notes on the image numbers for the retoucher.  IE ” even my skin on my knees”, “change the color of my nails” ect
4. Put out the images that represent you best.

Some photos never end up getting retouched. Some get to much retouching.  Misrepresentation is a huge issue.  You never never never want to find yourself being sent home from a job because you don’t look like your photo.  Keep the retouching to a minimum.  If you’re working with a good photographer an know how to do your job you shouldn’t need all that much.  Not so such as to misrepresent yourself.  I worked on 2 photo shoots with the same girl who was sent home from both because she looked a mess.  Horrible hair mostly.  Don’t wear crap extensions, or extensions at all if you can help it.  The point is she’s building a send this girl home reputation.  It’s not what your after.  Models and actresses are meant to be a blank canvas in which the client may paint them to be what they need.  In the same light, don’t be offended when you are made to not look like you.  Its a skill to be a cameleon embrace it because it’s your job.  Once in a make up trailer an actress fought with the head of make up for a film for an hour over “at the end of the day its her face on camera”  not its the face the production rented that on camera.  If you cant hang let somebody who wants your job have it.

Simply Stylist is put on by Caro Marketing.  They merge fashionable people and stylist.  The main goal of  Simply Stylist is to match new and amazing clothes with stylists around LA.  There were 3 stylist who spoke and they were all great.  They told their stories and gave advice to new and upcoming stylists.  Barefoot wine and vitawater sponsored the event.  It was a wonderful evening of open speech and Q & A.  Everybody involved were professionals that had great advice and were still very laid back and encouraging.  Luke spoke on his crash course in styling called School of Style.  Even if you don’t live in LA, you can finish all of his classes in a week intensive program.  Monica Rose is a stylist to the Kardashian sisters.  She was very humble and really does love her job.

This is a ticketed event that was held in a new fashion space on La Brea south of 3rd.  I highly recommend going to meet people and see what you can learn.  I woud love for any of these stylist to have my clothes Heart ME on hand for any of their clients.