Being a model isn’t a prerequisite for being beautiful and I really wish that all women could be taught that.
It is a conversation I have with friends and fellow industry folk and something that continues to baffle me.
If I had a dime for every time someone told me they wanted to model to validate their beauty or a comment about height restrictions in modelling somehow denies that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, well I’d be on a beach somewhere and not here writing this article.
Stop trying to validate your beauty through modelling. Models are primarily models because they’re photogenic. That doesn’t validate or devalue their beauty but you can take a beautiful girl and put her in front of a camera but if she can’t come alive via the lens, she still won’t get work. Likewise a girl who might not tick all the ‘beauty ideal’ boxes could be amazing on camera. Modelling is a job and just like other fields it has requirements and while there are always exceptions to the rule, the mould breakers, they are just that, exceptions.
If there is any industry that won’t make you feel beautiful I imagine it is modelling. Everyday judged on your looks and for every job won there will have been dozens lost because you weren’t quite ‘right’.
I love the models we work with but I would never want to be in their shoes. Prodded, poked and observed, silent glances around a casting room as someone decides if you are good enough. That is not something I’d like to put myself through.
Like most industries and jobs good models have to work on their craft. They aren’t just pretty faces. It is a physical job and like athletes they have to be in peak performance mode whether they are straight or plus. They have to morph into different roles like actors, be chirpy even when they would rather be anywhere else and sit around as hair is pulled, powder dabbed and clothes wriggled into. Set lights are hot and changing and posing all day is exhausting. There is rarely downtime and you can be in several time zones in a week. And like many other trades modelling requires a vast set of skills and stamina.
You need a certain aptitude for science to be a Doctor, why should modelling be any different? We all have different skill sets and paths. Just because someone isn’t medically smart, that doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. So to just because you might not meet the job requirements to model as a career that doesn’t mean you aren’t beautiful. Your journey is just heading in a different direction.
I know it’s harder because it’s personal it is our looks and not our brains on trial. We are constantly bombarded with images of women we are supposed to want to look like.
But beauty and modelling aren’t mutually exclusive. Beauty is so much more than what a camera lens sees so can we stop selling ourselves short ladies you can be a beautiful model and a beautiful woman both hold equal value.