Hey what's up you guys, it's Travis, and today we're going to talk about how to become a
model.
I modeled for about three years.
I was based out of New York City as a fashion model.
I traveled to London, Paris, Milan, Athens, and I modeled for about three years working
for various designers from New York.
Dolce and Gabbana, to Giorgio Armani, John Paul Gaultier, Versace.
I did a whole video talking about my experience being a model, where you guys can see the
truth of what it's actually like being a male model.
If you wanna check out that video, you can check it out, up above here.
I'm not really sure exactly where it's going to pop up.
Click on the link and you can check out my experience of being a model and why I eventually
left, because modeling for me was a positive experience in some ways, but it also had a
lot of negative experiences attached to that as well.
I think it's important to know what the reality of being a model is before you start pursuing
a career in modeling, because I wasn't aware of these things before I started modeling,
and I may not have done it had I known the truth about what it was actually like being
a model.
But either way, this video is about how to become a model, because since I posted that
video, surprisingly a lot of people have still messaged me all the time, asking me how exactly
to become a model.
And I know that there are a lot of different strategies out there that aren't very legitimate.
A lot of people will take your money because they want to bank off of your dreams, and
there are lots of scams out there, so I decided to do this video because I just wanna clear
the air, because it's actually very simple to become a model.
There's only a few steps involved.
I want to share those with you guys today, so let's get started.
I think the first thing that you want to tackle when you're deciding whether or not to be
a model is to decide what kind of model you can actually be.
There are two different kinds of models.
There is the commercial model and then there is a fashion model.
The high fashion model is a much harder model to become, because that's the one where you
have the height and weight requirements.
The height requirement for guys is between six foot to six two, and the height requirement
for girls is between five nine to five eleven.
You also have to be relatively slim, because a lot of your modeling happens in Europe,
and a lot of the European clothes are very slim fitting and so you have to fit the clothes.
Apart from just the height and weight requirements, you also have to have a certain look to be
a model as well.
It doesn't necessarily mean they're absolutely beautiful, they can sometimes just have a
very different look.
As a fashion model, they just want something that looks different.
Now commercial modeling is different in that sense because that's the more relatable kind
of model.
That's the one that's kind of open to anybody.
If you have a great smile, if you have a friendly, approachable face, you can probably be a commercial
model.
Commercial models are generally selling products.
So you see the girl that's holding the tube of toothpaste with the big smile on her face
saying, "Buy this toothpaste," that's commercial modeling.
There's a lot more money in commercial modeling than there is in fashion.
Fashion models do not get paid very much.
Again, I address this in the video that talks about what it was like being a fashion model,
and so commercial modeling is a very different approach to modeling.
It's a very different kind of model entirely.
I don't wanna make this video too murky with trying to address both, so if you guys want
me to do a video about how to become a commercial model, let me know down below.
But for now we're gonna focus on being a fashion model because that's what I did.
So for being a fashion model, the first thing you need to do is be realistic.
Not everyone can be a fashion model.
It's a lot harder to be a fashion model because again you have the height requirement, you
have the weight requirement, and you have to have a certain look.
Once you met the height and weight requirements, you need to be realistic about your look.
And I'm not saying, ask your mother.
It's important that you don't ask your mother, or your father, or your grandmother if you
look like you should be a model, because they're probably gonna say yes, and you might be sorely
disappointed when you go out to the real world and find out that you don't actually have
the look of a fashion model.
Find someone other than your close family or friends to tell you whether or not you
should be a model.
That's gonna be very important for just setting your expectations when you pursue the fashion
world.
So once you've decided what kind of model you want to be, and if you have what it takes
to be that kind of model, you're going to want to take some pictures with a photographer.
Now if you live in Los Angeles or New York City, photographers are a dime a dozen.
It's very easy to find photographers in either one of these cities, but if you live somewhere
else, like Iowa, or Texas, it's a little harder to find a good photographer that's right for
you.
Finding a photographer can be very challenging because there are lots of people who claim
to be really good photographers, and then you see their work and you realize that they
just kinda grab a camera and they don't really have any idea what they are doing.
When you're doing a photo shoot to try and be a model, and trying to get exposure to
start your modeling career, you wanna make sure there are very simple photos.
This is probably the biggest mistake I've seen people make when they're trying to become
a model, is they go all out wearing like tons of makeup, doing their hair in some crazy
way, greasing their hair up if you're a guy, or just dressing up in some really odd clothes.
I am very guilty of this.
I'll put some photos up here to show you just how guilty of this I am, because before I
became a model as well I thought that's what it took to become a model, and that is not
the case whatsoever.
If you wanna be a fashion model, natural beauty is exactly what they're looking for.
You wanna look as plain and dressed down as possible, because they wanna see you as a
blank canvas.
Make sure you have good lighting.
Make sure it's a very simple setting, and make sure that you look as simple as possible.
You should be able to actually wake up looking like this because that's kind of what they're
looking for in the fashion world.
Don't face tune up to within an inch of its life, because agents will know when they finally
meet you and they're gonna be disappointed, and you'll be disappointed when they turn
you away.
You wanna good photographer for this because you want to get your best angles.
You want to look your very best and some photographers know exactly how to capture that.
You should only be spending two to three hundred dollars max to take these photos with a photographer.
This is the only part of becoming a model where you should be spending any money, because
no one should be taking your money to help you become a model.
If they are taking your money to promote you to agencies, then you are being scammed.
Do not waste your money on that.
The next very important part of becoming a model that will not only help you become a
model, but will also help you become a successful model is building a strong network.
Anyone that has had any success in any industry will tell you that it's who you know that
will help you get to where you want to be.
I've never really been strong at networking, especially if it's forced networking, but
I can tell you that as a model, most of my jobs came from personal relations that I built
with people on sets.
So whether it was the makeup artist, hair stylist, casting director, or the photographer
themselves, they seemed to know someone else and would always connect me with other people
that would help me get more jobs.
The same applies to becoming a model in the first place.
You need to meet people.
Go out there, connect with people, and find personal relationships with those people,
because they're more likely to help you, if they have a personal connection to you.
Now to build a network, that can be challenging if you don't have the right resources.
Back in the day when I was modeling, I didn't have the same resources that I have today.
But one of the resources that I'm talking about is an app called Shapr.
Shapr is the sponsor of this video.
Basically what Shapr is, is an app that helps you build relationships with people that share
the same interests as you do.
With Shapr all you do is create a profile, you answer a few questions about what your
passions are, what your interests are career wise, and once you do that, it connects you
with other people that have similar interests as you.
It functions similarly to LinkedIn meets Tinder, because it's a very professional app.
There's no dating aspect of it.
It's just to connect with people that have the same interests as you do in the industry
that you're trying to work in.
The reason it's similar to Tinder, is because you can swipe left or swipe right to people
that it matches you up with, which then gives you the opportunity to decide whether or not
this is a relationship that you want to build.
And so if you're looking for say, a photographer to take your pictures, you can put photography
as one of your interests on the app, and then it'll connect you with a photographer that
have similar interests, maybe building their books, they're willing to do a free photo
shoot for you if you're willing to model for them as well.
If you guys wanna check out Shapr, you can do so down below.
Download the app, try it out because it's free to download, it's free to check out.
But either way, use your resources to build a network because having a strong network
is going to help you so much in the long run.
So once you've decided that you have what it takes to become a model, and you also have
a photos to show that you can be a model, you wanna submit those photos to an agency.
Today you have things like Instagram, which allow you to do submissions, and you can just
submit your photos through Instagram to agencies that will then tell you whether or not you
have the look that's right for them.
Agencies get tons and tons of submissions every single day, and so if you don't get
a response from someone, don't take it personal.
It's because they get so many responses they can probably only respond to the people that
they feel really strongly about.
If you get rejected, that's part of the industry.
Get used to that.
That is what it takes to become a model.
You need to really embrace rejection, because you will get rejected.
Plenty of times.
So if you don't hear back from an agency once you submit to them, submit again in a few
weeks.
Take some new photos.
Keep trying if you feel like you have what it takes.
If you believe in yourself, if you keep submitting, eventually you're going to get some sort of
response.
And even if the agency says, "No," then there's so many agencies out there that may feel differently.
I was rejected by 19 different agencies before I was finally represented by one, and so I'm
definitely a testament to being persistent, regardless of how many times I was told no.
The last thing that I wanna say about this is when you're submitting to agencies, make
sure you're submitting to actual agencies and not to talent promoting companies that
want to take your money.
I'm going to list in the description section below, a list of agencies that I know are
legitimate so that you guys can know exactly where you need to be submitting your photos
to try and get representation.
Do not submit to people who want to charge you to become a model.
I will put as many agencies down below as I can.
If you guys know of any other reputable agencies as well, let me know in the comment section
below and I will put that in the description section, because I want this to help you guys
as much as possible.
A lot of you are always asking, "How to become a model?"
And this is the best knowledge that I have to offer to you.
So if you guys have any questions about how to become a model that I missed in this video,
let me know down below.
Of course, leave a comment and then maybe I'll do a Q and A about this later, but I
guess that's all I have for this video.
So thank you guys so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.