Fashion Week is here for Spring 2014! Let’s start with this Fashion Week for Dummies Tip: Next season’s fashions are shown about six months ahead of when they will appear in stores, i.e. Spring 2014 collections appear on catwalks now, and Fall 2014 will debut in February.

The models who walk in the most shows during Fashion Week often are the same models who will garner the most tear sheets in fashion spreads this fall. The editors who go to the shows are reviewing the clothes and looking for the season’s hottest models.

The most renowned Fashion Weeks occur in New York, Paris, and Milan, but London has been a contender for decades and every other city from here to Tokyo seems to have launched their own version (Miami, Los Angeles, Scottsdale, Toronto, Montreal, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Moscow, Jakarta, Tokyo, Perth… The list goes on and on).

The Model Strut

The style may be a tad different from season to season, era to era (the sexy strut of larger-than-life supermodels, the trudge of the heroine chic girls…), but some things haven’t changed since China Machado walked for Givenchy and Balenciaga in Paris in the ’50s. Runway models must:

1. Exude confidence

2. Stand tall (and have long slender legs)

3. Put one foot in front of the other (literally)

4. Not hunch their shoulders

5. Make whatever they are modeling look fabulous

Model Money

Linda Evangelista once famously said that she did not get out of bed for less than $10,000. Those were the days. Few models make what the supermodels did doing runway shows. That’s because they were a select posse of girls (about 10 to 15, with Linda, Christy, and Naomi leading the way), whom every designer wanted. The masses knew their names, they had big personalities, their agents kept upping their rates, and designers paid, and paid, and paid, until… until, well, enough was enough. And celebrities started stealing some of the limelight on fashion magazines, weakening models’ clout.

These days models turn over faster, so few have bargaining power to demand huge rates. A small show may pay $200, or, more likely, pay in trade, i.e. clothing (probably an item or two, not a whole wardrobe). A big-name show may pay $1,000. Back when I did Fashion Week (a few years ago…ha), I made about $500 a show, or, in one case, nothing, as the designer just never paid. Who was it? Hint: A photo from that show is in this collage and it is NOT Alberta Ferretti …

Sign up for my free monthly Modeling Mentor Newsletter. I’m announcing September Model of the Month there tomorrow!

There are fashion shows and then there are Fashion Shows. If we’re talking about New York Fashion Week shows, which are wrapping up on Thursday, then there are FASHION SHOWS too.

Karoline Kurkova

You are unlikely to walk out of your house in Middle America, into the local modeling agency, and onto a runway in New York Fashion Week a month later (though I’m sure it has happened once or twice!). You may, however, walk into your agency in Kansas City or Denver, and then onto the catwalk in a department store the following week. From there, if your career blossoms and you hit a bigger market, you may work your way into a less competitive Fashion Week—like Miami’s, or if you’re in Europe, Dusseldorf‘s rather than Milan’s.

The castings for the big Fashion Weeks—New York, Paris, Milan—are extremely competitive. Often there is a posse of top editorial girls who monopolize the runways, but up-and-coming designers do book less expensive (sometimes free) new faces. The best way to work your way into the elite runway posse is:

1. Work on your walk. If you’re with an agency in New York, they likely have access to one of the well known runway coaches. Or have an experienced model mentor you and show you how it’s done (see the Model Alliance mentoring program). If you are in East Podunk, disregard any fancy turns and moves a modeling school may teach you. You simply need to know how to walk and pivot—and look like Karolina Kurkova while doing it.

2. Get experience. Do any fashion shows you can get.

3. Seek representation with a reputable agency.

4. Be lucky.

The story of how I first landed on a New York Fashion Week runway is in my book. It was all about LUCK. (I’ll let you know when you’ll be able to read that story!)

New York Fashion Week 1994

Stay tuned for a belly dancing performance that blows away any fashion show. It’s not every day Unmata comes to Connecticut!

Also, a lot of people have been asking about “agencies” that charge their talent to be a part of their “agency.” Look for a post on Modeling Scams coming soon.

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