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So you are interested in modelling? Perhaps dreaming of the fashion shows in Paris, London, New York… or having your face on the front page of a top fashion magazine. Read on to see if modelling could be something for you.

There are many types of modelling – fashion, commercial, glamour, and subsets within each of those areas as well. Your first step should be to figure out which one you’d be interested in, and whether you’d fulfil the basic requirements. Fashion modelling has the most stringent criteria, with the others being more relaxed.

Fashion modelling

When talking about modelling, a lot of people mean fashion modelling – the one with the glamour of runway shows, photo-shoots and exotic locations. Here the model could be doing several things:

• Runway modelling – this includes presenting the Fall and Spring collections of the fashion designers to the prospective buyers. Being tall, slender and having the ability to move well in the clothes, are the key requirements – the designers want to sell their collections, and you have to present those in the most attractive way possible

• Catalogue modelling – the main requirement here is to look like an attractive representative of the desired target group. When people see someone looking good in a certain outfit, they also expect to look good in this outfit. There is less importance on how you move, but more so on how you pose for the camera

• Fashion editorial modelling – this is where the models with the more unusual looks might get a lucky break. There is less constraint from the fashion designers and the look of the picture is more determined by the editors, creative directors and photographers… and sometimes they get very creative indeed!

• Fashion print modelling – the fashion print advertising is extremely demanding, as the focus is on specific model – the look has to match the concept, product and designer’s ideas perfectly. Already having some face recognition helps here as well – it’s no wonder a lot advertisers are using celebrities in their fashion print advertising

• Fashion lingerie / bathing suit modelling – sometimes the models might not quite meet the requirements for runway modelling – for example they look just a bit too curvy for the current trend in the high fashion. You need to be in a very good shape for this type of assignments (the same applies to sports/fitness modelling as well – though the desired body shape might differ)

There are other kinds of fashion modelling – e.g. focusing on certain body parts (hands, legs), etc, but the above covers the major areas. The requirements are quite stringent though. Most female fashion models start young, at the age of 13…19. At 20, it’s probably too late to start, and the career is mostly finished by the age of 30. The designers also require a specific look from their models – and this varies between the designers and over the years. In general, this still means someone who is tall, slender, has long legs, good facial bone structure, expressive eyes, very good skin and excellent teeth. Tattoos, scars and piercings could pose a problem.

In terms of measurements for women, the height should be between 175-180 cm. Sometimes this could be as little as 172 or as much as 183 – but don’t get your hopes up if you fall into this wider range. In terms of weight, it could vary between 48…58 kg, depending on your height. The “ideal” measurements are 34B-32-34, with the waist measurement having the least latitude for deviations upwards.

For men, the height should be around 182 cm, with quite some variation usually accepted – but the bodies should be in good shape, and the face should have good, strong lines. The required look often depends on the campaign – from boyish to very rugged and masculine.

Commercial and other modelling

Besides fashion modelling, you could also consider commercial modelling. This pretty much means anything between glamour and high fashion – and a wide variety of looks is accepted. Some of the main categories are

• Product modelling – the focus is not on the clothes, but on a product which the model presents. Sometimes the idea is to just put someone attractive next to the product, based on the concept that sex sells – but more often the model is also to play the part of someone using the product (like in all those TV ads, where the “housewives” present their best washing powders or where the “dentists” walk around in white lab coats, examining the benefits of yet another variety of toothpaste)

• Lifestyle and business modelling – here the models have to look the part of some target group, possibly belonging to a specific profession. The pictures could be of any conceivable group of people – a retiree, young couple with children, an accountant looking through the paperwork, etc. This kind of work often ends up in stock images used for corporate materials (for example, such as an information booklet from a bank or insurance company, etc), internet page design, advertisement hand-outs, etc

• Trade show and product demo modelling – anything from being one of the cute girls in the background at some TV show, to handing out product samples, to wearing a short skirt and standing next to a supercar at an auto show.

Given that commercial modelling covers such a variety of looks, there are no real hard requirements – of course it helps if you are somewhat attractive, and the more uncommon your look, the less chance for getting broad based work.

Glamour

There is also a very large industry around glamour modelling – this can range from anything from just assuming a stunning pose on a promotional photo... to wearing underwear in a provocative pose to... well... pretty much anything. The aim here is not to sell another product - but tor really focus on the model's hot looks. There is always demand for those photos in lads mags, page 3, pin-up calendars and so on. Unlike fashion modelling, which aims for the thin and tall look, here the curves are in! A pretty face helps as well, although the chances are people will mostly be looking at the rest of the body.

Most stars have done glamorous shots for a variety of magazines when promoting their movies, music or their next autobiography. Of course, the stars have the option of deciding how much clothes to keep on when doing their super hot glamour shots for the mags. The ordinary mortals have slightly less choice when entering the glamour industry. Additionally, many beaty contest participants end up with glamour shots being taken, as part of the beatuy pageant process - again those photos being the clothed kind of glamour.

The main requirement when considering nude or semi nude glamour is – you really need to be 18 or older to consider this area of modelling. Before going into this direction, make sure you are really happy with this choice – that you would be able to deal with your parents, friends and eventual spouses and children who might see those photos at some point. Also, when only considering clothed glamour, there will be pressure to do nude shots at some point. Aside from that caution, dropping some of your clothes at an opportune moment has often been a quick way to 15 minutes of fame – although not necessarily the best way for achieving a more permanent celebrity status.

Now that you know the basic choices – how do you know you have the looks required for modelling, whether it’d be fashion, commercial or glamour? Easy – have a few good photos taken (also see the article on looking great on photos), and ask what your friends think. Or better yet – post them here at wannabestar.co.uk for some feedback – the strangers might actually give you more honest and direct comments on how to improve your chances. Remember, the better scores your pictures get here, the greater the likelihood that you’ve “got it” for modelling!

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