While it may look like it’s all glitz and glamour, the life of a fashion and runway model is filled with everything from early morning call times, to scheduling coffee dates with your agent, to late night castings. In between a hectic schedule it can be difficult to find time to fit in the necessities like eating regularly and healthily, working out, grooming and spending downtime with friends and family.
Living a balanced life is something that’s super important to being successful as a model and it takes a lot of practice to get it right. We’ve received some tips from Wink Models on what a day in the life of a fashion and runway model can include, and while it seems rewarding it’s also much more work than most people think.
5am – Wake Up
As a model, days start early and start busy. That’s why it’s so important to have a balanced, healthy breakfast and leave time to fit in a workout, even if it means getting up at the crack of dawn. After it’s time to have a shower, whip on some makeup, style your hair and run out the door, modelling bag in hand.
The first meeting of the day could be anything from a fitting with designers, call time for a shoot or even grabbing a cup of coffee with your agent to discuss upcoming castings or bookings. Even the most experienced models will undertake extra mentoring to ensure they’re constantly expanding their repertoire, so you may even be off to attend training to perfect your work or hone your ability to pose.
1pm – Keep going
By lunchtime, a busy model will either have checked off a long list of appointments or be deeply entrenched in a booking. When it comes to fashion shoots, these can take hours if not the entire day and evening. As a model, it’s super important to remain professional and pleasant throughout the lengthy process of hair, makeups, fitting and shootings, regardless of how little sleep you’ve had. This helps ensure people love working with you and you keep getting booked!
While most of these big jobs will provide food and beverages to keep everyone on set fed and well-hydrated, some models prefer to bring their own healthy snacks and bottles of water to keep their energy levels high.
Every model develops their own coping mechanisms for keeping their head in the game during a long day. Everything from meditation between takes to getting pumped by listening to their favourite tracks on their headphones can help, it’s entirely what works for the individual model.
8pm – Not quite done yet
Fashion never sleeps and many big runways can be held in the evenings, meaning models will spend long days preparing and keep working into the evening only to spend a few minutes on the runway. Depending on the complexity of the show, sometimes the days before can be filled with fittings and rehearsals that run late into the evening while the designer prepares for a big event. To fill in the gaps between when the model is needed, many arm themselves with an e-reader or a stack of fashion mags to trawl through while they wait. Some models even undertake remote courses or degrees and use this time to go over their course material or tackle assignments.
On the rare occasion when a model has an evening to themselves, this time will usually go towards hitting an extra workout or a relaxing yoga class to blow off steam. This is also where time can be spent with friends or family, striking a balance between having an insane schedule and that all-important private life. Finally, it’s time to collapse into bed for a restful night’s sleep so they can wake up and do it all over again with grace and style.
The next time you’re daydreaming about how easy it is to be beautiful and stand in front of a camera or strut down a runway, remember the long, arduous days that go into nurturing this kind of career. Are you a model? Let us know what else can be expected in a typical day by leaving a comment!
Images: Wink Models
