Behind the glamorous, what is the true appearance of the model group?

How do people imagine models? Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss, Miranda Kerr, Naomi Campbell, or "big cousin" Liu Wen and Wei Mi Angel, have satisfied most people's fantasies about the "model" profession. Glimmering and positive.

But behind the recent Dolce & Gabbana incident, another look of the model profession has begun to be re-examined. Whether they are spectators or models themselves, they begin to know what they are going through on their way to the fame of Chinese clothing. When a foreign model anonymously submitted a personal experience to Dazed magazine, her vivid and old-fashioned writing touched many people, making people feel the incompetence of the model group.

The Chinese model “Zuo Ye” who once gave Dolce & Gabbana a promotional video recently explained the details of the cooperation at the time, and said: “I never imagined that this cooperation with the brand almost ruined my model business.”

When the Victorian angels wear silk robes in the background and eat fruit to show the sexiness of the camera, more models are usually called in the busy background by the staff: "We need a body!" - They are regarded as people who have "genetic lottery", but they have been materialized.

Behind the glamorous, what is the true appearance of the model group?

"熬" out of the mannequin

Model Liu Bingbing still remembers that she spent two hours on the day of the interview. Just standing still, the casting director's eyelids were lifted, and she was given a red card in only 0.5 seconds: "Yes, thank you."

This moment of "singing a life and death" includes the all-round judgment of the caster on the model's appearance, body proportion and style. The losers usually have no arguments, because the fashion model from the beginning of the birth, "instantaneous qualities" is an important criterion for the brand to adopt models. This trait is so subtle that no one can predict and capture, as Hollywood's well-known screenwriter Wiiliam Goldman said: All success is a fluke, and all failures are unexpected.

The pay is not necessarily rewarded, resulting in higher mobility of the model industry. Coupled with the diversification of market demand, it is more and more difficult to be a model, and net red and stars often "cut the queue", but also the resources that the model has not been much... Under the changes of various industries, "supermodel" A number has become more distant.

Even if the living conditions are difficult and confused, there are still new people who are willing to go forward. American social scholar Ashely Mears wrote the book "Beautiful Price: The Rules of the Model Industry" after a few years of fashion in the form of a field survey. In the book, she interprets this phenomenon with personal experience.

"I can't find a great opportunity to leave. I always feel that the next corner will meet the 'big chance' that made me famous."

Liu Bingbing is already a lucky one among the newcomers.

Less than half a year later, she participated in the big show of Tommy Hilfiger and Miu Miu in Shanghai, and filmed the big movies of "ELLEMEN" and "Bazaar of Fashion". Three months ago, she took the first place in the IMC Shanghai International Model Contest, and was signed by IMG Models, one of the world's largest model agencies. She recently went to Paris Men's Week and Gao Dingzhou for a few shows. .

This is the standard "fashion model" road, and the "commercial model" is almost two parallel lines.

Fashion models are often seen in show shows, magazine blockbusters, and brand advertisements. They have avant-garde, internationally recognized looks, and customers have strict height and size requirements. Liu Wen and Lu Yan, who are well known, belong to this category. Commercial models are usually the beauty and handsome guys in the eyes of the public, and their height and size are not high, such as Taobao models.

Models that have signed larger brokerage companies are all on the road to fashion models, because this is the most recognized way to become a supermodel. But outsiders usually confuse the two.

Chen Hongjin, a fashion model who has been in the business for ten years, knows this: “There are people who think that models are easy to make money, and they have a monthly income of more than 100,000 yuan. They go out to drive a luxury car. In fact, the income mechanism of fashion models is very unstable, and most people’s income is shared all year round. It is no different from ordinary office workers."

Whenever encountering the International Fashion Week, the models also need to pay for the interview abroad, and stay for a few days. Tickets, accommodation, and meals are counted at least tens of thousands. As for the reward, in addition to the blue blood brands such as Gucci, Dior, Chanel and Hermes, other brands can't give much money. If you are a catwalk for a small brand, sometimes you can only get a few hundred dollars, or even just a ready-to-wear.

In China, fashion models are proud to be on fashion magazines, but the rewards are far less than commercial activities.

Business models are different. Because they don't pick customers, they have more job opportunities and earn money by winning.

Chen Hongjin had heard that a Guangzhou model had spent 200,000 facelifts before doing a Taobao model. After returning home, he worked hard to get a living and bought 3 suites in one year. This kind of case is not uncommon in the field of commercial models.

If there is any difficulty in the Taobao model, it may be that the workload is too large, and some "special skills" are forced out.

For example, An Tiantian, after 85, she changed the high efficiency of 15 seconds for 30 seconds, becoming one of the most popular middle-aged women's models in Taobao, and the working hours are also calculated in seconds. In an interview with Qianjiang Evening News in 2017, she said that she not only bought a house in China, but also had two suites in Thailand. This income level is only moderate in the circle.

“Taobao models don’t care what clothes they wear, so they can go,” Chen Hongjin said. “But fashion models don’t go up. Sadly, because you want to have better development, you have to pick the brand. But At the same time, we must survive, sometimes we have to fold for five buckets of rice."

Constrained by the mutual restraint between value, past experience, and future development, once you choose to become a fashion model, it is difficult to lower your own customer standards. Because only by constantly cooperating with big brands and well-known media, we can make a name, and when the reputation is accumulated to a certain extent, we may be able to step on the "supermodel" step.

Needless to say, the benefits of becoming a "supermodel" are true fame and fortune.

Their legendary life is often circulated outside the circle: supermodel Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, who will not get out of bed if they pay less than $10,000 a day. From the 1970s to the present, there are often supermodels appearing in the Forbes list.

In order to achieve this ultimate goal, brokers and models must gamble, and this process may take a decade or so.

Mears believes that from an economic point of view, fashion models are chasing “symbolic capital”. Although the economic return is low, due to its high reputation, it will eventually succeed in the long run. Stable commercial work will hurt its symbolic capital in the dark, but in the long run it will hinder economic gains, so producers must have incentives to reject economic incentives.

Mears has encountered a young male model named JD, which has failed because of this principle.

Benefiting from the popular appearance conditions, JD just went straight to the line, which made him firmly believe that the model is a cheap job, so he only chooses the customer based on the salary level, and excludes the big-name work that is used to give the new person lower salary. As a result, he rejected the industry's important "Dazed" magazine, "iD" magazine, and even Issey Miyake's cooperation opportunities, repeatedly refused to participate in the show, was pulled into the blacklist by "Dazed".

There was also a male model who participated in the shooting of Dolce & Gabbana. He only received $800. When he spoke to the agent, he was ironically: "You need it more than Dolce & Gabbana needs you."

Since the right to speak of high fashion is still in the hands of European brands, they dominate the global fashion trend every quarter. Even though domestic brands generally pay more than international brands, models are willing to go abroad.

"Now the model goes abroad like gold plating overseas, and the competition is particularly fierce. But in order to compete for better resources, the model is willing to go if it is a discount." Chen Hongjin said.

Chen Hongjin feels that he is like a "reverse case" in terms of going abroad. At the beginning, she had published all the major fashion magazines in China, but she lacked a fire from abroad. “Although others think that I am a good model, it is useless to have no outstanding achievements in the international arena,” she said. This became an insurmountable wall between her and the “supermodel”.

Under such industry consensus, the road to "supermodel" has been traced.

Quality first, then quantity

Li Chao, general manager of Shanghai Longteng Elite Model Agency, said: "The necessary conditions for becoming a supermodel are actually very clear. First, there must be enough mainstream fashion magazine shooting experience. Second, there are enough performance experience in the country, including showing personal charm. The in-store show, jewelry show is better. Third, it has been good to shoot brand commercials, e-commerce, and albums. With these experiences, it is more suitable for models recommended to foreign brokerage companies."

With the qualifications of going abroad, the models should fill in the resume as much as possible with the number of cooperative brands.

However, it is difficult to open up the market in the early stage. According to "Beautiful Price", whether a model can be recognized depends on the whim and discernment of the buyer, the critic, the middleman, and the consumer. Brokers don't know which type of shape will appeal to customers. Similarly, customers don't know which models will successfully help sell products.

In fact, the personality of the model is also a very important plus factor.

In the reality show "National Supermodel Contest" founded by the last generation of supermodel Tyra Banks in the United States, there was a very good female model to interview. The reason for the rejection was: "You are very good, but we can't cooperate. "This made her feel confused and was ridiculed by other players." Later, she realized that the other person actually felt that her character was too dull.

It can be seen that luck plays an important role in the model's career. Although there are very few "darlings of fate", most people still have to wait for a long time, because this is a process of market recognition.

However, once you pass the nodes that accumulated resources in the early stage, you can enjoy the dividend brought by the Matthew effect, that is, successful people will gather more success. This means that even if the brand does not like the shape of a model, she will be convinced by her full-staff resume.

“The right to choose allows investors to anticipate the actions of other investors and trigger group behavior. Participants will ignore their information and follow other people's previous decisions. This is what economists call information flow,” says Mears. “This phenomenon is often seen in speculative markets such as art, fashion, and finance.”

A very obvious example is that the supermodel Kate Moss is only 1 meter tall, but the fashion circle does not favor her brand. Yan Xiaowen's personality is not high in the industry, but because of the Chanel video ad hand, he soon became one of the hottest Chinese supermodels.

Too many unstable factors make many models dare not easily set too big a flag, only to do short-term goals. In the same game, Liu Bingbing’s wish for Yang Yi’s male module champion is very simple: “I hope that I can make a country, take a fashion week, get a place in the competition, and it’s best to play a show with Kim Daekawa. ""

Impetuous new people

Originally, Yang Yi was able to realize this wish in November last year. He and Jin Dachuan were both selected for the Dolce & Gabbana Shanghai show, but everyone happened afterwards. This is also his first time to participate in the international brand show.

This also confirms the degree of instability in the fashion world, which is already serious enough to influence brands and models. The Chinese model that filmed the film for Dolce & Gabbana almost ruined the future.

In this fiercely competitive environment, the most difficult problem for models is to overcome the mentality problem. Li Chao said: "Some young models have high mood swings, which will affect their work." Some people even gave up after learning about the real state of the model industry before signing the contract.

Most people's mentality is unstable after work.

In addition to the usual one-time negation in the interview, the competitive pressure of peers also goes hand in hand. Those who go abroad and do not go abroad, shoot magazines and can't take pictures, and shoot more people and singles, the mentality is not the same.

Li Chao can only open them more. "The length of the body is given by the aunt, the customer likes you to use you, does not meet the needs of the customer, it may be difficult to have a good development, or a relatively short career."

There are also models that will float up after being small and become impetuous, but the possibility of waiting for them is to be replaced by newcomers.

"Now is the era of fast consumption, models are no exception. Liu Wen, Qin Shupei, this super model that can be red for a long time is not much, the time that can be remembered is getting shorter and shorter." Chen Hongjin said. And fashion editors and designers are not willing to always use old faces.

Chen Hongjin once shot a large number of magazines from 2011 to 2013, when the appearance of her strong woman was very popular. Slowly, she clearly felt the market trend changed. The image of a young, elf-funny girl who is more in line with popular tastes has begun to prevail. "Now I can say who is a supermodel, but I think it is the best seller for a certain period of time."

This is because the needs of consumers are largely unknown, so the model market has been keeping flowing. The market life cycle is extremely volatile, which makes the model group vulnerable. They are easy and fast, losing everything in a huge amount, just as they are when they win everything quickly. According to the data in the "Beautiful Price", most models have a career shorter than 5 years.

In the model that changed, in addition to Zhang Liang, Meng Mengyao, a few models transformed into stars and net red, most of them went to model training. According to the turnover survey conducted by Flint last year, 88% of the people switched to model training.

Zhao Jialu, the champion of the second season of "Fall in Love", has not experienced a professional crisis, but she is also considering a change. She studied nail art in 2017 and went to the psychological counselor in 2018. These areas have completely disappeared from the model.

She is well versed in the rules of the model industry and accepts it. "My mentality is that it is good to see what is seen and seeing it lightly. If you don't speak well, you won't fight for your own interests." She did not feel competing when she participated in the reality show in 2015. I have made a lot of friends.

In order to ensure a sustainable talent mechanism, model brokers have also expanded their selection.

Usually, model agency companies will recruit models through regular competitions, mainly for model training schools and clothing performance students. With the development of new media, many good seedlings can be found on platforms such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Yongyin. Some foreign brokerage companies even specialize in social media scouting positions. In the past two years, students from domestic institutes of physical education, foreign language colleges, and media schools have also become the focus of attention.

With the increase of newcomers from various "informal training", in the past three years, brokerage companies have gradually formed a systematic retraining system.

Newcomer models will first pass basic training in steps, lenses, styling, film and television performances. In order to give them a better grasp of career development, the brokerage company will also teach them how to face customers and the media. Models in the international market also need to learn English.

The first phase of the course will last for about two to three months. After passing the assessment, the model can “graduate” and be assigned to the agent to start working. Based on the specific development direction of the model, the brokerage company will specifically "specialize" customers for them.

“Training is directed, not wide-spreading,” said Xu Wen, director of the cultural brokerage department of Shanghai Fushi Models Co., Ltd. “When the model is positioned accordingly, the model will be focused on training based on the development of different directions. It varies from person to person. Now the quality of the model is getting more and more comprehensive."

Usually, a model that is more in line with the public aesthetic will be more suitable for filming in China. If you look at the international aesthetic, the figure is good enough, and the English language talent is also good, it is more suitable for going abroad.

After some screening, each agent will bring 5 to 8 models, responsible for their promotion, shooting and training. One-to-many, it is inevitable that there will be insufficient energy. Therefore, in order to control the number of people, the brokerage company will also carry out the final elimination system at the same time as new blood comes in.

Li Chao takes Longteng as an example: “Every year we will eliminate some models that have not appeared for a long time, have low cooperation and low interview rate. This is also to give the model a sense of pressure and let them take the work seriously.”

Broker with model "tied on a rope"

In fact, in addition to selection and training, model agents still have a lot to do, and even become a mentor in their lives.

If Liu Bingbing does not speak, it is difficult to guess her age. She looks like a cold version of Liu Wen, a mature looks plus a height of 1 meter 76, which makes people can't believe she is only 16 years old. Yang Yi is only 22 years old, but always feels that he is a little older.

This is the norm in the model circle, dealing with them, there will be an illusion that after 00 has occupied the world.

Including Liu Bingbing, Xu Wen also took a few young models. She has to be concerned about their affairs, to meticulously know who they are at work every day, or where to go, and what changes have been made to the body. "Because most of them are children who work hard in Shanghai alone, they can't worry," she said.

Regarding the relationship between brokers and models, there has been a consensus in the industry that models often need brokers to be their most powerful fans, otherwise it is difficult to move because the agent has almost all the working resources.

“It’s a bit more common. Brokers and models are like grasshoppers tied up on a rope. They will be happy when they are good,” Li Chao said. Xu Wen thinks that some models may use the agent as the person who decides their career fate, but she often joked that she is actually more like a director.

Because of the existence of interest, the model sometimes does not trust his agent, and even feels that he is squeezing himself. In this matter, Chen Hongjin also has a deep understanding.

In 2017, she turned to the model agent of Longteng Elite and also worked as a model. Prior to this, her idea was to "kill and not be a broker because the agent is very tired." This is indeed the case. After becoming a broker, she replaced the 64GB memory phone with 258GB, which is all model information, card, video and works.

“Now I am really grateful to the broker who helped me pick up the work, because the initial workload is really big,” she said. “It’s very important for the broker to recommend you to the client, but some models may not Know what the broker did to help him fight for the opportunity."

She believes that if there is a misunderstanding between the model and the broker, it may be because the information is not equal. For example, models usually don't know their specific quotations and can only know a range. Because brokers are involved in collaborating with customers, there may be more content, sometimes it may be the package price of multiple models, and sometimes it may be a long-term cooperation.

Therefore, as a middleman's role, communication is the biggest difficulty for the broker. "We are almost pure Party B in this circle. Anyone related to this industry may become our Party A, and we must find out the different needs of models in each industry or each group." Li Chao said.

And to become a real broker, there is still a lot to be literate. “The first thing to do is to have the ability to study, wear, fashion, photography, etc.” Xu Wen said. “The second is to have a love for the model. It must be like a parent to guide him. The last thing is to make the industry bad. The things are isolated from the model."

But when it comes to the problems of young models, the brokers are still very helpless. Chen Hongjin found that the current model is not as good as it used to be. “I have observed that there are many models in the industry who are not diligent because they haven’t figured out what they really want, or just think about it.”

Han Yinghua feels that there are too many bad things in young models.

She has trained Li Ai, Du Fu, and Lu Yan. She is 72 years old and is called "Han Han" by her fans. She is fluent and has a slogan of "poison tongue".

Now, Han Wei is mainly to cultivate children's models.

"Young models don't have their own career path planning. Now I don't accept people who are 17, 8 or 20 years old. Their bad problems are too much, and they can't change." She pointed out that most of the bad problems are Details of life and personality, such as lack of motivation to lose weight, smoking, lack of etiquette, attitude is not correct, do not understand people to accept things.

And what seems to be less relevant to the business is precisely the lack of quality of many professional models. "When a model is not just tall, it has to be strong, but also has a strong physical strength and a strong mind, as well as good temperament and behavior," she said.

In her view, the most lacking in many industry newcomers is fighting spirit. Now whenever someone asks her for training, she will say: "If you want to be a model, look for someone else, don't look for me, I only train supermodels."