For my inhale I took a look at the Vouge magazine "The Gown" and gave some reviews for the modern outfits that Vouge had chosen to model. I could've gone quite a few ways with my exhale project I decided to pick three models in the book (Naiomi Campbell, Gemma Ward, and Shalom Harlow). I looked at what they had to go through, their schedules, and what modeling did on their mental health. Beyond just them I also looked at the positives and negatives of being in the industry.
Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a model?
Well for starters it means always being in the public eye with fans and paparazzi watching your every move, but it can also mean that you can meet many amazing people throughout your career. So let’s talk about a few models’ lives from the vogue book The Gown.
She was the first black woman to be on the cover of vogue and with that comes lots of bravery and courage to have that kind of fame at that point in her life. Naiomi Campbell, at the age of only 15 she started modeling and is still connected to the modeling industry 36 years later. Anyone in the public eye often experiences online hate but Campbell had an extreme amount when she first started modeling. Campbell herself, and everyone watching T.V or looking at magazines had always seen skinny, white, tall models walking down the runway, and just because of her colour she didn’t look like the “other girls” and got hate for it. When she came into the studio for the first few years, Campbell had to bring her own makeup because the makeup artists never had the right colours. A while after Campbell had been modeling for a while she had ended up having the chance to be on the cover of a
Vogue magazine which she said was, “The highlight of my career”. Since then, she has had the opportunity to be on several magazine covers and even dozens for vogue alone! Campbell who has quite a reputation for being a trouble maker was arrested and sued for physical and verbal abuse in June 2008. Campbell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor "reckless assault" in June 2008 after tossing her mobile phone at her maid in an argument about a pair of missing jeans. She was sentenced to attend a two-day anger-management program after spending five days sweeping floors in New York in a city warehouse while she also covered the maid's medical expenses. After this, she addressed this situation and agreed that it was wrong and that she accepted her consequences. A public incident like this could have easily damaged her career as modeling agencies may have even started looking elsewhere. Eventually, Campbell did end up resuming with her normal busy schedule with many modeling offers on the table! Given that Campbell has had a pretty hard career at times it is safe to say that she is one of the bravest, fiercest, and one of most beautiful women in the world!
What teenage girl hasn’t thought about going into the modeling industry, probably not
even one! Many young ladies think modeling is a fancy, glamorous way of being famous and globally known, and lots of times it can be! Being in the spotlight and traveling the world are only just two of many perks of the modeling industry. Traveling the world is one of many people’s dreams to explore different places that you haven’t even heard of. You may even get special invites to certain events worldwide. Another perk of being in the spotlight is you get the chance to receive free P.R packages from different companies without paying a dollar. Meeting your idol can be one of the best parts when you may even get to walk the runway with people you’ve never even dreamed of meeting!
Now let’s talk about Gemma Ward’s modeling career, which believe it or not wasn’t
planned at all, but when she got the role of the witch in Hansel and Gretal at the age of 10 it just clicked and she knew that modeling was something she wanted to do. She was noticed in 2002 when she was fourteen years old while attending the Australian modeling competition, “Search for a Supermodel” with her friends. Ward was the youngest model to be on the cover of Vogue. In 2008 Ward left social media after her boyfriend, Heath Ledger’s tragic death. Paparazzi and fans didn’t leave her alone and she didn’t feel safe in the comfort of her own home. She left social media for six years and in that time period, she got married and became a mother. When she returned she explained that while she spent her time modeling she was diagnosed with an eating disorder. One year later, the press photographed her on a beach in Australia and published articles ridiculing her weight gain. “It felt like a public shaming,” she told the magazine. In her time away from the industry Ward was able to heal, sought treatment for her eating disorder, and even became a mom. “I always wanted to get to that place where I could talk about it because it would mean that I was no longer in it,” she explained. Going through a tough time is always hard but Ward handled it very gracefully for a woman of her age, and guess what if you haven’t heard of Gemma Ward before she was the youngest model to be on the cover of vogue and only the age of 18!
Modeling comes with the good and the bad and here are some of the more negative things to happen in the modeling industry. While modeling can be one of the most amazing careers
to have there is also a negative side to always being in the public eye. For many models, the hardest part is having to deal with all the hate and bullying that people post all over the internet. Models are human beings and sometimes they just want to be in the comfort of their own homes but with fans and paparazzi with them all the time it almost never happens. Mental and physical health is also right at the top of the list when they look at themselves and think they aren’t “pretty” enough and when they start comparing themselves to other models. Directors of shoots can have a big impact when they can be racist based on your skin color, sexist based on your gender, and there have been times when they have body shamed their models on their size and weight. Modeling can also be hard starting out
because if it is your only job the salary you might earn can be less than even $25 per shoot. There may also be times when you can have shoot all day, every day, for a whole week, and other times you could only be called in one time in a whole month. Directors and designers can also put more or less work on you depending on your experience so you don’t really know how much you will get paid or even the starting amount of times you would come in for a shoot!
She was the most beautiful woman in the ’90s, a Canadian model and actress, Shalom Harlow. Harlow is now 47 years old when she was born and raised in Oshawa, Ontario. It was in 1989 where she was spotted at “The Cure”, concert and after receiving dozens of calls to come and model. She has appeared on the covers of numerous magazines, editorials, big runway events, and films, in addition to co-hosting MTV's House of Style with her fellow supermodel Amber Valletta. Her looks performed well in both commercial and couture campaigns, and she was a long-time favorite model for many designers. In 1995, she became the first woman to get the Vogue/VH1 Model of the Year Award. Harlow is the face of the Chanel Coco fragrance. Harlow has walked the runways for brands such as Lois Vuitton,
Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Christian Dior, and many others. On camera, she has always looked amazing but in reality, her health was quite rapidly decreasing. Shalom had nearly worked herself to death by the time she took a break from modeling; her body was on the verge of shutting down, and she had to drag herself about in a wheelchair at one point before realizing it was simply too much. For a time, her quality of life decreased dramatically as she kept modeling, and without the ability to break away from the field until 2000, she continued to deteriorate in health while working in show business until around 2006, when she vanished from public view. Shalom seemed to have been a little unsteady when she returned, but she's always been a self-motivated woman who knew what she wanted and always went out to get it. Shalom Harlow’s modeling career definitely had some of the best and worst parts of her life but still even in 2021 she is still running the show!
Modeling is not easy and isn’t something that comes naturally and if you are looking into it as
a career, you should be aware of the ups and downs that can occur. Being a model comes with a price to pay but is quite an experience to get to do for a living. Walking down a runway with a stunning outfit and the crowd going wild is one of the best ways to boost confidence and to just be there in the moment is truly astonishing. Modeling is truly a challenging job to get into and the opportunities are slim but if in the right place at the right time it could make or break your entire career. Right now it may not have even occurred as something you want to do, but hopefully, out of this article, you have a better idea of what the reality of being in the spotlight can bring you!
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