Modeling Career - Salary, Personality Traits and Study Routes

Personality Traits - Modeling

• Above average looks
• Well groomed
• Chic style
• Well maintained body
• Tall, good carriage (for ramp models)
• Excellent communication and networking skills
• Self-discipline
• Stamina
• Self-confidence
• Grace

General Trend of Salaries in Modeling:

• An established model who is consistently on the popularity charts earns anything between Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 50,000 per fashion show. But it generally takes a beginner lot of walks down the ramp to reach those heights. The amount of money paid to models also depends upon how prestigious the show is and who the organizers are.
• Low budget shows pay models somewhere around Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000, but as these are the kind of shows beginners will get offered, they have to put up with it till they strike big league.
• Print ads pay according to the number of photographs used. Magazine spreads and billboard advertisements also pay well - reputed magazines paying around Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 per photograph.
• As far as television advertisements are concerned, depending upon the company's budget, a newcomer may get anything between Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000. For a well-known model, only the sky is the limit.

Study Routes for a career in Modeling:

Students from any subject or stream may enter this industry. There are a number of grooming modeling schools that have mushroomed over the last few years. Some ex-models run their own training schools such as Elle Modeling School, Mehar Bhasin School for models, Mehr Jessia and Madhu Sapre.

The best way to enter modeling is to get a portfolio made by a well-known Fashion photographer and then meet Modeling Agencies with the same.

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Career in Modeling

When Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai won the Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively in 1994, it changed the world of Indian fashion as nothing before that had. It finally brought fashion out of the closet. A trifle more glamorous than others, perhaps, but a profession all right.

The modeling business can be broadly classified into a). ramp modeling, b). television modeling and c). print modeling, but more often than not, these areas overlap and most models do it all. To make it in modeling, what you need, besides the very necessary physical attributes, is a large network of contacts to get your first break. Once that happens, excellent communication skills are required to keep the network growing.

Apart from that, you also need to have a tough-as-nails attitude, a never-say-die spirit (because the struggle might be long and hard), and supreme confidence in your own self.

Prospects in Modeling:

• Models find work in product advertising, mainly through advertising agencies, Live fashion shows, for designers, export houses, textile companies and clothing manufacturers.
• Showroom and garment fairs with export houses and garment manufacturers

Most assignments are on a freelance or contractual basis and so it is imperative to present one’s portfolio and keep in touch with advertising agencies, photographers, film production companies and fashion coordinators.

After a successful career in modeling, many models open their own modeling schools, model coordinating agencies or join films or television.

Modeling Job:

Fashion modeling is of three kinds:

Live modeling for ramp fashion shows:
In professionally choreographed live fashion shows, models display clothes and accessories for potential customers. Designers create prototype outfits for the models, who display them to an exclusive party of guests in a fashion show organized by a designer or a design house.

Photographic or still modeling:
This includes fashion shoots for magazines and catalogues.

Modeling for the electronic medium:
Models work in the studio or outdoor location for the television. They work with advertising firms, for TV ads, for promoting fashion and other products.

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