Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Asia is a great place for models to get a lot of experience. You work really hard, you
shoot more pictures in a day than probably anywhere else in the world. You spend more
time running around and seeing people. Tokyo for years was really the only place that people
went in Asia in the beginning. It's a very safe place, they have drivers who drive you
around, primarily because the language is absolutely so different. The letters are different,
everything is different; you would never find your way around in any Asian country unless
you were lucky enough to speak that language.
So, it's very protected. You get a working contract, you have to make sure it's a good
agency. But the good agencies work with a good contract, you go there for a period of
time, you're kind of guaranteed how much work you're going to do and how much money you're
going to make. So, traditionally that's how it works.
The height requirements are different because the clothes they manufacture and they make
are quite different. So, you can be, you know, five-nine, A girl that's five-eleven is too
tall for that market. Sometimes someone who's five-eight can go there and just clean up
and make a ton of money. They like smiley, Caucasian looking girls. They don't want anybody
that's too distinctively different. They're sort of a perfect proportion to the face,
perfect proportion to the body, good fit is really important.
And Asia has opened up incredibly for all the right reasons. Now there is China; you
can go to all different parts of Asia. You'd actually spend a nice time going from one
country to another, and be in a culture that you would never, ever have the experience
of living in. And it is much different and it's an incredible experience to spend time
in those countries.
That's sort of the beauty in modeling is that you get to enjoy places that you would never
go to. But the requirements are stricter; you need to have a contract, you can't just
go and show up in Shanghai without being invited. The two things that have changed over the
last two years are they have a lot of magazines, there's a lot of beautiful editorial that's
shot in Asia, some really wonderful photographers, cosmetics. It really has evolved into a market
that really produces wonderful, wonderful work.
So, it's a great place for beginners to go because you really learn the job of modeling,
you learn how to act, how to shoot a lot of pictures in a day, and it's just a great place
to get a lot of experience. And it's a protected place, so if you're with a good agency you'll
be very well taken care of. All of those agencies have scouts in America. There's people that
agencies in New York work with good agencies in Asia, so you get the right introduction.
And the other great thing that's happened is that Asian models, they're sort of a transfer,
where the world has become smaller, and there's more opportunities for all different types
of ethnicities in our business, which is a great thing. We have more Asian models being
more successful, not being blocked into one specific type of beauty. So, the same goes;
the exchange of beauty is going between different areas of the world. Ad that's the best part
of the business, opening up for everyone in Asia, is that it's offered better quality
work.