By Conor Kennedy for Models Observer
August 2007
Conor Kennedy, owner of Muse Model Management in New York, talks about building a successful modeling career and outlines the challenges models and agents face.
An enormous part of launching a new model involves how to package her. This is a moment that requires lots of scrutiny. A manager needs to be a tough critic and anticipate the requirements and demands of most demanding client.
Is she in the right physical shape? Does she need to lose or gain weight in order to fit the clothes? Does she need a makeover for hair, eyebrows, or personal style.
A brand new model has the toughest job of the industry. She has to inspire photographers, designers and stylists. She doesn’t yet have a body of work; no campaigns or even editorial to show her range. She has yet to build relationships or establish recurring clients. This is a critical point for a great manager to help start her career. She needs to learn the basics of posing, as well as the skill of networking and sell yourself. A young model in effect goes on tens of what we would call job interviews every day. The ratio of jobs to rejection is overwhelming. The top agencies work with a few hand picked test photographers who have the skills to work with a new model and create inspiring as well as marketable images of her.
Managing a top model is often more about saying “no” than saying yes. Clients are calling for work constantly. It’s a manager’s job to map out a framework for a healthy, well-balanced modeling career. This phase requires extensive knowledge regarding the relationships between clients.
How do you choose between two options on the same day when both are for a prestigious magazine like Vogue Italia? How do you balance both the editorial (magazine) and commercial (catalog) aspects of a models career. A majority of the world’s high fashion models are based in New York and so her relationships with her foreign agencies (and clients) must be overseen. Is her London agency only calling in $ options and not successfully seeking editorial? Is Milan pushing to confirm an advertising client that will damage her image? Is her German agency underselling her?
At a high level a top model CAN work every day, but she shouldn’t. At this stage, there are very few actual go-sees and the portfolio is less and less important. She should be working with the right level of photographers, stylists and art directors. She needs to maintain her visibility and image and keep herself modern. A model’s career should be constantly evaluated to make sure is balanced. Is the book moving too commercial or too edgy? If she’s a swimwear model-is she doing editorials that also show she can do fashion? If she’s a great runway model, are people also shooting her for beauty? Does she have any covers that will help pave the way for a cosmetics contract?
There is an over abundance of talent to the point than many models cycle in and out of fashion faster than ever before. A simple glance at style.com from three years ago will invite more than a few “What ever happened to?” This increases the pressure on the agencies and models to push for as much work as quickly as possible. Where as in the past one might have turned down advertising for fear of over exposure, in this era it’s not uncommon to see the model of the moment in five campaigns. It doesn’t leave much work for the rest of the models, but in addition to the considerable amount of money, it creates the possibility that she will rise above the fray and reach the level of a Giselle or Karolina Kurkova.
An enormous part of launching a new model involves how to package her. This is a moment that requires lots of scrutiny. A manager needs to be a tough critic and anticipate the requirements and demands of most demanding client.
Is she in the right physical shape? Does she need to lose or gain weight in order to fit the clothes? Does she need a makeover for hair, eyebrows, or personal style.
A brand new model has the toughest job of the industry. She has to inspire photographers, designers and stylists. She doesn’t yet have a body of work; no campaigns or even editorial to show her range. She has yet to build relationships or establish recurring clients. This is a critical point for a great manager to help start her career. She needs to learn the basics of posing, as well as the skill of networking and sell yourself. A young model in effect goes on tens of what we would call job interviews every day. The ratio of jobs to rejection is overwhelming. The top agencies work with a few hand picked test photographers who have the skills to work with a new model and create inspiring as well as marketable images of her.
Managing a top model is often more about saying “no” than saying yes. Clients are calling for work constantly. It’s a manager’s job to map out a framework for a healthy, well-balanced modeling career. This phase requires extensive knowledge regarding the relationships between clients.
How do you choose between two options on the same day when both are for a prestigious magazine like Vogue Italia? How do you balance both the editorial (magazine) and commercial (catalog) aspects of a models career. A majority of the world’s high fashion models are based in New York and so her relationships with her foreign agencies (and clients) must be overseen. Is her London agency only calling in $ options and not successfully seeking editorial? Is Milan pushing to confirm an advertising client that will damage her image? Is her German agency underselling her?
At a high level a top model CAN work every day, but she shouldn’t. At this stage, there are very few actual go-sees and the portfolio is less and less important. She should be working with the right level of photographers, stylists and art directors. She needs to maintain her visibility and image and keep herself modern. A model’s career should be constantly evaluated to make sure is balanced. Is the book moving too commercial or too edgy? If she’s a swimwear model-is she doing editorials that also show she can do fashion? If she’s a great runway model, are people also shooting her for beauty? Does she have any covers that will help pave the way for a cosmetics contract?
There is an over abundance of talent to the point than many models cycle in and out of fashion faster than ever before. A simple glance at style.com from three years ago will invite more than a few “What ever happened to?” This increases the pressure on the agencies and models to push for as much work as quickly as possible. Where as in the past one might have turned down advertising for fear of over exposure, in this era it’s not uncommon to see the model of the moment in five campaigns. It doesn’t leave much work for the rest of the models, but in addition to the considerable amount of money, it creates the possibility that she will rise above the fray and reach the level of a Giselle or Karolina Kurkova.
