Diary of a model

Lily spends her days as a model, rushing from shoot to show and then to another casting. On Amayzine, she tells you all about what her life is really like. Under a different name, of course, but that means she can share all the juicy details. This week: the high fashion vs. commercial dilemma.

Now that I'm in a nice explanatory vibe, I'll try to explain a tricky concept right away. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long one.

People often ask me which brands I work for. But that's precisely the beauty of being a model (and thus a freelancer): you work for whoever you want. However, that doesn't mean you actually do. Firstly, the agency often dictates your life in many cases. Additionally, there is a difference between jobs you do for your name and jobs you do for the money. This is the high fashion vs. commercial dilemma, where every model tries to find a balance. That's a bit of a simplification, so I'll try to explain it in the most logical way possible.

In general, I consider high fashion to be the ‘name jobs’ and the commercial jobs as ‘money earners’. When it comes to high fashion, think of the brands that hold big fashion shows during Fashion Week. Examples of such brands are Prada, Gucci, Chanel, etc. Generally, these brands pay less money, as it is already very cool for a model to even walk or shoot for such a brand. It's a certain haute-couture arrogance that I completely understand (‘haute couture’ is French for high fashion and it just sounds a lot fancier). How cool is it to work for such beautiful brands?

I also find magazines to be more high fashion than commercial (although there are also commercial magazines, well, life is not black and white but 50 shades of grey). For these kinds of shoots, you also get paid a lot less. Still, I really enjoy doing editorials. On these shoots, you often get to pose much more and think along with the creative process. Additionally, there is a chance that you can use the images later in your portfolio, hoping that it will lead to more (and better) commercial jobs. commercial jobs.. It's a kind of infinity symbol rollercoaster. Commercial shoots pay, as I said, often more money. This is because those kinds of brands often have a larger budget. That makes sense when you think about it. For example, Zalando has a much larger target audience and therefore generates enormous revenue. This leaves more money for the posing models. Please keep spending a lot of money on clothes, dear readers, I want to buy a super luxury resort in the Bahamas.

Many people will probably think now: easy choice, the more money, the better, right? But it's not that simple. Because besides the fact that high fashion jobs like editorials are a bit more challenging and creative, there is also a huge ego component to the commercial vs. high fashion dilemma. Many girls I know would see it (completely unjustly) as an insult if you called them a commercial model. I think it mainly comes from the fact that as a commercial model, you often can't climb (or descend, it's all in how you look at it) to the high fashion sector. Generally, as a new face, you are first pushed for the high fashion brands. That's how it went for me, at least. If you immediately accept all the commercial jobs, you are no longer exciting and exclusive enough for the high fashion brands. In high fashion, they like to discover new girls who haven't been used by any brand yet. So before you ‘ruin’ your name (that's how it was explained back then), you first have to impress the high fashion brands. It is often quite difficult to get in there because they are so selective. I think that because of that exclusive stuff, it often becomes an ego trip to be able to work in high fashion.

Of course, you want to have a balance on the commercial-high fashion scale, but that is often hard to find. People always complain and are not easily satisfied. So after a few editorials, there needs to be more money on the table, and as soon as you're happily cashing in, you miss the creativity. Maybe the scale is better described as a thin plank on the head of a Hungry Caterpillar model on too small heels. With every indignant sigh, it gets a little out of balance again. The solution? Squeeze your hands and be happy with the special work you get to do. Oh, and yoga. Yoga also helps for more balance. Namasté.

XX kisses from Lily