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.

Everyone must be a bit tired of corona by now and ready for some old-fashioned model whining. I certainly am. I haven't experienced anything really new in the last two weeks. So I thought it would be a good idea to share a model struggle with you again this week.

I haven't been in the Netherlands for this long in the last six years, and I'm starting to develop withdrawal symptoms from traveling. But of course, there are also nice aspects to being at home. For example, I've been spending a lot more quality time with my roommate and my boyfriend. Because modeling work can sometimes throw some mud on relationships. So this week: how do I date a model?

I can be short and powerful about it: just don’t do it. But even models sometimes need a bit of love after being judged on their hip circumference again, so I'm quite happy that my boyfriend likes a challenge.

That challenge consists, first of all, of the fact that you can never plan more than two days ahead. Of course, I can block myself out for important days, but generally, my schedule is managed by my agent. So it can happen that you miss each other for a while because I suddenly find myself in Madrid on date night.

Now, a few days is obviously not that bad, but besides ‘job trips’, there are also ‘on stay trips’ and those generally last a lot longer. For me, it's now quite normal when an agent says: ‘Hey babe, how about you’re coming to London for a month?’ or: ‘Does a three-month stay in New York sound good?’ My first reaction is always: ‘Hey ho let’s go!’ I love the trips, living abroad, and discovering new places. But for a while now, I can no longer just make these kinds of decisions on my own and I have to learn to consult (yes, I had to learn that because I never had to do that regarding traveling before). Huge respect for all the people who maintain long-distance relationships. When I was in faraway, time-difference New York for a while, I found that quite difficult. Learning to text, learning to call, and learning to FaceTime. It's not easy, but we survived.

Later came the next challenge: a kiss with a colleague. What is allowed, what is not? It sometimes happens that you have to play a couple in front of the camera with a (smoking hot/incredibly stupid) fellow model. When I saw a male model on the call sheet, I asked if it would be okay to do a fake kiss for the camera (I learned to negotiate!). That was of course no problem, it’s part of the job, but later suddenly came the catch. Now he thinks he has a point for it and therefore gets to kiss again. The deal is now made: if I can choose the co-star, someone is willing to pay him a model day fee, and the same photographer takes the photo, then it's fine by me. He doesn't agree, but I haven't learned to negotiate well enough for a compromise yet.

Take it or leave it, mister boyfriend!

XX Kisses from Lily