One day the mother of one of the models who was off to work in Milan asked me, “Everyone there is so scary. What did they think of our daughter?” For our families we are the most beautiful, but there is no concept of “beauty” in the modelling world. There is only a type that inspires customers to employ you to advertise a particular product.
As international scouts like to repeat at auditions, “Modelling has nothing to do with beauty.” The model must be smart, polite, clean and punctual and be able to present the product that needs to be advertised. Your freckles or big eyes may be the cause of ridicule at school, but they will drive a model agent or a famous designer crazy and you will open Chanel or Dior shows, and your ridiculers will be surprised asking, “What is beautiful about you?”
In beauty contests, they are taught to present themselves, not to advertise goods and usually are given valuable prizes such as cars or money. In modelling contests, they give out contracts and a chance to become a new face in the modelling business. A chance to work. They don’t give you ten thousand dollars, but a contract for ten thousand dollars, where you can earn this money in model shows, magazines, look books and campaigns.
I do not know a single model who was able to combine participating in beauty contests with a successful modelling career. The modelling business is a job, a lifestyle while beauty contests are one-time events, the purpose of which is to increase self-esteem, to promote yourself, to get married successfully and to win a valuable prize. This is why model contracts increasingly include a clause on refusal to participate in such projects.
Text: K. Mironova
