MODELING & TALENT modeling
By Eve Matheson
LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Elaine Parker, seen above and left as a former model for Catalina Swimwear and more recently in 2007, is the owner of Rage Models in Los Angeles, where she uses her own experience to help provide models to a variety of mediums, including TV, print and runway.
Icouldn’t wait to go to the masterfully planned International Model and Talent Association convention in Los Angeles this year. Just when you think this event can’t get any better — well, it just does! It is an awesome potpourri of international model agents, top notch casting directors, managers, makeup artists, photographers and instructors on a mission to find the new face among the tsunami of contestants. And yet, despite the enormity of this extravaganza, it never loses its sense of family, a rare achievement!
I was privileged to give a seminar with the incredibly successful, not to mention humble, Debra-Lynn Findon (she never once dropped Desperate Housewives’ star Eva Longoria’s name, even though she discovered her at an IMTA convention; nor that she represents five other clients also starring in various television series), who owns Discover, Inc. Management in Los Angeles. Debra-Lynn focused on the talent aspect of the business and I spoke about the modeling world; we crisscrossed quite a bit because, in today’s world, these two careers overlap. The title of our seminar was “How To Have a Safe, Happy and Successful Career in This Risky High Pressure Industry” (believe it or not, that
really is possible!). At the end we answered a wide range of questions. Here is a sample of questions from parents of aspiring models, which also illustrates the crossover between a modeling and an acting career.
A: A Fit model works for designers, pattern makers and manufacturers of clothing lines that are made and sent immediately to stores. There are two kinds — the sylph-like creature who works for the haute couture designer and the model who works for everyone else. The couture model must rigidly adhere to the height and body measurement criteria demanded for high fashion. The Fit model who works the mass market can be shorter and a little larger. In both cases models must have the patience of Job, as they are required to stand for hours while clothes are pinned, nipped, tucked and fitted to their bodies. Fit modeling, especially the second category, can open doors to print, catalog and acting work.
I spoke to former Fit model Elaine Parker, who owns the rapidly growing Rage Models in Los Angeles, and prides herself on the fact that her agency repre-
MODELING Continued on page 60
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