How to Become a Model

If you like travel, hard work, long days and keeping in shape, modeling might be for you. Here are tips on modeling.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Fashionable shoes
• Fashion magazines
• Business cards
• Business card holders
• Designer fashion
• Makeup kits
• Healthy foods
• Photographers
• Career counseling
• Portfolios

1. Consider your physical characteristics: Are you 5-foot-7 or taller? You should wear a size 4 to 6, and you should have a 32- to 35-inch bust, a 22- to 25-inch waist, and 33- to 36-inch hips.

2. Determine whether you have any distinctive features.

3. Work on having clear skin, healthy hair and straight teeth.

4. Consider your mental attitude: You should be ambitious, confident, organized, willing to travel or move to foreign cities, able to spend and invest wisely and able to take rejection.

5. Visit local modeling agencies to find an agent willing to help you build a portfolio.

6. Go to castings and "go-sees" with your portfolio in hand to win potential clients and get modeling jobs.

7. Be prompt and professional. Exhibit the confidence that you will use to sell products.

Tips & Warnings

• Catalog models don't always have to be 5-foot-7 or taller, but they do have to be thin. Runway models are required to be at least 5-foot-9.

• Teen or junior models must be 5-foot-6 and at least 12 years old, with youthful looks.

• Modeling is not always glamorous. Long days of castings and go-sees, long trips on the road, rejection and stiff competition can be stressful.

• Speak with a reputable professional before deciding whether modeling is for you.