Hey, all! For those of you who haven’t heard of Fashion on the Square (also known as FOTS), it is one of the largest outdoor fashion shows on the West Coast. Each year they have FOTS in San Francisco. For some time now I have always heard about FOTS in San Francisco from friends in the industry and other models I worked with.
The surprising thing about it is the models that I talked to who did FOTS—a fashion runway show—were shorter than me! I thought, “What kind of high profile runway show uses us shorties?” So I figured they got in because they knew a designer. Well, come to find out that FOTS does not hold any size or height requirements. I knew I had to give it a shot.
I got an email from one of the many casting networks I’m a part of, advertising the start of the casting phase for this year’s show, set for Saturday, July 19th in Union Square in San Francisco. So last Friday, May 16 I headed over to Brooks College of Fashion in Sunnyvale after work to try out. Luckily I arrived near the end of the casting so there was only one other girl there. I wore a pair of dark, form-fitting jeans, black heels (about 2-inches) and a simple white top that showed a little bit of midriff.
I filled out an application, gave my headshot (which I wrote my name, email and contact info on the back of as well as my location) and paid the $15 casting donation fee. Then I went into the casting room. There was three people there doing the casting: one was a model I worked with at a local fashion show last year, an older woman and a guy who was videotaping the castings. I introduced myself, and they asked a few questions about my experience and then told me all I had to do was walk twice and that was it.
They played an upbeat Janet Jackson song, I took a deep breath, put on a playful/flirtatious smile and made my way down the room to my mark, posed, came back, paused and walked again (on the second walk, I did a spin halfway through, while I simply walked back and forth the first time so I switched it up a little bit). I was really nervous but I made sure to smile and show good body language and I made eye contact with the two women.
They said I had a really good walk, a great smile and presence. That was really great to hear, especially since I don’t normally do fashion/runway at all and they’ve been casing for FOTS in San Francisco since it began a few years ago. They told me that they would call the models they wanted around the beginning of June. So I’ve got a bit more waiting to do but I really hope I get that phone call!
Nik from ANTM cycle 5 was the celebrity host last year and I am excited to find out what celebrity hosts, guests and designers will be this year. It’s definitely something I hope I get to finally be a part of!
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