Modeling & Acting 101 - A Model/Actor's Diary

I'm so glad to have come across this link that was posted by a local photographer on one of the Facebook modeling groups I'm a member of. It's an exclusive look at photos of Doutzen Kroes's shoot for Victoria's Secret. We've all see this supermodel grace the pages of the VS catalog for quite some time now but I guarantee that you haven't seen her like this: unretouched . VS apparently accidentally released the unretouched pictures and while they did damage control, once it was on the Internet, there was no way to completely remove them afterwards. She still looks amazing--don't expect for her to look unbelievably unattractive or anything but when you see the side-by-side comparison of the original photos--known in the industry as the "RAW" image--next to the professionally retouched, end result, you'll easily see how even the smallest of photo manipulation makes a big difference. I doubt this will change many aspiring models' be...

I can't even begin to tell you how many emails and blog post comments I've received because of my one blog post about how to become a Victoria's Secret model. In fact, I was seriously considering deleting the post, not because I don't care about or don't want to help others try to become VS models but mainly because SO MANY readers DID NOT read the blog post closely enough before sending me tons of questions about stuff that is literally right there in the content. If this applies to you, please don't be offended...I'm not mad at you and it's not like I never want you to contact me again...it's just that for a while there it got really discouraging to have to answer the same things over and over when all people have to do is read the blog post carefully. That's all. It's like someone asking, "How do I submit my pictures to Elite?" when their computer screen is on the Elite website page and it says, "Here is how to submit yo...

I've already done a post about what it takes to become a Victoria's Secret Model but recently came across some additional pieces of information that I thought I would pass along to you VS hopefuls: If you want to know who has the ultimate say-so of who gets to be a Victoria's Secret Angel, his name is: Edward Razek. This man is the Senior Creative & Chief Marketing Officer for Limited Brands, which is the company that owns VS. Razek is responsible for personally selecting the models to represent the world famous lingerie company--namely who gets to be on the runway in the VS fashion shows. He has helped to launch the VS careers of dozens of models whose names we would know anywhere: Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum and Gisele, among many others. For those of you that are not already aware of it, VS does have a Fashion Show Competition to find the next VS Angel. The most recent one was held in October of 2009 and consisted of castings in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Ch...

One of the posts on this blog that gets the most comments is the "Want to Be a Victoria's Secret Model?" post. What amazes me is that almost all of the comments are from people asking what it takes to be a VS model. The whole post is about how to be a VS model so I'm not quite sure why readers are posting comments asking this. I don't know--do they just not read the post and just comment? I'm curious because as far as I know I made the post fairly easy to read and understand. Another thing I've noticed about some of the comments is that there are questions from aspiring models listing their height and stats and it clearly does not meet the requirements I list in the VS post. As a writer I guess I'm a little frustrated that I continue to get comments with questions that are clearly answered in the post itself. If you are one of the readers who have left a question asking how to be a VS model, I'll simply tell you to read the post. I even up...

(*Due to the number of comments and questions I get from aspiring models about working for VS, please be sure to read my post on this very carefully. If you don't meet all of these requirements then you cannot become a model for VS. If you are not tall enough, if you are not signed to a top agency, your chances are not good.  If you don't meet the requirements, please don't be too upset about it. Find another field of modeling you may be good for. There are plenty of other modeling opportunities for models outside of being a VS angel. They may not be as good or as well-known as VS but it's better than nothing.) I know I’d jump at the chance to be offered a gig modeling for Victoria’s Secret (although I think they’d be irritated by Photoshopping my stretch marks HAHA, yeah, I said it, I’ve got stretch marks!). All silliness aside, the gals of Victoria’s Secret are probably the inspiration for a majority of aspiring models out there. Not only do they get to wear the s...