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Model Behavior

Samantha Berk

They hurtle down the slides in bikinis, hitting the water and showering onlookers. Several more are on top a larger-than-life pirate ship anchored in the pool. Even more laugh as they drive past the cameras on golf carts.

This was just one day at work for model Mandy Skutch.

A junior marketing major at Miami University, Skutch is new to modeling. She was approached by a photographer while working at Abercrombie and Fitch last semester and now finds herself at shoots like the one described, quite a step up from working at the register in the mall.

"(Modeling) is a lot of fun," Skutch said. "It's is a lot less regular work than when you have a normal job and the pay is better per hour. It's a lot more fun than folding shirts for five hours a day."

To many in society, as well as at Miami, models are an emblem of success and intrigue.

Miami sophomore Stephanie Burrell was in eighth grade when a teacher asked if she had ever considered modeling. By high school she was doing shoots for department stores, Kodak, and had even traveled to Osaka, Japan, for jobs.

The excitement of modeling however did not come without cost. The time-consuming modeling jobs forced her to take a semester off from Miami. Now she's back for good.

"My education comes first for me," Burrell said. "I don't think I'll be doing too much (modeling) within the next year or two."

To Burrell, modeling is a fickle business.

"One day you're in and next you're out," she said.

Burrell, who has had offers to model in Taiwan and to return to Japan, wants to finish college before expanding her modeling career.

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Similarly, Skutch places school above modeling, treating it just like another extracurricular. Keeping it on the side doesn't necessarily make it easy though.

"The hardest part about modeling is traveling," Burrell said, "because you have to be away from family and friends."

There is also more to modeling than meets the eye.

According to Burrell, typically a model arrives at a shoot anywhere from one to four hours before pictures are taken and they will devote anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours in the makeup chair. Their wardrobe is typically draped on racks, ready to be pulled and pinned until clothes can be worn with perfection. Then comes the long process of posing while the photographer takes a multitude of pictures, the majority of which will not even be used.

A shoot for Kodak, Burrell remembered, lasted six hours.

Time isn't the only issue at hand. Modeling has earned itself a stigma in society. Skutch admitted that since she started modeling, she has been embarrassed to tell people.

Burrell also kept quiet when she moved to Ohio in high school because modeling is frequently perceived as coterminous with drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and conceitedness.

Some models Burrell has met in the Cincinnati area do fit this standard.

"They're often very snobby, in their own sheltered 'bubble,' and smoke or get into heavier drugs," Burrell said.

Nevertheless, as in every profession, the modeling business employs serious clients as well. Burrell recalls her last stint in Japan where she roomed with a model from Poland, one of the "traveling girls," as she calls them. Far from stuck-up, these models work because it's their only choice.

"A lot of them have college degrees, but they travel because they make better money modeling than if they were to get a job in their country because of their economy," Burrell said.

At Miami, however, modeling is an unconventional job - different from the usual dining hall or campus tour guide positions most college students have.

It's competitive as well, according to Burrell's modeling agency, Wings Model Management in Cincinnati.

"People always ask me, 'Do I have to be pretty to be a model?' and 'Do I have to be tall?'" said Jake Lang, owner of Wings Model Management.

The answer, to him, is yes.

But that beauty may not always be what one expects.

According to Lang, there are two types of models; the typical beauty verses the edgy looks.

"Someone might take great photographs but look kind of odd in person," Lang said.

These edgy girls are usually sent to places like Paris while more commercial beauties go to Los Angeles and New York.

But sometimes models are hard to point out.

"We have a girl who has been in Italian Vogue, but looking at her you would never know," Lang said.

Launching a modeling career locally is a good start, Lang said. Wings Model Management has sent models to New York, Asia and Europe, and has even represented Shannon Stewart, a former contestant on America's Next Top Model.

Yet Skutch warned aspiring models to be careful when choosing an agency.

"Be selective when deciding who to work with because sometimes you get the creepy photographers," Skutch said.

More specifically, advised Burrell, go where there is demand. New York and Los Angeles favor tall models, whereas Burrell, who at 5-feet-8-inches tall stands on the shorter end of the modeling spectrum, finds more success in Japan and with other companies in the Far East that prefer shorter models and those with fair hair. More than anything however, Burrell encouraged getting an education.

"I've tried not to make modeling the center of my life," Burrell said.

Finishing her degree is of paramount importance to her. While modeling provides a select few with generous incomes, according to Burrell, department store shoots in Cincinnati won't prove as effective as a bachelor of science.

Some feel models are the perfect picture of success - dominating magazine covers and commercials all over the world.

But maybe that depends on how one measures success.

In modeling terms, it could mean doing shoots in exotic places like Japan, or perhaps success is merely getting to have fun at work by splashing around in a water park with some new friends.


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