Model.Live Episode 5: Hustle and Bustle, Castings on the Double
It’s literally the eve of New York Fashion Week as Model.Live’s fifth episode is shot. After the last three shows, we have a fairly surface-level idea about the personalities of Cato, Madeline and Austria, but now the real fun comes as we see them in the thick of endless castings.
Considering that it’s four days prior to the shows, one can expect to see some chaotic, testy scenes with some nerves drawn thin. Cato, for one, makes known her rhapsodies about the upcoming week, but admits to feeling just as uneasy. This same emotional ambivalence filters over into her outlook concerning her castings. However, on surface, she appears to be handling it all well, soldiering through casting after casting with nothing but positivity coming her way.
Madeline, on the other hand, doesn’t mask her distress well, but given what’s before her, one has to understand her angst. As she strolls into her 18th casting at John Pfeiffer, the pressure bubbles up into an exasperated tirade (“This is sad. Is there not a list?) at the disorder at some of these castings. The kettle final boils over as Madeline loses her book! Sadly, losing your passport or your book are two no-no’s hammered into the models by their agency and Madeline falls short on one. Her additional castings at Lacoste don’t fare so well either. I wouldn’t say Madeline’s attitude is pessimistic; she’s just being a realist about her odds which in turn helps to buffer the shock of not being called back.
Austria’s time in New York is shepherded by IMG and her loving mother! Through this experience, alone, Austria comes away with a mature and renewed sense of her career as a model. Amid shuttling to and fro casting calls for the likes of Betsy Johnson and Philosophy, Austria quickly realizes that many models are not accompanied by their parents. Austria’s mom is cognizant of that too, displaying a motherly understanding of her daughter’s desire to be independent at some stage in the near future. As odd as Austria and some of the other models see it, having your mom around is not all that childish! Even at eighteen, Chanel Iman’s mother is always backstage with her
Author: Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi
a son of Nigeria who spent much of his early years living in Sydney, Australia before making the hop across the pond to the U.S. to finish his studies. He shuttles between two alter egos: one as an ardent scientist and the other as an aficionado of the arts. He flirts on a regular basis with artistic pursuits such as photography, fashion, and freelance journalism with hopes of eventually settling into a cushy career of photojournalism when his midlife crisis rolls around!
