Of the three girls IMG eyed for the entire Model.Live series, Cato emerged as the golden child, walking an amazing 37 shows across the entire show season. Campaign season is hardly a stumbling block for Cato as an opportunity to star in D&G’s cruise campaign comes knocking!

Cato success rouses ambivalence between the two camps of people she draws her support from. IMG are chuffed by her ascent, labelling her the “confirmed new star on the market—but, you know, I say ‘star’ in small letters. And the latter half of David Cunningham’s statement is where Cato’s parents lay in worry as they feel the small time world of modelling has already been unhinged—for the better—where Cato is concerned.

So how does Cato feel about all the fanfare? She receives her progression as an expected reality, showing no schoolgirl excitement whatsoever over being moved from the development board to the main women’s board. Cato’s response to the news: “I was thinking that at any moment it could happen. She’s a supermodel already!

0 comment(s)

Back from suspension (don’t quote me) after exhibiting some rather slipshod behaviour in London, Austria’s mother agent, Socrates McKinney, delivers a vindicating performance as he narrates much of the episode. Austria’s listless poise at much of her European castings have been a thing of debate and by discussing the dynamics of the Dominican family, McKinney provides a quasi−explanation for Austria’s withdrawn conduct.

Culture has it that Dominican girls do not willfully vacate their parents’ house unless some gentleman takes their hand in marriage. In that sense, Austria shuttling half way across the world at the tender age of 16 (or is it 14) is a colossal shift in gears.

For the most part, McKinney’s narrating is a welcomed return to the sense of wisdom he evinced when Austria was first introduced to Model.Live. However, his streak of good comes to an abrupt halt when he animatedly divulges the $9000 sum Austria is to receive for her first campaign.

McKinney’s blunders aside, the closing segments of the episode present a snapshot of the economic reality that drives Austria Alacantra. By participating in Dominican Moda, it is evident that her development as a model is important to her; however, at the same time, she casually scoffs at talks of her sitting out a year because she knows her toils are benefiting not only herself, but the lives of others.

1 comment(s)

I’m far from an expert when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of the modelling industry. However, the little I did know prior to Model.Live has been supplanted by a wealth of perspective. And in that, I’ll say this: models have it tough.

An open Madeline fills us in on all this in a frank episode that shows how she’s faring post show season. Conveniently juxtaposed against Madeline’s morose economic breakdown of the modelling industry is the high spirits we find her in throughout this episode courtesy of Jimmy, her boyfriend who joins her all the way from down under!

So here I am thinking that these models at Bryant Park are raking in wads of money, but in actuality payments for shows can range from a couple thousand dollars to a measly dress! That’s not to say being handed a rocking pair of Alexander Wang‘s distressed denim shorts is half bad, but it’s the principle of it all. I’m sure these designers know good and well that the average model on IMG’s books is scraping by so what is a dress really going to do for their financial situation? Then again, who cares right?

On the flipside, if you are a blue blood, then you can flirt with the thought of receiving a tidy sum of maybe $20,000, but not every model ranks alongside Linda Evangelista and her $10,000 minimum just to roll out of bed. Amidst efforts to catapult one’s career, Madeline (and the gazillion other models who, for the moment, lie at the bottom of the rung) must tough it out for the first year or two in order to establish themselves. Sadly, all these pains are clouded by piles and piles of debt that take on a “no end in sight visage. From paying rent on that swanky agency-owned apartment to forking out $500 for model cards, the expenses can be quite intimidating when walking fashion shows pay next to nothing and landing a campaign is a reality that is few and far between for emerging starlets like Madeline.

To our pleasure, Madeline goes on to book two campaigns so odds are she won’t have to settle for that derelict mattress after all!

1 comment(s)

So Model.Live decided to do a two-part feature on Paris Fashion Week, but in actuality this episode served as a wrap-up for the entire show season. In news relating to Paris, Madeline lands a show and much to our delight, opened and closed the proceedings!

Cato continues to take Paris by storm, but as her profile skyrockets, she begins to feel the weight of it all and can’t afford to fault lest she falls from grace. We don’t get much of an update on Austria’s time in Paris (we’re casually told she walks one show); however, we figured her initial absence only meant she would become the focal point for the rest of the episode and low and behold, she was.

With the show season coming to a halting grind, Model.Live took time out to reflect on some of the psychological bumps models may experience in the industry. Austria’s waning confidence fuelled the spiels from the likes of Wayne Sterling, the editorial director of Models.com and Jeni Rose, the VP of Development at IMG Models. Sterling makes the claim that confidence trumps beauty and manifestations of this can be seen in situations when a model is placed smack-dab in front of a camera. How does she react? Does she wince under the pressure to deliver or does she step to the camera with a surefooted fluidity about her.

Jeni Rose, on the other hand, takes a more cutthroat Darwinian perspective to modelling by alluding to the idea that the profession is rather survivalist and that those who can’t compete best depart. Sterling and Rose are correct in a sense, but in any line of work, external factors such as booking a show as a model will inform the very basis of this construct we call confidence. Marlon, who is a model scout/manager, presents a more forgiving view by recognizing the almost subconscious motives that compel us to act confidently.

For instance, when Austria is quizzed about whether she’s in control of her life, the ambivalence in her first response (“Yes…sometimes…no) is a clear sign of the subconscious factors breeding diffidence while her subsequent response (“There’s too many people around giving opinions) screams the confidence we know supermodels for. Gladly much of the talk about shipping Austria home for a one-year hiatus has been quelled and we’re banking on the age-old adage, patience is a virtue, to realize itself where Austria, Madeline, and Cato’s fears are concerned.

0 comment(s)

As last week’s episode of Model.Live wrapped up, Cato had walked a slew of shows in Milan while Madeline and Austria struggled to even catch a glimpse of a runway. It was all very disheartening for them, while for Cato it marked the pinnacle of her career thus far as a model. With no shows booked, Madeline and Austria find Milan’s most picturesque cobbled streets all too depressing so the two checkout early of their rather humbling Milano sojourn to get a head start in Paris castings.

Between Madeline and Austria, the former makes more of an assured bounce back from the Milan and lands in Paris packing an arsenal of confidence, yet she’s greeted with big fat, ego-piercing “NOs from Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood and oddly, Fatima Lopes.

Austria’s young age is glaringly obvious in this episode as she laughs off the fact she couldn’t make all her castings and it’s quite evident she seems overwhelmed with the demands of being a model. The pep talk IMG gives Austria proves ineffective and the team rally behind the plan that Austria sits out a season or two. Cato is in agreement with the idea commenting that modelling at such an impressionable age cuts into the carefree enjoyment of adolescence by thrusting you into a situation where you literally become a “grown up overnight.

Cato’s comments come as a bit of surprise because when she was Austria’s age, she was doing the very same thing, although Cato’s parents reined her in from the nastiness the industry has to offer. Evidently, Cato’s baby−steps into the modelling paid dividends in her approach to the profession; so rather than sit Austria out for two seasons, we suggest that IMG reunite mother and daughter. Maybe this could be the answer to the Austria’s pickle as opposed to shipping the young Dominican home. We hope so…

0 comment(s)

There is a healthy buzz about Milan Fashion Week that renders it unparallel to any other city. The myriad of designers billed to show at Milan know it, the swarming cadre of press sense it, and the hoards of models who line the streets in anticipation of casting success envision it.

For a model, sauntering down the catwalk of a show in Milan can catapult one’s career into a separate stratosphere. As relatively new models, Madeline and Austria are itching to break into that plateau while Cato is one phone call away from realizing it.

Model.Live has definitely opened my eyes to the rigours of what it takes to actually be a model. It is by far not a walk-in-the-park, whimsical, fairy-tale profession as many would imagine. Stardom is not guaranteed and the mere act of booking shows neither. The truth of the matter is for an unknown starlet like Madeline and Austria breaking into the regimented ranks of blue-blooded models is a tough surmount. Sadly, it’s the designers who have a part to play in perpetuating this Patrician order of models. It’s what delayed Thakoon’s show for a good one hour.

After thirty castings over the course of three days, Austria does not land a show and neither does Madeline. Our heart goes out to Madeline, particularly in a singular scene in the car where she seems to choke up and requests the film crew to cut the tape.

The reasons for Madeline’s misfortunes in Milan are not so clear, but for Austria, her IMG manager’s feel that her lack of shows stems from her whittled down confidence and lethargy. Rumour has it that Austria was only 14 years of age as of February this year.

And just to let you know…Cato did receive the phone call, went on to walk Prada for the second season in a row and starred in shows for Dolce & Gabbana, Just Cavalli, and Alessandro Dell’Acqua!

0 comment(s)

If you’ve been glued in to Model.Live since its premier episode, we’re sure there’s been a subtle growth of attachment towards Austria, Madeline, and Cato. As you all know, I happened to have caught a case of Madelinophilia around the second episode and I’ve been enamored ever since. In my eyes, she’s a “true blue, dinky di Aussie so the philia is bona fide!

I digress, but for a reason. The fond memories of Madeline’s successful New York season came to a crashing halt, as she stood a breath away from London Fashion Week with only a silly passport stamp and some snooty immigration officers asphyxiating her way. Now if you read Madeline’s recount of the events over at her blog, the mere fact of having to stay overnight was not what got her “frazzled so to speak—it was being overly badgered, excessively frisked, and downright humiliated. Is being a burgeoning model with representation from IMG such a lowly calling to warrant a pat down of this nature? Homeland security is one thing, but the zeal was to a fault.

In retrospect, with all the tumult set upon the itinerant Model.Live girls, one has to ask is someone slipping up at IMG?

The grass is a lot greener in London for Cato as she nails ten shows with Giles, Christopher Kane and Topshop Unique amongst the slew of names—a strong season indeed. Cato’s steady ascent from New York to London is breathtaking sans her association with Russell Marsh which makes her feats seem all a bit nepotic. Marsh is a weighty character in the world of casting, fronting for Prada and Miu Miu as their “it casting director.

Sadly though Marsh has been tied to unscrupulous allegations along the lines of receiving bribery from certain agencies (we won’t mention any names) to cast their models front and center in particular shows. Cato got her break through Marsh last season, walking for Prada as a relative unknown. Hmm…it all seems suspect, but we trust that Cato’s strong showing in New York set in motion her tour de force performance in London.

Austria’s fortunes weren’t so rosy in London. She walked three shows, but the trek was an arduous one. It seemed her chaotic beginnings at Heathrow foreshadowed the havoc her idle mother agent, Socrates McKinney, and her headstrong driver would wreak! “I can’t write it down, because it gives me a headache. We literally wanted to pull at our own hair for the poor girl or maybe take a nap with her. Can you fault her? The stress of a haphazard driver can easily be compounded by a mother agent who refuses to talk on the phone and gets frazzled in an instant. Surrounded by all the brouhaha, it’s no wonder sleep emerges as Austria’s only solace.

For Austria, London proves to be tough, daunting, and not as receptive as New York, but one look at her snaps from Qasimi show are enough of an indicator that Austria Alcantara will be a force to be reckoned with as opposed to being just “number in the eyes of a certain casting director.

0 comment(s)