The adventure.

 

“There must be something in the cheese!”

It was an amazing experience which I’ll certainly never forget! It felt very special to be part of such an event and to meet all those international fashion people.

There were a total of 251 participants (as I already expected beforehand; the majority of them were girls) and 12 agencies to scout them. The FOX modelling event officially started on Friday eve, when every participant had to sign in. There was a huge queue of people who were waiting to get their name written down and to get into possession of their badge. Once this was done, all we had to do was to wait until the next day.

Saturday started off early with an information conference. Karen lee (host of the event as well as scout) welcomed everybody and told them what was going to happen & how and what people could expect. Following this conference, there was the photo shoot. Unfortunately they ran out of time, so we had to wait a long time before our photos could be shot. When my turn was finally there, everything seemed to go perfect. The sun shined and the garden, which functioned as the background of the photographs, looked stunning. The photographer seemed to be really impressed by my length (I looked like a giant with those high heels on) and when he asked my how old I was, he was surprised. “Well, there must be something in the Dutch cheese!”

Sunday was THE big day. It was the day at which we would meet the agencies and walk the runway in front of them. There were a total of twelve people who each represented a modelling agency. They all introduced themselves and made clear what they were looking for. The majority of them said they were looking for high-fashion models in the range of 5 ft. 7 and 5 ft. 11. Since I’m over 6 ft. 2, I figured this could be a problem… Nonetheless was I still very excited to walk the runway and to show them this tall Dutch girl! After a lunch break (yes also models need to have some lunch), the moment was there. Together with the other 250 participants I  had to line up backstage. The first badge number was 201. Fortunately mine was 326 so I wasn’t the first nor the last to show up. Once I entered the runway, everything seemed to pop out of my head and the only thing I focussed on was my walk.  

When the callbacks were announced, my number was called out once. I had gotten a callback from Karen Lee. When I got to talk to her, she asked me who I was and where I was from, just the basic information. She was pretty surprised I didn’t get any other callbacks, however when she asked me how tall I was she seemed to understand. “Probably you’re too tall…” She gave me her card and politely said goodbye. Of course did I hope to get in touch with some more agencies, but because I hadn’t expected anything to happen beforehand, I wasn’t disappointed. As a closure, I celebrated the evening with a huge dessert (with lots of chocolate)!

Once I got home, everybody was really excited to see me again and to hear all of my adventures! This was great, since everybody seemed to be really interested. Whenever I told people I’m actually too tall for the high fashion industry, they were like “What?!!”. Most people think my height is my advantage, but apparently not…

Nevertheless did I really enjoy this trip and I will surely never forget it! I won’t give up on the fashion industry entirely. Maybe there will be something closer to home in the future, since they do like tall girls in the Netherlands… J

 

 

 

The preparations.

“America here I come!”

It’s already December, which means I’m soon about to fly off to the States! Before I could depart t, a couple of things had to be taken care of.

The first thing I had to do was to get official permission from school to go there, since I would have to miss one entire week of school. Once I got approval, my father booked our tickets and reserved the hotel. We’ll first fly to LA and from there we’ll fly to Phoenix, where we’ll stay at the Arizona Biltmore Resort (this is also the location of the event).

Besides arranging the necessary stuff, I also figured it was the perfect time to add a bit more healthiness into my daily lifestyle. I have tried eating somewhat more healthier (yet I couldn’t resist the taste of chocolate every now and then) and I started exercising some more (which included going to the gym once a week, I’m not really a sporty girl). Furthermore have I practised walking in heels, because I had never done so before. I guess I wasn’t “born in heels”… I also figured my trip was an excellent excuse to buy some new clothes!

I’m really excited to join the FOX modelling event and can’t wait to see what all these fashion people are like! However I do know/ realize that my chances of becoming a model due to this event are really small, so I don’t expect anything big to come after this. Of course do I hope that I will get a call-back from an agency (this is an interview, saying that they are interested in you), though just the experience itself is already thrilling me. I’m curious to see what it’s going to bring me…!

The invitation.

“Oh girl, you look like a super model!”

Last summer my family and I made a road trip along the west coast of the USA. It was an amazing trip! We’ve seen some incredible nature, been at amazing places and most importantly we’ve had lots of fun! Not only will I remember this vacation because of the incredible memories, but also because of the exclusive opportunities it has brought me….

It was the fourth of August. We were staying at the Lake Powell Resort in Page. Me and my younger sister were heading towards the dining area, where we would meet the rest of our family to have breakfast, when we were suddenly stopped by a foreign woman. She was super enthusiastic and wanted to know everything about me. Since I had no clue who this woman was, neither did I know why she had stopped me, I was kind of speechless (perhaps it  also had something to do with the early timing..). While she was talking to me, she grabbed her bag and took a card out of it. It was her business card, which she gave to me. Her name was Vaiva Tuckuviene. She has her own modelling agency, is a successful scout for FOX models and used to be a model herself.

Vaiva told me she saw some great modelling potential in me. Still perplex of the whole situation, I listened to the things she told me. She explained me what the FOX modelling event was about. She also told me that if I was going to join, which I didn’t consider at first, the chance of me actually becoming a model would be very small. To be clear, this event is a so-called ‘showcase’ at which you present yourself to the international top modelling agencies and only 10 percent of the participants actually get to work as models. Nonetheless is it a great experience for young (international) people, even when you don’t get into contact with any of the agencies after all.

My father spoke with Vaiva some more and gave her our information (phone number, email, etc…). She asked me to email her some additional information and photos of myself. She said she would give my information to Keith Fox, head of the FOX modelling agency.

I felt extremely proud of myself at that moment and needed to call my mom to tell her everything that just had happened (since she was still at home). I guess she was even more excited than I was (she was seriously about to scream through the telephone) and told me she was very proud of me.

Weeks later I got a phone call from my father who had just been called by Keith Fox. He had called my father to ask whether his daughter was coming to America upcoming December. “Well, I guess I might have to discuss that with my daughter at first….” I was thrilled with excitement and couldn’t believe I might actually go to America AGAIN. Before I knew it, tickets were booked and it was sure, I was going to the FOX modelling event. I even got official permission from school, so nothing was going to stop me. Now, 3 months later, I must say that I still don’t seem to realize the fact that I am flying to Arizona in less than two weeks’ time…