Its been done, but is it realistic? I am guessing you would have to be tiny (like 30-23-33)and have a killer face, no? Any input?
How realistic is it to be a fashion model at 5'7?
- Thread starter Scarlettjane
- Start date
Aw I would love to hear the answer for VIPS. I'm 1.73 ( I don't know if its 5'7 or 5'8)
I am no expert but I would go with "don't bother". It's been done, but those girls were exceptional as models and they are the exception to the rule since they were so striking on film. It does not have a lot to do necessarily with having a great body and face - we have a lot of these in the industry currently that didn't accomplish much even standing taller than that.
The industry generally allows one misgiving if you're otherwise ideal and it's not too much of a major thing. Like if you're remarkable tall and thin, but your face is plain or average, you still have a shot of doing well. Or if you're an inch or two under the required height, you could still have a career if your face is exceptional and you're super skinny. So there is always the possibility, it just depends on whether your other assets compensate enough to forgive what you lack.
Also, 30-23-33 is larger than my measurements and I'm 5'9.5". I would definitely lower all those figures to enable modeling at 5'7".
Also, 30-23-33 is larger than my measurements and I'm 5'9.5". I would definitely lower all those figures to enable modeling at 5'7".
I'm just 5'8" and had I known how much it would limit my castings, I don't think I would've signed. It's hard for me to do runway. I can stand next to 5'10" girls and not look bad but the 5'11" and 6' notsomuch. Sabine is so right about the "one misgiving." I do a lot of beauty work, editorials, and even commercials that my super tall plain friends would die to do but can't because their faces aren't so stunning. I can look at an agency's board of just headshots and pick out the shorties for their great faces and the super tall. girls for their "blank slates." There is much more competition at this less-rare height. Modeling is already really tough, if you have resources and support to go to school or move to a city you love, do it; how much nicer is it to be the hottest lawyer rather than a stumpy model?
I saw this and thought I may as well post it.
MODELING: The real world v the fabricated world
Being a professional model in the fashion industry isn’t a reality for 99% of the population.
What people believe to be true:
NOTE: You come back home and the girl who was determined to be a model is working at the mall. She refused to accept tangible advice from knowledgable people who told her she wasn’t tall enough and wasn’t built for this business. Now she is posting videos on social media singing. She plans to audition for American Idol this summer. She is also auditioning for Americas Next Top Model. Her friends and family tell her she has an amazing voice and she should be a star.
She has always had a natural gift in science. When she was a girl, she was passionate about it. She never developed that natural inclination and will never know what she could have brought to the world. She just wants to be famous….and so does her family.
http://www.mothermodelmanagement.com/2015/01/22/modeling-world/
MODELING: The real world v the fabricated world
Being a professional model in the fashion industry isn’t a reality for 99% of the population.
What people believe to be true:
- You look pretty in a picture
- Your mom, aunt, neighbor, and friends tell you that you should be a model
- You post pictures on social media and people tell you that you are beautiful and should be a model
- You are a model because you and your friends and family say you are and you take pictures and post them.
- If you’ve really made it, you find a local agency who tells you that you’re a star. They charge you for pictures, comp cards, a portfolio, website fees, and possibly even classes.
- You really make it big when they “invite you” to a modeling convention to meet with agencies. This “investment” will cost thousands of dollars
- You’re beautiful, interesting, unique, not just pretty.
- You fit the criteria of age, height, body type, cup size. All fashion models are tall. Not just “runway models” It’s not 1994 and there is only one Kate Moss (with a few rare exceptions)
- You work to refine your body to be healthy and toned. You have a regimen for clear skin and healthy hair.
- If you haven’t been scouted by a legitimate scout, you submit directly to agencies with digitals with no makeup, hair pulled back, in a two piece swimsuit in natural light. You don’t inundate professionals in the industry with hashtags on local tests.
- If there is interest, the real process begins.
- You continue to get to the top model standard. Body, mindset, confidence, etc. you work to come into your own. This is a personal journey in which you need a strong knowledgable team that REALLY know what they are doing. You become so much more than a beautiful face. You are engaging, interesting, and you possess a great personal style. You learn to walk in and light up the room.
- You get representation in a larger market and you go spend time there. Building your book, meeting with clients, mastering the casting process, working on your walk, etc. Your management team makes a plan of what market you go to next
- There is a journey unfolding. You are being prepared for bigger things. You learn to dig down deep and find who you are, what makes you unique, and you learn to navigate in different environments and cultures. The world opens up to you
- Sometimes it feels like two steps forward and three steps back. You have to keep your eye on the prize and do the work that’s required. You realize how much personal growth it has taken. Your team is helping and cheering you on, figuring out the next best step. You learn not to listen to the naysayers or the people back home who know nothing about the modeling industry.
- Two years later you are dubbed the next new sensation, an overnight success! Now the real work begins. You travel more, you master skills that help you maintain this new level. Your team makes management decisions and a wonderful, exciting new world continues to unfold. You end up using this unique calling on your life to inspire, do charity work, and build businesses. You didn’t get to the top by accident. It took hard work, dedication, and a great management team. You have developed into an Incredibly savvy business woman
NOTE: You come back home and the girl who was determined to be a model is working at the mall. She refused to accept tangible advice from knowledgable people who told her she wasn’t tall enough and wasn’t built for this business. Now she is posting videos on social media singing. She plans to audition for American Idol this summer. She is also auditioning for Americas Next Top Model. Her friends and family tell her she has an amazing voice and she should be a star.
She has always had a natural gift in science. When she was a girl, she was passionate about it. She never developed that natural inclination and will never know what she could have brought to the world. She just wants to be famous….and so does her family.
http://www.mothermodelmanagement.com/2015/01/22/modeling-world/
I would also consider how long your legs are, compared to your torso. From what I have seen, long legs make you look taller than you are.
I think the posted British Vogue video had the most atypical and infuriating panel of models: 1 nepotistic, 1 commercial, 1 LUCKY/unobjectionable, and Jourdan hardly spoke. Most girls (most not being American or English) come from second-world countries or are in need of some "upward mobility" for whatever reason. Though I met a few girls like Karlie (well, and Karlie herself) whose mom has no life beyond sheparding her around, managing things, and never put into gritty situations. I hate them--mostly out of jealousy of such support but partly because that hotel money and Zara bill could be college and you are not that cute. Cara D always complains and gets all rebel because "she has a voice!" Yeah. If you were so concerned with sharing your profound intellect why aren't you at Oxford? You could afford it. Praise Natalia V!!
"how realistic is it to be a fashion model at 5'7"
It isn't. "How" is not the right question, it's "is it" and the answer is virtually always no
It isn't. "How" is not the right question, it's "is it" and the answer is virtually always no
I absolutely agree that it's not very realistic to be a model at 5'7.
But I still disagree with most of you girls on this one.
Is being a model your biggest dream? Would you do everything to become a model? Would you rather be a commercial catalog model than no model?
If your answer to all of these questions is yes, go ahead and try it. Be prepared to get rejected, but try it nevertheless.
There's nothing worse than a dream you haven't even tried to make reality.
(That being said, don't let this get in the way of another more promising career. When in doubt, choose excellence over mediocrity.)
But I still disagree with most of you girls on this one.
Is being a model your biggest dream? Would you do everything to become a model? Would you rather be a commercial catalog model than no model?
If your answer to all of these questions is yes, go ahead and try it. Be prepared to get rejected, but try it nevertheless.
There's nothing worse than a dream you haven't even tried to make reality.
(That being said, don't let this get in the way of another more promising career. When in doubt, choose excellence over mediocrity.)
Not to be mean but I think it is hardly the "dream" is to be modeling cable-knit sweaters in sea green, apple, asparagus, and china blue. Isn't it Dior or editorials? You make a couple hundred an hour commercial modelling but why it would be anyone's "dream" is ludicrous.
Definitely agree with this. It's a nice sentiment, but in my opinion, you're not doing anyone any favours telling them to chase unrealistic dreams.
Say you, by some crazy, incredible stroke of luck, do manage to become a HF model at 5'7. Okay, what now? No one wants to book the stumpy 5'7 model if there's a taller girl with similar measurements. You would have to bust your ass to get any work, and you can't even enjoy the job because you're so busy trying to overcompensate for the fact that you're shorter than 99% of the other girls. So you've just wasted the best years of your life on some unfulfillling pipe dream, when you could've found a way into the industry that didn't involve meeting a very strict criteria.
And if your dream is to be some blah commercial model for granny sweaters, well.
More power to you, I guess.Amanda Norgaard is 5'6 (despite what her agencies say) and is still modelling full time. 7 years and counting.
Last edited:
I'm really sorry about this.
I do hope your parents in some way come around to your work. Or, at least, that it is important to YOU, even if it is not to them.
Oh they love that I am a model (or telling people I am) but help me in no way--I am not a minority here, though, most other girls parents **can't** help them and are trying to bring in money for the family.
