AMA: Former model in late 30s often called beautiful by others

[ImImmortalNowBabyDoll]

I'm a former model and now in my late 30s but still regularly described by strangers and friends alike as "beautiful." I've noticed that people who haven't happened to fall neatly into Western beauty standards are often curious about people who do, so AMA.

And if you just want to come and tell me that I'm conceited and probably not as beautiful as I think I am, that's OK too- we all need a hobby.

Most aren’t able to get signed to agencies though. Most get rejected by them and the turn to such sites like I have described.
I have a friend who works in a modelling agency. You would be surprised at the amount of women who claim they don’t want to go through agencies but secretly apply to them. But get rejected.

I think their opinion would be there's more than one kind of model. Just like some actors are in multi-million £ films, some are in soaps, some are working as waitresses trying to get jobs, some set up theatre companies and tour their own one woman show or join a company, some just appear at their local amateur theatre - they are all actors and they all need to be good at what they do.

i think this analogy has explained it really well to those of us who aren’t in the industry.

it had never occurred to me that some people who get paid to have photos taken of them looking pretty look down on other people who get paid to have photos taken of them looking pretty for not being “real models” 🤣

All very eye opening anyway!

Not looking down on. It’s more how the op portrayed herself in her first post. It’s a bit like claiming you play for England in the world cup when you’re really playing for your local football club on a Sunday afternoon

OP i think you have responded to that poster with a lot of grace and decorum. They have not come across well at all.

Do you have good hair? I have awful hair and am convinced my entire life would have played out differently if I’d had naturally good hair.

Yes but it's curly and I had no idea how to look after it when I was young! My Mum used to brush it dry and I'd end up looking like I'd been electrocuted! It's waist length, very thick and now I know how to take care of my curls.

Ha ha! I’m curly too. I also had brushed out fright hair as a child. I know how to care for mine now but I still don’t like it. It’s too much work and too unpredictable.

It is quite a lot of maintenance but if you put the effort in it's worth it. I love my curls now!

If you ever wanted to go back to it, would you receive the same amount of success now that you have had children and your body may not be as conventionally attractive? Or is much more variety allowed in your type of modelling? You said you had large size breats for example which isn't something that runway and catalogue models usually have (I think).

Even this analogy is elitist! you are sounding like a stereotypical pretty-but-mean girl.

I definitely had a "look" that is popular in that type of modelling, very natural and sort of old fashioned. Sort of Pre-Raphaelite is very popular in art nude photography. The kind of girls that do agency work and are very tall and thin aren't as popular in that kind of photography. I wouldn't be as successful now as youth is synonymous with beauty in all kinds of modelling.

To expand on that, there's lots of skills that are needed, a good attitude, confidence, reliability and considering that "fun" is the primary purpose of hobbyists photography, you do have to be fun, but the primary qualification is looking good naked!

Elitist haha. You obviously know very little about the modelling industry.
Unfortunately the harsh reality is that not everyone can be a model. So starting a thread saying that you got to be a model because you fit western beauty standards is a bit far fetched when in reality, there are no beauty standards you need to fit into to be an art nude model. It’s pretty easy to become an art nude model.. you can simply create an account on a website and say you’re a model.

It’s not so easy to try and become a fashion model or a commercial model as there are generally certain beauty expectations. Along with measurements and for fashion models - a chiseled bone structure

My point is…. Not everyone fits into the latter.

Have you considered putting your daughter forward for child modeling?

Any idea about being photogenic - how do people who just look nice in real life look fabulous in photos, and OK looking people look dreadful?

Except no-one is going to book you as an art nude model if you don't have the right look so those people won't be art nude models, they'll just be women with a profile on a modelling site.

Would you ever go back to nude modelling?

Right look? Theres pictures floating around on those sites of literally anyone with their boobs and fannies out and calling it ‘art’. Most of the pictures are taken by these amateur ‘photographers’ are so badly lit, poorly edited, grainy, taken in some random public place like the local woods and look like I could have done a better job on my iPhone!

I'm not sure actually, I know what you mean though! I guess some people are just really good at posing and knowing their best side?

Not really, I just think she's too young for that sort of environment and I want her to be at school focusing on her education, not getting dragged around a city centre to casting calls. I do get told I should though. I get told she looks like the Pears soap girl a lot by strangers and my friend who is a professional actress (and yes, she has an agent, before anyone gets their knickers in a twist about if she's a REAL actress) keeps suggesting it. If she ever expresses a burning desire to do it I'll go with it.

There's also a lot of great photographers and models making art rather than just marketing material. Those are the ones that make a success of it.

Will you give it a rest.
You have come across as a real horror here, whereas the OP has marshalled an interesting thread you've repeatedly tried to sully with your snide remarks. Start your own AMA 'I'm a real model' if you feel so strongly about it!

It’s hardly about ‘western beauty standards’ as you described in your op though. Almost everyone who seems to be on those sites are posing as ‘art nude’ models. I think the general consensus is that the more flesh you reveal the more money you make regardless of looks. I have seen many discussions about it and even seen these hobbyist photographers post as much on local model/ photography facebook groups about being successful on those sites = being nude.

@Flyingintotheunknown what is your problem? You’ve come across as a right tit- OP has come across pleasant and you seem to have a stick up your arse. Were you rejected as an agency model so you’re taking it out on the OP and trying to make yourself feel better? It’s his plain weird how you’ve been writing on here

Miaow

Actually if you go back and read through the posts you will see that it was the op who started being a ‘right tit’ with me when I questioned her about the safety of meeting up with literal strangers off the internet and asked how she protected herself. She then started getting snarky and made some comment about agency models looking down on her.

You said it better! 😊