DD Scouted, what to wear to agency

[NunsOnTheRum]

DD was scouted by a model agency whilst out shopping with her friends. She is in her GCSE year, so not the kind of distraction she needs right now but she is obviously excited. The lady from the model agency took some photos of DD there and then in the shop and asked for my email address. I have since received an email from her asking that we come into town to visit their agency during the half term week and they can take some photos of DD. They said she should just come as she is.

DD is in a bit of a style no-man’s-land right now. She went through a grunge/ hard rock era where everything she wore was lose and dreary. Though she still listens to that music she has started to dress in softer, more form fitting clothes but hasn’t hit on any particular look. The shopping trip was with a new group of girls she is trying to become friends with so I helped her dress, opened up some vac pacs of my old clothes and put her in a pair of 7 for all mankind slim jeans and a leather jacket from the 90s, which was too big.

She has really struggled with friendships and very unsure of where she fits in the world and was not particularly pleased with my clothing suggestions but she ran out of time so went dressed as described.

Since I supplied the clothes for the shopping trip where she was scouted, she now wants me to help dress her for her agency visit. The problem is normally she rejects most of my suggestions and there isn’t much left in the vac pac that is wearable. Any ideas on what I should suggest she wear? I don’t want to put too much thought or money into this, revision needs to be her focus this week. At the same time I want to help her have the best chance of success. Help please

This is the point I was making with a couple of other posters on here who just wrote it off as dodgy and basically accused model scouts as being paedos for checking out children and taking pictures of them yet seem to have no knowledge whatsoever of the modelling industry. From the outside looking in, I can see why they may think this but to come on a thread about a teen who is due to meet a modelling agency because they appear to have the potential to be a model and give ‘advice’ about something they have no knowledge of is ridiculous.

Right, yes of course. It goes without saying that not everyone adheres to the current trend and that skinny jeans will always remain for some. People can, and should of course wear whatever they feel comfortable in.

It's just that the OP specifically asks what a teenager should wear to meet a model agent. She can wear what she wants and feels comfortable in. But a teenager would normally choose to wear what is current, and skinny jeans are not current. Also, it's odd that you specify skinny jeans in particular when there are any number of types of jeans she could wear; flared, straight leg, barrel leg etc etc. Surely the best thing to wear is just jeans? Why specify a specific type of jeans which are currently mainly worn by older people?

At the agencies literally all the other models there were non Causcasian and over 6 foot. That seemed to be what is wanted at the moment.

Because a lot of modelling agencies ask that you wear tight fitting clothing. Ie. Leggings and fitted top so barrel leg jeans aren’t the best idea as the agency will need to see the model’s figure and probably take measurements using a tape measure. This is almost impossible to do if someone is wearing baggy clothing. if you do a google search for ‘model Polaroids’ you will see the typical attire models generally wear when visiting an agency.
Although I am now seeing a shift from the standard ‘all black fitted attire’ ie. Tank top and skinny jeans, with some modelling agencies now saying “wear something that shows your figure but also shows us your style and personality’. I doubt however, they will ever ask anyone to wear barrel leg jeans.

Was irrelevant what Dd wore as they gave her an outfit to put on anyway

I disagree.

It has been a brilliant opportunity for my DD, who sounds similar in some ways to OPs DD. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to deal with adults and act professionally-in a really low key way. When it’s not going great with her school friends, she knows she’s got other stuff going on in her life. It’s interesting dealing with all the different people.

But both DH and I work on the arts and understand how hugely important the fashion industry is.

I love that modelling is the one area that women faaaaar out earn the men.
if your daughter really wants to see some of the nitty gritty of modelling, Callum Harper’s early TikToks of when he was trudging around castings and getting knocked back constantly are so similar to my son’s experiences. He’s really made it now and his experience is far different but back at the beginning he was very honest and funny about what he had to do to get jobs.

This is exactly what happened to Kate Moss though, and was how she was discovered.

Thanks everyone for the style advice. I’ve asked MNHQ to take down the thread because I posted asking for style advice and I’m concerned it’s turned into a bit of a bash-the-modeling-industry thread which probably won’t help DD

I think people were just airing concerns… if you’d literally just asked what to wear, that would’ve kept it more on track but I think it’s because you gave some background about your daughter so others were alerting you to possible issues. Good luck.

Kate Moss was discovered in JFK airport when she was 14.

How did she get on?