4 ms·

Modeling is not an obsession, it's a job. You do it when you're young, smoke a lot of cigarettes etc, and then you move on. It's like grad school but with even

• Animats 11y ago
  "Modeling is not an obsession, it's a job." Becoming a model is an obsession for some young women. For models, it's a gig job, and getting gigs is hard. Only the top 100 or so models worldwide make real money. If you're in LA, you probably know some actress/model/waitress types. I had a friend whose career peak, after years of work, was one McDonalds' commercial that got nationwide distribution. Below the top tier, the work is not that great. There's trade show work as a booth babe. There's catalog modeling ("OK, the next one is the blue sweater, #6522, and hurry it up, we have 20 more to do before lunch").
  • kaitai 11y ago
    Totally agreed. Hence the comparison with graduate school: you often have to work other jobs to support the effort, you've got a dream you'll make it big, you realize the toll it's taking on your life, and you probably stop doing it eventually. Even if you "make it," you're probably not a top model (a prof at Princeton) but instead a commercial model (prof at directional state U or small Midwestern religious school). Below the top tier, the work is not what you were sold on in grad school, but you do get to make money doing something you kind of or really like. (Please quit if you don't like it at all.) Even American literature has way better job security and pension prospects than modeling, though.