What's it like to be a Model for a Day?
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This is the first episode in a series of articles describing my experience with several fashionable services. By now you might know Antwerpisthenewparis.com is not your regular blog or webmagazine. We strive to inform you about all things glamorous and fashionable in and outside of Antwerp, so that you are up-to-date. But above all, we take care to form our own opinion about everything, so that you can rely on our personal points of view instead of on commercially-inspired propaganda. That is exactly how we approached this series of articles. There’s a lot of fun to be had out there, but we want you to know the truth about everything so that you know precisely what to expect!
Let’s start off with one of the most glamorous services there is! Fotokado.be is the initiative of professional photographer Karen Devriese, who works together closely with several make-up artists and stylists. Her website offers a range of gift certificates that you can either buy for yourself or surprise someone else with. The possibilities are nearly endless, and one that struck me as most entertaining is the Home Party. Karen will come to your party bringing along all of her materials and a fab make-up artist. Together, they will transform your guests into real models, and shoot up to 10 pictures of everyone that will be sent to the hostess so that she can later gift them to her guests. Sounds like a lot of fun! But most importantly (at least to us!) fotokado.be also offers a pretty interesting certificate guaranteeing a model-for-a-day experience. We’ve all looked at glam pictures of celebrities and wondered what it would be like to do that (that’s why we enjoyed watching Topmodel so much!), so I was pretty excited when I got the opportunity to try this one out.
Once the date had been set, I looked forward to the big day but dreaded it a little at the same time. I had had a little taste of the photo shoot experience with the girls from Flair, but then I was accompanied by Kerri Lynn, and the whole thing took about an hour. This time, I would be at it all alone, and the website stated that it would take a minimum of three hours. Three hours of undivided attention to my little person, and a whole lot of pressure to “perform” in front of the camera. During the (long) drive to Karen’s home I had a lot of time to fret and worry, but my cares were quickly taken away by the warm welcome once I got there. Karen chose to set up her studio inside her apartment, which makes the experience a little more personal and a lot less intimidating.
I was introduced to the lovely Nathalia Ghafari, my make-up artist for the day, and was asked to spread out all the clothes I brought with me on the couch. For the Model-for-a-Day shoot, participants are asked to bring along all kinds of outfits in which they would like to be photographed: jeans, dresses, tops, blouses, at least one pair of heels and all the accessories you can carry. I obediently unpacked my little suitcase and watched Karen and Nathalia go through my stuff, ooh-ing and aah-ing and placing aside the items they thought would be perfect for the three different looks.
Then it was on to the make-up chair, where I spent a good 45 minutes being professionally transformed into a beauty queen. Because the beauty look is all about your features, it has to be done first, so that your make-up is still natural. My hair was beautifully done up in a chignon so that it was out of my face, and Nathalia used all of her techniques to masterfully make me look as if I had no make-up on. I was asked to put on my strapless dress as well, so that no clothes would interfere with the naturalness of the picture. Personally, I felt least comfortable during this shoot, since it was the beginning of shooting and I still felt a little weird posing. Karen was really supportive though, encouraging me to be relaxed and assuring me I was doing fine. When my feet got a little cold because I was only wearing the dress and no shoes, she thoughtfully heated a cherry-stones pillow to warm them up again.
I was happy to move on to the next look of the day: fashion. I got to put on my favorite items from my wardrobe. I love my purple Mango dress that looks just like a Marc Jacobs, and was excited to pose in it, feeling a little more glam every minute. While Nathalia modified my make-up to beautiful smokey eyes and nearly nude lips, it was the perfect opportunity to ask Karen a little more about her own experiences. She enthusiastically told me a few stories about different women who had been a model for a day: “There was one woman who had never had a lot of confidence, and felt like she had to do something about that. She blossomed during and after the shooting, feeling as if that day had changed her life. I feel happy when I hear such positive feedback, because to me it’s so important to be able to make a difference in a woman’s life like that.” She went on to state how nice it was to see shy girls grow more confident in front of her lens, and that shootings often are so much fun they take up way more time than originally planned.
In the meantime, Karen changed the background of her little set to a dark grey one for a new shoot. You can see in the pictures I felt a lot more confident in this look. I also loved my hair in this nonchalant do-up and felt absolutely positively fabulous while doing this shoot. While I was standing there in front of Karen, I could totally understand why she loved her job so much. My personal favorite of the entire series is the picture in which I laugh. I’ve never had a picture of myself smiling that didn’t look like I was being forced to say cheese, so I’m grateful Karen didn’t stop snapping away when I fell out of character.
Next, Nathalia undid my hair and unleashed her curling iron on it. By this time, it became hard for me to sit still during all the hair and make-up changes. It’s fun having someone fuss over you like that, but you really do have to be patient. The waiting was well worth it though, because the result was a very natural looking do in which I felt truly comfortable. The combination with the heavy make-up still made it glam, and even more so when Karen chose to let me try on one of the items out of my costume jewelry box. I knew my grandmother’s little treasures would come in handy one day! Because by this time we were having a lot of fun, Nathalia decided to try out something different with my hair, backcombing it to create a wild, untamed look. We then tried out a few different poses just for laughs, with me imitating the models on the Topmodel show, when they had to try out different crazy facial expressions. It was extremely fun to do, and I think it shows in the pictures.
After this, we decided to wrap up, as the day had long exceeded the three hours it was supposed to take. As I still had a long drive ahead of me, I have to admit I was the tiniest bit relieved. Being in the center of attention all the time was fun, and I don’t think it gets more glamorous than that, but I was really tired because all the posing had proven to be exhausting. Still, I felt like I had had a great time, and was really looking forward to seeing the results.
Like Karen said, her company actually offers a double gift. The day of shooting is an incredible experience, but the real gift doesn’t arrive until two weeks later, when you finally get to admire the results. I was stunned by how different I look in the pictures. It’s like you’re transformed into someone who is still recognizable, yet considerably different than you’re used to. Some pictures were really surprising and had me thinking back about the shoot: “How did I pull this off?” Others didn’t quite turn out the way I had expected. I hate to admit it, but there’s one picture that I don’t like at all. It makes my face look weird and asymmetrical and my boyfriend couldn’t stop laughing when he saw it. I was quick to show him the significantly greater number of fantastic pictures though, which shut him up good. Out of the 20 copies I was sent, there’s at least 12 that I absolutely adore, and that’s plenty more than the pics that are taken of me in an entire year that I don’t want to burn before anyone sees them.
All in all, I would recommend fotokado.be to any girl, woman or man who would both love the thrill of feeling like a model for one day and having a nice series of pictures that you can treasure for the rest of your life (or show off to other people!). You’re likely to see another side of yourself, which is always an interesting experience, but most importantly, it’ll be one of the most glam and fashionable things you ever do! The price of a model-for-one-day treatment is €250, which is not a lot considering what you get for it. 20 of the best pictures will be selected by Karen herself and photoshopped until they are the best possible versions of themselves. They will be delivered on a CD-rom within two weeks, in a printable quality. If you have no idea what to give your fashion-forward friend who has everything, this is the way to go!
Antwerpisthenewparis.com has some GREAT news. Karen of Fotokado.be will be giving away a model-for-a-day photo shoot to a reader on a regular basis. If you’ve always dreamed of this kind of experience, this is the time to grab your chance! Every winner will get the full model treatment, and a selection of their best pictures, together with a little interview about their experience, will be posted on Antwerpisthenewparis.com. Watch this space to read about the adventure of our first winner, Delphine Callens, and to enter the contest yourself! Maybe next month you’ll be our very own topmodel!
xx Steph
You can also check out the article I wrote about Fotokado.be for expat newspaper Flanders Today by clicking here.
