April 12th to 17th will prove to be a remarkable week for my daughter. Since signing with her agent back in October there hasn't been much going on for her as far a modeling goes...until now.
I had sent an email to her agent to let him know she had officially hit the 5'10" mark and was wondering if we should have more pictures done. He called me and asked if we could come into his office for a review of what's been happening since Faces West. In a word, nothing. He asked if she had done any fashion shows which kinds surprised me because as her agent I thought it was his job to find her work, from what I surmised we were to be looking as well.
We had a few false starts with the meeting date, we were either not available or he wasn't available and finally I re-arranged our spring break plans so we could get downtown to his office to see him. This was Saturday March 26th and I'm so glad we decided to make the effort because had we waited we would have missed the opportunity to try out for Vancouver Fashion Week (VFW).
The agent has been working with the organizers of VFW for the past ten years, as I'm sure have other agents and the auditions were to be held at the agents office the following Monday March 28th at 6:00pm down town at the agent office. Like I said good thing we changed our plans.
We arrived on time for the audition, for lack of a better word it was kind of an audition, the VFW organizer had the models walk for him and did a little interview looked at their books and sent them on their way. We were in and out in twelve minutes, my daughter was the second model to walk, both the organizer and her agent were impressed that she had only participated in Faces West and had no runway experience. She's a natural apparently and out of the thirty models that auditioned that night she was one of five who were chosen. Kudos for her!
Last week when her agent called to let me know she got the job at VFW, (the non-paying job) he asked if she could be downtown by 7:00pm for another possible paying job. This time it was for an Internet catalogue for a high end Italian fashion store called Sasso Moda, and by high end we are talking hand made jeans for oh around $229.00! Dresses (not gowns just dresses) $590.00 insane and not somewhere I would shop!
Her agent was a little concerned she would appear too young so we were to make sure she was wearing makeup. When she does she looks much older, so much so that people are surprised to hear she's only fourteen. She normally doesn't wear makeup so seeing her made up is surreal. Needless to say after a couple of hours of trying one outfits we were sent on our way with the promise from the store owner he would let her agent know if she got the job. Now the photo shoot for the catalogue was set for the next night so when I got the call at noon the next day panic set in! She got the job and had to be back down town for 7:00pm that very night!
Why the panic? Well, I was at work for one and the agent gave me a list of items she would need to bring to the shoot oh, and he asked if we could go see another client of his before 6:15pm for another job, a fashion show at the end of April for Obakki Designs, apparently a favourite of Gweneth Paltro's cool huh? Yah, except I had to race to Port Moody pick up the kids go home get my daughter to do her make up and gather an assortment of shoes then be back on the road for no later than 5:00pm to get back down town for the Obakki audition and then the photo shoot...YIKES!
Well, we were early for the audition which meant we were early for the shoot so as luck would have it right next to were I parked was a Sushi restaurant, nothing fancy but good enough that my healthy eating daughter would agree to, oh, and her brother was dragged along for this one too, so this had to appeal to both.
After a quick bite we walked up to the corner were the store was located, we were only slightly early at this point, the owner and the photographer had just arrived as had one of the other models. We stood and chatted with her and her mom, they had driven in from Abbotsford! Now I don't feel so bad. This model was from the same agency as was also at Faces West. She had done VFW in the fall and was telling us that it was the best experience she had with runway. That it's absolutely organized chaos! After having just gone through two days of fittings over the weekend we were getting that impression as well.
The photo shoot was going to be several hours so I decided to take my son home and just come back and get her. Well, she wasn't done until about 11:40pm by the time we got home it was 1:00am and ya, the next morning came way too early! She had a blast though, the photographer had her jumping an spinning in these long flowing dresses and while giving the other girls crap for not bringing a selection of shoes my daughter had a bag full and shared with the other girls. One thing I've learned is sometimes too much is just enough.
The pictures for this shoot will be posted in a week or so and one benefit is we get to use them in her book thus eliminating the need for another expensive photo shoot just now. We will also have access to some of the images from VFW so there`s a bonus too. As for Obakki, we won`t know until April 18th if she got the job but we`re hopeful and if she doesn't well, there will be more. Judging by the whirl wind of the past two weeks a little break might be nice. We haven`t even done the VFW shows yet which should be interesting to say the least.
The weekend of the 2nd and 3rd were fitting days for the local designers, these are the new up and coming designers no one really well known. She managed to get chosen by Sarah Runnalls and Eva Chen, those shows are Thursday and Friday respectively. The international designers (the ones you want to walk for) won`t make their selections until the day of their shows, so even though she`s not scheduled to walk she has to be back down town both Saturday and Sunday. Luckily VFW has a guest list for parents so neither her dad nor I will have to pay to watch her. Parking on the other hand UGH!
So begins another week of rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off, the nice part is I`ve enlisted her dad to help out with this, he gets two days I get two days, my daughter gets two half days at school and four very long afternoons and evenings of hurry up and wait. I`m looking forward to seeing her on the runway! My fourteen year old daughter on the runway at a very well covered by the media Fashion Week...Next year Europe here she comes!
With much love, light and amazement,
Tammy.
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