5 Tips From A Professional Male Model On Breaking The Industry

23-year-old male model, Alastair George originally from Ashford, Kent is signed to Next Management, one of the most successful agencies in the world. Established over 22 years ago, it has offices in London, Milan, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Miami. Alastair has jetted to places like Tokyo, New York, Arizona for jobs and now resides in Milan. He has modelled some of the biggest names like Thom Brown, Gucci, Prada, Topman and Miyake and has given his tips on how you can be a successful male model too:

1.”Be patient. You face constant rejection as a model, often in ambiguous ways rather than outright, which is something that can easily effect you psychologically. Often you will see people you know or have seen around at castings,etc. and they will be appearing EVERYWHERE, in magazines, posters, blogs, Instagram… etc. It’s very easy to convince yourself that because others are succeeding, you are failing.

2. Understand your place in the industry. The model may be the face appearing on the magazine or whatever, but the artist is the person behind the camera. As a model, you benefit the most from understanding the vision that the photographer/stylist/brand has and understanding how you fit into that image. If you are someone who desires limelight or wants to have a creative input, you will struggle to be successful as a model. You are simply the brush; not the painter.

3. Be professional. This seems like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many times you find yourself in the company of adults and feel like you’re back in school. I think it came naturally to me because of my age when I started, but it’s important to give people the right impression from the first moment.

4. Remember that you’re on the clock the moment you leave home, and the product you’re trying to sell is yourself. NOT just your hair, or your face, or your appearance, but also yourself as a person to work with.

5. READ. The job (when it all boils down to it) is between 80-90% sitting on your hands doing NOTHING. Being an active reader is the thing that keeps me sane in castings, long-distance travel, and even in the studio waiting until you’re needed.”