Last week has been a pretty exciting and nerve-wreaking week for me. I was shortlisted as one of the 15 finalist in CLEO’s runway search. The whole experience have been really special and it gave me an inside experience of what it is like to be a runway model. I was really delighted and surprised when CLEO called back to inform me that I was selected for the finals. I totally couldn’t believe it; I wasn’t even expecting their call because I thought that I had screwed up my auditions.
You could imagine my jubilations on hearing I got into the finals, but after an hour or so that went by, by jubilations turned into fear and nervousness. I was worried I would trip and fumble on the runway and the horrors if I actually fell on stage and every seconds of my fall captured on camera like a slow frame-by-frame movie!
After that, it was just nerve wreaking thought after nerve wreaking thought because I wasn’t the most confident on heels. I rarely wear heels because I was already tall enough, according to a lot of people, without them, plus the fact that I don’t really have any official training or experience on how to catwalk on the runway.
My nerves were slightly soothed when I received a call back from CLEO informing me on the photo shoot, training, fitting and rehearsal dates. TRAINING! Thank God there’s training!
DAY 1: Photo shoot
I was pretty excited about it! You know how all girls are, just like getting a make over and taking pretty pictures. I admit, I am no different in that area. =P My one concern was that I didn’t know how to pose and move to get the right angle for the camera and was hoping the cameraman would be really nice to guide me and try to take the best shots of me. The hair and make up part was really nice. The make up artist was really, really good. However, the photo shoot was not as glamorous as I thought it would be. I was told to do a short catwalk towards the camera (Crap! I don’t know how to catwalk!) in 4 inch heels (that were not very fitting and I felt like falling at every step!), I tried a few times and failed miserably. I kept tripping, I didn’t know if it was me or the shoes, but GOSH it was embarrassing! The spot lights were really hot as well and I was sweating like mad. And throughout my whole ordeal, a camera was filming everything down. As usual, after my photo shoot, I felt really lousy and was praying really hard the ‘tripping’ video of me would not go viral. However, I told myself I would work really hard during the 2 sessions of training to improve on my walk.
DAY 1: Training (night time)
Training was at Carrie models office. I was psyched up to be really attentive and hardworking during class. Turns out there is so much more to a catwalk then just walking up and down, doing a few turns and posing. Surprisingly, a catwalk can be just as complex as playing golf. =/ You need to know which leg to start of with, which way to turn, how the place your feet when posing so that you do not lose balance and how to pose so that you will look shapely and tall. I was almost overwhelmed by the end of the class. I knew I needed more practice.
DAY 2: Fitting
I started the day feeling excited about fitting. However, the whole experience turned out to be rather horrible. The person in charge of us was being really rude and arrogant, treating all of us like pieces of meat to be slapped around. I thought fitting would be about finding a dress / clothes that fit our body shape and getting in our correct sizes. What they did was try to best fit the clothes that they brought to whoever could fit them best and using safety pins to tighten clothes that were too big. Even if the shoes were too big for our feet, in my case, 2 sizes too big, we still had to wear them and walk in them. That got me very worried and increased my fears of falling on the runway. Not pleasant at all. I think if we were more well-known and famous, we would have been treated with more respect. =/ Saw a bit of the not so nice side of modeling.
DAY 3: Training session 2
I was geared up and ready to show our trainer how much I have improved with the practices I have been doing when I could. Everything was much better then the first time and we were thrown more things to learn. Needed to go back and practice some more. Saw Singapore’s Top model, Shelia Sim before the start of the class, she was at Carrie models for an interview, I’m guessing it was for the Audi Fashion Festival since she was the face for the event. Some of the girls got excited about it, I didn’t know her name then, have only seen her face on magazines, so I was totally clueless. 0_0
DAY 4:
Finally a day of rest! But I did some practicing to increase my confidence on the runway.
DAY 5: Rehearsal from 9pm-11pm
Pretty excited about it. Was rather fun and I realized the song choice for the runway is so important cause it helps you to walk better if you follow the beat of the song. However, saw the ugly side of professional models. They are really stuck up and unfriendly as people say they are. Of the whole group of about 20 of them, only 1 was friendly enough to smile at us.
DAY 6: Actual Event
As much as I dislike them professional models’ attitude, I still have a certain level of respect for them. Their ability to look confident while walking down a runway in front of hundreds and something thousands of people. Everybody was at the tent at 12pm and already people were hustling and bustling before we arrived due to events packed before ours. From 12-5pm was all just a mad rush of getting our hair, make up and wardrobe done to perfection. When the time of the start of our event arrived, we were all waiting back stage at our starting positions getting ready to strut our stuff on the runway. It was the most nerve wreaking, butterflies-fluttering-in-the-stomach moment ever! But thank goodness everything went pretty smoothly and I didn’t not stumble nor fall on the runway. The real experience itself was pretty liberating I must say. =)
Overall, it was an experience of a lifetime, especially on the actual day itself. =) It may have been a short one week of preparations and hard work, but I met some really nice people, learnt a lot of new things and it is an experience I will never forget. I’m awaiting for the new issue of CLEO, don’t know if I’ll have my pictures in the magazine, but I hope to be able to get print outs of the photos taken at the photo shoot to keep as memories.
For those who are interested, there are 2 photos of me on the Audi fashion festival website. The pictures are pretty alright, though I’m still not 100% satisfied with them because my eyes were being really uncooperative that day (like one big one small), but doesn’t matter, a few pictures is till better then none. =)
Really touched by all the support from my friends, colleague and my dear throughout this whole experience. They kept encouraging me and edging me on. Let's just say i am not the most confident person in the world, so i'm really glad to have them there to support me. =)
Love ya'll deep deep!
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