I ❤ fashion bloggers… honestly, but too often when I see self-portraits I want to stretch their legs several inches in photoshop.  Does anyone else think they look like too-short catalog models or America’s Next Top Model rejects?

The thing is, there are certain requirements, aesthetically that come into play with image quality.  If you’re selecting a model, it’s important to know.  Mainly it’s in this order:

1. Height: 5-6 or taller, usually for print, 5’9 or taller for runway
2. Weight: just be as fit as possible without being bony or muscular
3. Facial features: cheekbones lips nose and eyes, you get the idea

Of course, if there’s an iconic look that strikes you, with experience you can identify extraordinary people who do not fit the criteria but make great muses or photo subjects, like princess diana or patti smith.  but in those cases, you may have to take great pains to make it work, by temporarily altering the clothing or having garments specially made. you also may need to create a specific context for the subject just to support their look.  that makes it more difficult & at a certain point you think, they should be paying you for the extra work involved.

if you’re not a model then you can still be a self-published fashion expert or style journalist, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s probably better, actually, as career-longevity goes.  I can even see how some girls who have a stellar point of view, kick-ass writing skills, creativity and loads of self-esteem make their non-model figure work in a blogging context.  In fact I’m gonna contradict myself and say the girls who look nothing at all like models are the best bloggers because they provide something which the media does not, thereby fulfilling a need: but the key here is the overall quality of content.

but as a creative director, I look to models far more on a regular basis than I do bloggers.  The reason is because I have more control with a model and the work turns out better.  And I’m not really looking for the model to publish photos on my behalf like a blogger would.  Since creating editorial content & publishing across a diverse platform of media outlets is my main objective, it circles back to the standard of Image Quality that goes along with the guidelines created by established publishers.  Get the picture?