Is Everybody a Model Now?

Just a few short years ago you had to actually be working for a talent agency to be considered a model. I mean, you had to actually have face shots, and in most cases, a real, live, walking, talking agent.
But along came Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, Black Planet, and Xango, or whatever.
"Models" exploded out of the woodwork. Their credits were simply club shots that somebody took of them with a group of people on the dance floor. Some simply bought a new bikini, a lace front and slapped it on the Internet -- POW -- a model, just like that.
I mean, what would Tyra Banks say?
Now, don't get me wrong a person can choose to make a living or be as entrepreneurial as their work ethic allows, but com'on. All of a sudden the Internet is filled with fiddyleven models?
And the only pose they know? The booty pose, that's it.
Is it me, or can anybody be a model nowadays?


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Rose Cordero: First black model on Vogue in almost a decade

The sisters are taking over: Eighteen-year-old Rose Cordero has landed the coveted cover of the March 2010 cover of French Vogue.
Big deal? Tu che?
Born in the Dominican Republic, like these sisters, Cordero has turned humble roots into superstar status.
What is it with the Dominicans and producing models? Cordero is young but her fierce looks are described in more than one tome as "confident," from many photographers that work with her. She was photographed for Vogue by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

Celebrity Style: Photographer Tony Chu

West Coast photography Tony Chu has been putting it down for a long time under the sunny skies of NoCal, but the East Coast has yet to experience the flavor. Allow me to introduce you.

Best of 2009: Worst Model Poses. Ever

Click here for more of worst model poses. Ever

Hey Tyra, Meat us Half-Way

In the wake of a nmodel's Photoshop disaster from clothier Ralph Laure last month, there's only one way to stop young girls who aspire to be models from trying to look anorexic: Tyra Banks must gorge herself on a whole rump roast on her show.
Banks, who's known to stand her ground when it comes to the hefty-weight issue, should allow herself to be chained to a dinner table, handcuffed to a chair and some choice, black angus should be placed before her.
At the beginning of the show, they should weigh her; at the end of the show they should her.
Girls will then be able to see a "model chick" eating and enjoying a meal without them feeling there's something wrong with it.
Who's with me?

TV's top prime female: Tyra is No. 1

First of all, we can't count Oprah Winfrey, because her show is not considered "primetime." If it did, then this wouldn't even be close.
But Tyra Banks is the No. 1 earner among women on primetime TV, according to Forbes.
While there are other aspiring media moguls out there, none of them have pulled it together across such a broad spectrum as T. Banks.
Tyra, who has become a poster child for fake hair and real shapes among women, pulls in $30 million for her talk show, endorsements, and of course ANTM. She was followed by Katherine Heigl, who pulled in $18 million. Check out the top woman earners list and see if you're on there (wink).

Did Toccara sell out?

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Is 'Supermodel' Just a Word Now?

Tell me if you recognize the name: Daiane Conterato. Isabeli Fontana. Okay, Liya Kebede. Or Anna Gushina. How about Bette Franken? Behati Prinsloo?
I know, I know, one name -- at best -- sounded familiar to you, right? That's because the women gracing the catalogue covers and actually doing the catwalking or basically no-names these days.
Gone are the days when you actually knew the top model in the world.
The Internet has changed things: Now models are born every second. For every 19-year-old discovered walking the streets in Iceland, there's some big-boned chick from Sweetwater, Mississippi posting pics online proclaiming herself a "model".
So, what's that mean? It means, among other things, that the dream that Tyra Banks is selling ("You can become America's Next Top Model") is pretty much a facade.
Nowadays you're just as likely to see a Flavor of Love girl on the cover of a magazine than you are one of those pencil-thin girls from any ANTM season.
Are there any true 'Supermodels' left?

Before Tyra, There Was Veronica

After Oprah, but before Tyra, there was the Webb.
Veronica Webb.
The supermodel, journalist, author and TV personality seemingly had it all going for her and was the "it" girl in the late 1990s. The World Wide Web was just getting its legs back then, the air was pregnant with possibilities and the tall, slender Webb was connected with both New York's and Hollywood's elite. At her height she had a segment on "Good Morning America," was a contributing writer to the New York Times magazine and discarded photographers that sought photoshoots of her in lingerie.
Then she was discarded.
Webb, the first African-American to have a major cosmetics contract (with Revlon, preceeding Halle Berry and Beyonce), saw her opportunities as a writer and journalist much more than as a TV host or spokeswoman. She gravitated to the small boutiques and independent scene. It took her away from the huge budgets of Hollywood but put her in alliance with the smaller more grass-roots movements of the day.

Today, except for a brief turn as co-host of "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" on Bravo (where she was unceremoniously let go), Webb is content doing smallish events to turn people's attention away from the bubble-gum-wars of pop culture. Things like
Lingerie Miami.
Hey, brains and beauty last forever. Can't knock the hustle, till you know the hustle.

"Risky" from VH1's "Real Chance at Love" launches modeling career

Confident with a "Mad Max" meets "Baps" style about herself, Atlanta's very own Risky, from "Real Chance at Love" fame has begun modeling. The Mabelton, Ga. resident says that she is a "very independent, hard working, loyal, determined, smart, creative and unique person." Does she have what it takes to make it in the modeling world (more pics below)?








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'Real Shapes': Are THEY Keeping it Real?

There is a subtle but growing backlash in the fashion world over the "Loose 2" theory among female models (It is said that a woman model with any chance of being taken seriously in fashion needs to be a "loose 2" dress size.)
The fashion world has reacted by coming out with rules governing weight loss in hopes of detracting attention from a worsening public image and the message it sends to young girls.
But the music industry continues to perpetrate the myth that thin is in: Album covers feature idealized stars that have no hopes of looking like they do in promotional materials yet the image is plastered everywhere. The fact is that, in an age of "keeping it real" these artists - and by extension their music - dwell in unreality.
Now this is a separate issue from ,photoretouching (if you go to this link, mouse over the image) which is practiced by media outlets everywhere (here's another one). I'm specifically talking about models' bodies here.
A "real beauty" campaign by Dove last year featured ads with real women with real body shapes and did much to counter the message that skinny chicks get the models.
It is said that Tyra Banks, who is packing on the pounds, is being ordered to lose weight for "America's Next Top Model". What is incredible about that, is that ANTM is her OWN SHOW! Will she cower to the TV executives and try to lose weight, or will she stand up and show off her real "bootylicous {her words}" beauty? So far she has compromised by executives only allowing the top half of her body to be shown, since the lower half is obviously not in line with "ANTM" ideals. But why should she have to hide her body? What do you think?