My first time as a model

By Thea Neal

Created:
04/24/09 10:24am

Last updated:
04/24/09 10:48am

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I’m short. No, like really short.

I’m 5-foot-1, just like I’ve been since seventh grade. So when my friend Lauren Drapes asked me to model in the Student Apparel Design Association “Lights, Camera, Fashion” show, I was a bit worried.

I spent last summer working with models on a daily basis. The models I met in New York City were the opposite of me. They were gorgeous, skinny, oddly perfect, graceful and (sometimes) pretty cool. I, however, am slightly dorky, built like a typical Latina, the opposite of perfect and clumsy as heck.

I didn’t really think I was model material. But I did it anyway.

I showed up to the Lansing Center with my modelesque best friend, Morgan Wilson. Morgan is 5-foot-11, weighs as much as I do and has legs for miles. When I walk next to her I feel a lot like I did in New York – the assistant next to the gorgeous model. How was I going to walk behind this in a real fashion show?

Let’s just say it required a lot of make-up and a lot of confidence. The “normal me” and the “model me” are much, much different. It’s like Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce . I needed to find my inner Sasha Fierce, and she required big hair and lots of bright yellow eye shadow.

After getting fitted in an alpaca-fur bodice (Lauren based her line off the film Napoleon Dynamite), I pulled on a huge, poufy short green skirt. I looked like a reject from a box of Betsey Johnson leftovers, but I told myself I could make it work.

Wrong – I walked on stage, and I walked too fast. I tried to be confident, but I’m pretty sure I ended up looking at the ground like an idiot. I was a great big ball of struggle.

I’m not sure what made me choke on the runway. You’d think after all the hours I spent watching fashion shows on my computer, I would be able to not suck at walking myself.

So, I developed a theory. Why do they have tall models? Because runways are long. I have to take two steps to cover their one, meaning I have to walk faster to keep up with the music. More or less, I’ve begun making up excuses as to why I sucked.

Well, I must not have sucked that much, since Lauren asked me to do the show again for her next year. In the meantime, hopefully I can freshen up my walk and grow about 9 inches in the process.

I wonder if I still have the phone number of Myf Shepherd anywhere…

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About First Time for Everything

Former State News reporter Thea Neal shares her experiences taking on new challenges — Trying it first so you don’t have to.

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