Tips for Runway Modeling

The minute you say the word 'fashion' you can see in your mind glamorous models sashaying on the ramp one behind the other, and you can hear the shutterbug go "click click click!" The fashion industry in New York City alone is responsible for the employment of over 183,000 people, representing more than 5% of the working people of NYC.

The fashion industry is responsible for a turnover of almost $11 billion as wage yearly. The tax revenue generated by the fashion industry totals to more than $1.5 billion. More than 200,000 people flock to NYC every year for the Fashion Week to see models walk down the ramp wearing creations of designers.

Now just imagine being a part of all this... better still, being one of those girls wearing those designer creations and having all those shutterbugs go "click click click!" at. Feeling dizzy?

Get a grip! Being a runway model is awesome! But not everyone who dares to enter this field makes it big. Find out here, what it takes to be good... and to leave every single person in the audience with his/her mouth wide open!

It is the one thing that can make or break your career as a runway model. You have got to walk the walk - and from your very first walk too! That does not mean you strut in through the doors like a model right when you go for your auditions.

But when you are out there on the ramp, you have to walk like you rule the world. Do it in style, do it with confidence and do it like you've been doing it for years. A good way to improve your walk would be to practice at a gym or a dance studio.

The advantage of doing this is you can view your walk from every angle and know exactly how you are going to look to every person sitting in the audience. To get an even better perspective, have your friends sit around and give you feedback.

You are not walking into a room full of family and friends. When you walk the ramp, you are out there, where millions of girls aspire to be everyday. How many of them actually make it? Only a few. Does that make you feel happy? NO. It should make you feel proud. That is where your attitude will come from. Keep it drastic.

Walk with your shoulder back, chest out and stomach in. As for your expressions - remember Miranda Priestly? Devil Wears Prada? That is who you have to be. Only remember one important thing - Miranda Priestly could speak, you can't on the ramp. Your face and your body language has got to do all the talking for you.

Before you decide to employ yourself as a model, try and experiment with as many different outfits, fashion trends, cuts, fits, necks, straps, belts, tops, bottom as you can. And of course, all this on heels. You cannot be a model and say "I won't wear plunge necklines and I don't like bold colors".

Fashion designers are going to choose to exhibit their months and probably years of back-breaking painstaking efforts on you, on your body. You cannot be choosing - at least not till you become the next Gisele Bündchen may be.

So get accustomed to wearing all prints, all colors and all possible fashions; definitely the regular ones, and also the unusual ones. Be ready for some skin show. Spaghetti straps and tubes are a passé as long as the fashion industry is considered. Fashion is becoming bolder and more expressive every season - be ready to sport it.

You cannot change the shape of your nose or the way your eyebrows arch. And frankly, if you ask me, you shouldn't. But what you can do is work on a poor skin complexion, or go for a Brazilian wax before you audition. Style your hair in a way that is bound to be noticed in a good way.

Work on your looks, but do not invent faults and try to be picture perfect, for honestly there is no such thing as perfect in the first place. But do take care of your features, your hands and feet, your nails.

Strive on polishing what you have rather than pushing the limits and killing yourself to get what you can never have. Strive to diminish the minuses, and work on enhancing the pluses.

An alarming number of models have been diagnosed with eating disorders and the fashion industry is finally realizing its mistake. All designers are becoming more humane in their criteria for selection of models to showcase their designs. Fashion modeling is on the curb of revolutionary steps to reform some of its concepts and promote the right practices.

Make sure you are going with the flow. Educate yourself about body metabolism, and the right way to loose and to maintain your weight. Strive towards sustained weight loss, and incorporate healthy lifestyle changes rather than simply cutting down on things you eat and increasing your workout intensity and duration.

Finally, being an aspiring runway model calls for a lot of efforts, and from a long before you get your first audition, long time before you finally get your chance to prove yourself. Make sure you follow the latest fashion trends introduced by leading fashion designers. If possible try and attend fashion shows.

New York City, Milan, Paris should be your holiday destinations. Keep a tab on what's new and happening. Be well-informed about the field you are planning to capture and be the queen of, and never let your eyes off the final goal. Stay focused, and you might just be the next big name in the world of modeling! All the best!