From Runways to Rejection: An Interview with a Student Model

From Runways to Rejection:

An Interview With a Student Model

The modelling industry is known for being notoriously tough to both break into and remain inside. Self-confessed Top Model fan Daria Paterek speaks to first-year Liberal Arts student and model Margot Howell to find out the truth about this clandestine industry.

I first ask Margot how and why she decided to pursue a part-time career in modelling. “I never thought of being a model. But I was always told that I’m tall, which resulted in many ‘do you play basketball?’ comments,” she remarks. “I was scouted at a local supermarket aged 14 by Kate Moss Agency after going to the cinema with my family. I was wearing joggers and a big jacket. Honestly, I thought it was a joke.” Her transition to modelling was a lengthy process, with “test shoots lasting two years”.

Once she turned 16, she took part in her first-ever runway show at Paris Fashion Week. “I was the youngest person in the show. All my casting and auditions took place when I was 15.” And are runway shows as crazy as they seem in America’s Top Model? In short, yes. “It was very hectic,” Margot remembers. “What made it even more hectic was that it was completely new. Furthermore, a couple of hours before the show, the designer told me that I would be closing the show. It was a lot of pressure.” Fast forward to now, Margot has done “e-commerce work, which has included modelling for clothing websites, as well as working for Fendi and participating in London Fashion Week”.

Being a student is tough; balancing student life with modelling is even tougher. As a first-year student, Margot has found balancing modelling with student life “quite tricky. I’ve been trying to settle into the first year of university and balance my social life”. This has impacted her ability to make long-term plans since “the modelling industry is very last minute. I will often find out that I have passed an audition the day before or the day of the shoot.”

But at least you get well compensated, right? “Pay in modelling is decent. However, some modelling jobs don’t get paid. And when I get paid, it often isn’t for a very long time, normally up to a year,” Margot tells me.

Despite being very young, Margot has achieved great things in her modelling career already. She remarks how she doesn’t “take modelling moments for granted. I have had so many great experiences and made many friends. If I had to pick my most rewarding moment, it was probably my first runway show. Lady Gaga was in the audience!”

But it has not all been glamorous. “In the modelling industry, it is really about who you know.” And, aside from the nepotism, Margot explains how intense and exhausting the industry can be. “London Fashion Week was really tiring. I had to take an entire week out of school. I was walking over 10 miles a day, attending lots of castings.”

While modelling boosted Margot’s confidence (and made her very good at small talk), it also helped her develop a thick skin. She recounts how “you get turned away a lot. You lose out on jobs for silly things. Once I got a show, and they really liked me. When they used me for the hair and beauty test, they rejected me since my hair was too long.”

Modelling has also taught her resilience. She tells me that she believes that if you lose a great opportunity, it’s an opportunity for an even greater one to arise. “The biggest job I was offered was a campaign with MAC Cosmetics. I was going to be in all MAC stores in the UK during Valentine’s Day. However, there was an outbreak of Covid at my school (during the early days of the pandemic), and I had to isolate and tell my agency that I couldn’t do the shoot.”

So, what is next for Margot? “If my modelling got big, I would think about doing it after university, since it’s hard to do on the side. However, I always wanted to work in the entertainment industry. I don’t see myself doing modelling full-time – but I believe that the skills and networking I have gained will prove valuable in whatever career I decide to pursue.”

By Daria Paterek

Photography and Editing by Finn Mckenzie assisted by Rian Patel Modelled by Margot Howell Page Design by Chiara Crompton n