From modelling to management

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 14

From modelling to management

JANETTA MACKAY

talks to Kirsty Lay about her new career directions.

Retirement concerns are not usually those of people in their 20s but Kirsty Lay has made an early decision to give up her international modelling career. Her future at the top was limited but, at 23, she would still have a few years left. Three years of travelling and transient friendships has, .. however, lessened her enthusiasm for the “glamour” lifestyle. The sense of challenge, and the prospect of seeing new sights has dimmed.

“You really have to start thinking about your future with a job like modelling,” she explains. “It’s sad when people try to carry on forever, and then wonder what to do.”

Kirsty Lay is not intending to give the modelling game away altogether. She will fit modelling in

New Zealand around her new job as a partner at Pieter’s Model Agency. The Christchurch agency offered her a partnership when she was home for Christmas. Jo make sure she was ready for office hours Kirsty Lay went overseas again.

Several months hard work in wintery Tokyo confirmed her decision to settle down. She brushed up on beauty tips with an advanced course in fashion make-up before returning early this month.

She will pass on her international experience in her new role as a modelling tutor, and use her make-up skills to style looks for photographic shoots.

It is an option similar to that chosen by Kirsteen Price, who also forsook the fashion capitals, and became a co-director of Spotlight, Christchurch’s other modelling agency. Competition in the local fashion business is growing, but Kirsty Lay believes there is a lot of room for development in Christchurch.

“There’s a lot of potential here. The models

here are very good,” she contends. Grooming the younger generation to overseas standards will ensure a continuation of a recent trend for foreign talent scouts to seek fresh faces here.