Male models fight for place in Paris shows

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 17

Male models fight for place in Paris shows

MICHELA WRONG,

NZPA-Reuter, reports from Paris on

the competition for a make-or-break modelling job with a couture house.

Male models from all over the world gather in Paris with one thought in mind — winning a prized place on the fashion catwalks and being spotted by an international talent scout. For while a moment of glory at the spring arid autumn ready-to-wear shows pays badly in modelling terms, a young unknown parading a suit by Yves Saint Laurent or Jean-Paul Gaultier could be launching a milliondollar career. “These collections are a unique opportunity for new models to meet famous designers, and be seen by. talent-spotters from Milan, New York, and London,” says Patrick Normandin, who is in charge of male models at Glamour, a leading Paris modelling agency. “Models may be paid more elsewhere, but this is where they make their reputations and build their careers. A few of the boys who appear at the collections will end up being the highest-paid models of the year. “The shows are all about prestige, not money.” Top French, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish designers try to sell their ’ latest ideas during five days of ready-to-wear previews this month. Before the September collections and the autumn and winter shows in ‘ February, Normandin tours the world, ' .choosing promising young men he sponsors to come to Paris, where they fight for a spot.

The lucky ones will earn between $630 and $750 a show, not much when compared to the $31,500 to $47,000 a model who appears in a good promotion film can expect to make. Outside Normandin’s office on a chic avenue running parallel to the Champs Elysees excited models gather and disperse, returning from auditions and comparing notes with colleagues. Randall Krebs, a 26-year-old model who boasts the athletic frame and angular jaw of the all-American man, is already well set up this year, with places in the classical Christian Dior and Lanvin shows.

Winning a place was not easy, he admits. “The competition is getting tougher and tougher, and the models are getting younger and younger. Often now you have to queue a couple of hours for an audition — that never used to happen before.” Randall Krebs, who started modelling two years ago in order to pay for an eye operation, will make between four and eight lightning clothes changes during each show, . usually helped by a dresser. “It’s the most hectic week of the year — there’s nothing to compare with it,” he says. A 20-year-old British colleague, James Gough, has not been so lucky. A former office worker who entered the fashion scene only four months ago, Gough is still waiting for a place in the collections.

“You don’t know until the last day whether or not you’ve got a spot. It’s not very hopeful for me. They seem to be looking for giants at these shows and really, I’m too short,” says the 1.83 m Cockney model. Until last year Normandin recruited 80 to 90 per cent of his models in the United States, because he is convinced American men relate best to both designers and customers. "It’s a question of temperament and character. Americans are much more at ease with their own bodies. They’re more extrovert than Europeans, proud to show off their physique — there’s an element of narcissism there.”

European models are improving, but still have a lot to learn, says Normandin. As for his own compatriots, he feels the national character does not lend itself to the job. “The French are very introverted and easily intimidated.” In the frenzied days before the collections Normandin is fully occupied smoothing his models’ ruffled egos and reassuring nervy clients. “Twice a year we are swept up in a sort of fury, a tempest ... - it’s complete madness.”