Runway Diaries: Booking the Models & UPS Madness

Fittings, fittings, fittings, and UPS. I would say that this was an accurate description of the day. We started the day an a positive note when we heard that Q was able to confirm all the girls that we booked from them! We are now still waiting on confirmations from Elite and APM for our last couple girls!!

Q, Elite, APM New York Models, and Next are just a few of the major modeling agencies in NYC. We start by calling them and letting them know about a casting that we have, the date and time of our presentation, and our pay. The modeling agency then sends over all the girls that are available for both the presentation and the rate. We then look at the girls, take a photo of them as well as look at their book and grab a comp card. Then, after we have seen all the girls, we contact the agency and tell them which girls we want to confirm for the show and have those girls come back for a fitting. Sometimes by the time that we confirm a girl for a show she has already been booked for another show, or we are put on second option.
Second option means that the model will able to do the show, but they are first waiting to hear confirmation from another event at the same time, and since they have first option, the model will be hired for their show if confirmed. So there are a lot of back-and-forth emails, and sometimes a second casting needs to be held if the second-option girls are booked somewhere else.
Meanwhile, the girls that have been confirmed are coming in for fittings for the presentation, and there is still organizing work that needs to be done along with a million emails and calls that need to be addressed. It really is a madhouse, and sometimes my mind is going in so many different directions that it’s hard to think straight. Ashlie and Ashley can both vouch that my communication gets a little crazy at this point; I start one sentence with one thought and then move on to a second thought before the first one is completed. Luckily, they are both around me enough to realize what I mean
We are starting to get a little worried because we are still waiting on the package of shoes to arrive. We had received all our packages from out main sponsor Arbonne. I was introduced to Arbonne through my jewelry sponsor Amy Delson. I love the all-natural product, and it’s the first moisturizer that I’ve used that keeps my skin soft, but doesn’t make it greasy. You can learn more about there range of products for health and beauty at http://www.facebook.com/Arbonne

Photo: Courtesy of Harper

Realizing now that UPS was done delivering for the day, we worried that the show package might not be coming. Finally, after Ashlie placed numerous calls to UPS, we are told that they tried to deliver the package to us at 8 am (nice try—we were there, and no attempt was made) so we told them to hold it at the UPS center and we would pick it up at 8 pm. So a little after 8 we decided that we would walk there and then take a cab back with the package—we all needed some fresh air. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that it was FREEZING outside! The wind chill was really piercing. Of course, there were no cabs and to top it all off, after a very painful walk, the package was not at UPS. Ughhh….so no shoes yet. Ashlie, Ashley, and I looked liked like three sad misfits walking back to the studio with our unwashed hair, sleepy eyes, and layers of coats. What ever happened to fashion being glamorous?! lol