The Curvy Blogger

As I shared with all of you beautiful people, I went to Wilhelmina for a meeting on Monday. For those just now hearing about this, I submitted pictures online, they invited me to an open call, now they want to sign me. (MIND YOU it’s only the Wilhelmina in PA)! Note: I tell a story with my links, click on them! :}

My mom being the GOD SEND that she is, agreed to take off work and drive me to Harrisburg to meet with the Kelli Walters (Harman) owner of Wilhelmina of PA this past Monday. I am glad she did because as it turns out there are a lot of fees/training tools I need to pay before getting work with Wilhelmina. When I first found out about this I got nervous. The gist is there are several people saying they are a scam because of these fees. But as you might have seen earlier I asked famous model Lizzy Miller about the fees and she said this. Which doesn’t exactly make me feel a whole lot better, but at the same time it all makes sense. Wilhelmina of PA is there to help prepare you to get to Wilhelmina of NYC/LA/Miami or whatever. It’s a development agency, a mother agency. I have called Wilhelmina in NYC about the office in PA, and I can move up from them. As a matter of fact, when I went to NYC that’s exactly what the lady told me to do while I was in Wilhelmina. So it can’t be a scam.

But anyways, I knew all of this before I showed up to this meeting. I did hours of research about it, because a lot of people (Tyra Banks) say that you can be successful in modeling without paying a thing. Which is true, for the agencies I have been with thus far (I got one job after 2 years)- but it isn’t true with bigger agencies like Ford or Wilhelmina. You have to pay for comp cards, fed ex fees, photo shoots, classes, etc. Those usually come out of your account when you sign with them, but these peeps charge it ahead of time. But yea…

SO back to Monday, we got there on time. I was all nervous, but I was glad my mom was with me because I tend to act on an impulse. I knew if they gave me the contract I would feel obligated to sign it. And sometimes I don’t pay attention to details in paper work.

We first go to the wrong floor of the building because I made a mistake (typical), then we walk into the office. NOT as glamorous as the NYC office, but not shady either. While we wait the girl at the front desk hands us the contract to look over before we meet with the head honcho. The contract seems pretty decent, but the money is due within the first 4 weeks of your contract being signed… Which is why I am not “signed” yet, I don’t have all of the money yet.

Then we go in to talk to the lady, she is really nice, an ex-model, and didn’t seem shady at all. That made me feel better. She kept the meeting short and sweet. Basically I told her that I have one more full semester of college, so that might come in the way of me being able to attend jobs. She said that was completely fine. I also told her that I want to progress to Wilhelmina in NYC. I had a lot of energy talking to her, I think she was surprised. She just smiled. I think its hard for skinnier models to understand why I am modeling in the first place. haha But here: check out the other models they have for plus models… So, I am pretty sure I am not like any of them. haha Don’t know how else to explain it. Most of them are smaller too.

Wow, this post is long. But yea, I didn’t sign the contract yet. I left with it, I did that on my own, my mom was like sure sign it now. I had to remind her that I had no money. hahaa 

I did not sign with Wilhelmina of PA. I did not feel like laying down the money for a company that I wasn’t 100% sure they would get me any work. And because every article I have read have told me not to give money to my agency. <good read.

<3 However, I am getting more work from promoting myself! ;) Give it a try. <3

I thought a long post was due. I personally am not a fan of the super long posts, call me lazy but I usually keep my posts short and sweet. But there are a few of you who like the longer posts so here it goes!! :D

School: I have been busy busy busy! As most of you know I have finished up my junior year of college, and it is now summer. However, I am taking summer classes, basically I am trying to get school over as fast as I can. :) The summer classes are fine, currently I am only in one. It is a three week course called Casino and Gaming, it is really interesting, and the teacher is awesome. Funny how a teacher can affect the class so much.

Work: I work in the best company in the world, I have been working on getting a full time position for the summer but it is sort of difficult right now. Mostly because I will only be full time for the summer then I have to go part time for next semester, then back to full time. Also, the question is where do I want to work in the company? I have a lot of ideas, but I am not 100% sure what I want to do the next few months…I am one of the youngest ppl who work there, although the company is super young! Susan, the owner, is only 25 (or 24,not exactly sure)! But anyways, it has been stressful figuring out what I want to do.

New Apt: I moved into a new apartment! It is really cute, and once I get my stuff completely unpacked and organized I will take some photos, I didn’t really take any nice photos of my last place because my room was tiny, and not worth talking about haha. But this place is lovely. And I live 3 blocks from this. Oh and my new roommate has two little kitties Gonzo, and Mo! Pictures will be up soon!

Internet/E-mail: I still do not have working internet in my new place but I am working on it!! OH and I pride myself in answering EVERY e-mail I have ever gotten from my beloved followers. HOWEVER, my email was broken for, as far as I know, a few months! I deeply apologize for that! So if you still feel like sending me an e-mail you can do so!! Here it is mandy(at)thecurvymodel(dot)com  « I do the weird parenthesis because if I don’t I will get a lot of spam! So just enter it in as a normal email. :) Also, you can ask me questions here, and follow me on Twatter ;)

Modeling: I have been trying to set some stuff up for the summer. You all have seen my new shoot cluster of images. Other than that and my Saks modeling gig through my agency my work has been really slow. BUT an awesome designer from NY fashion week contacted me on model mayhem asking me to model some of her new swim suits! She is sending some samples to Torrid too!! I would be the girl on the clothing tags!!! :DDD I am not getting excited until I get the suits in hand though. And I have a shoot on May 22nd with a cool new photographer! So expect some new images soon! :}

Photography: Although my modeling work has been slow, I have picked up my photography work!! I did my first engagement shoot with some of my dear friends :). I am still learning more and more about photography, but my friends make the whole process so fun! I have a flickr, facebook fan page, and a website. <website is still new!

LASTLY, my parents new puppy Lily: She is probably the cutest thing on the earth. I will post pictures later today of her, I have some edited. Lots of her and her sisters too! :) So you have that to look forward to! <3

PS Those little links in my post are not spam, they are links I made!

I hope you are having a fabulous day! :D

I know I’m biased, but I do love our June cover. Alessandra, Brooklyn and Crystal—our three cover girls, in bright-n-bold bikinis—all look gorgeous, and they also all look so flippin’ happy. (You look at that picture and just think: I’ll have what she’s having!) Plus, Crystal has curves, something you don’t always see a lot of in magazine-land. So let’s cut straight to the debate consuming the blogosphere today: Is she curvy enough?

First, let me back up. We’d commissioned this cover because we wanted three recognizable models for our swimsuit issue: Alessandra Ambrosio (of Victoria’s Secret fame) was actually the last model to appear on Glamour’s cover, four years back; Brooklyn Decker came to us straight off the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue; and Crystal Renn is new to our cover but not to our fashion pages—you’ve called her “the most gorgeous woman” and “OMG!!! Unbelievable!” As many of you know, Crystal, author of the memoir Hungry, used to be a “straight-size” model, starving herself down to a scary-low weight and, at one point, exercising for eight hours straight to lose weight. Now she’s healthy, typically around a size 12 and more successful than ever; readers of all different body types respond to her. Here’s the cover trio clowning around with photographer Matthias Vriens-McGrath:

The reaction from many of you has been passionate and powerful: “Thank you, thank you!” wrote one Michigan reader. “Embrace your own body and all its uniqueness.” But among many women, the debate is whether Crystal is too thin. “You have three very thin beautiful famous women on your cover…Shame, shame, shame,” posted one commenter. Another assumed we’d photoshopped her to look smaller. (For the record: NO.) And a blogger asked: “When will fashion magazines realize that these are not ‘real women’?”

So let’s talk. Is Crystal “plus-size,” as the modeling industry calls anyone over a size 8? Of course not—she’s actually smaller than the average American woman, which is one reason Glamour tries to avoid using the “plus-size” model label at all. But is Crystal larger than the average fashion model? Yes, by several sizes (even size-4 Brooklyn Decker told us she is sometimes considered too “athletic”; crazy!). Finally, is Crystal, as some commenters have asked, “as large as Glamour is willing to go?” No way. With your encouragement over the past year, we’ve begun featuring women at a range of sizes. (Just gaze upon the gorgeous size-14 Jennie Runk in this month’s magazine and with Crystal and me on the Today Show, or the size-16 women who posed in swimsuits elsewhere in the issue.) They’re “real women,” and so am I, and so are you, and so is Crystal. “Realness” comes in all shapes, and Crystal is, frankly, a damn good model; we would have booked her at size 16…or, for that matter, at 8.

Crystal herself describes the cover as “one of the proudest moments of my career,” but says she gets where the debate is coming from. “When it comes to my weight, I understand the public’s confusion,” she emailed me last night. “Like all women, I fluctuate. Especially considering I had just come back from a 3 week backpacking trip in Patagonia. In the past I have been quite open about the fact that I haven’t started an exercise regimen since having the eating disorder because of the uncomfortable feelings associated with it. However, because I am in such a good place with my body and mind I have been reintroducing it back into my life through adventure travel, and plan to continue this in the future. I am in the best place with myself and want to assure everyone of that! Also when it comes to my exact size, in the past I was a size 12-14 and I just said 12; now I am a 10-12 and have to just say 12, because I tend to fluctuate around that number. I find that no matter what I do, there are going to be people who have an opinion; however, my message is as strong as ever….to help women everywhere appreciate their own bodies and continue to be inspired by the images I get to create.”

I, for one, love that message: appreciate your own body, whatever its quirks and eccentricities. Ages ago, when Crystal first returned to good health and started working as a model again, her agent Gary Dakin said something that I’ll always remember, and that I quote constantly. “Crystal was beautiful when she was straight-size,” he said, “but never as beautiful as when she became the woman she should always have been.” And that’s the message here: Not that skinny is suddenly out or curves are in or that any one type is “realer” than another, but that the “in” body is the one you were born with. Oh, and to the letter-writers who worry that we’re promoting obesity by shooting larger-size models: It’s really the opposite. I believe showing women of diverse sizes sends the message that all bodies deserve respect—and are worth taking care of.

So what do you think? Does Crystal qualify as “curvy” or should we forget the labels and just admire her plain old gorgeousness? And what would you rather call curves than “plus-size,” anyway?

One more thing. Several commenters suggested that we picture more size-16 women. Love that. Whatever size you are—2, 20 or anything in between—we’d love to see your cute self. Submit a pic of you in your favorite summer outfit and you might see yourself in a future issue or on glamour.com (or both!).