Cameras flash as Ford model Candice stalks the catwalk at Milan’s famous Fashion Week. The biannual event, where designers show off their latest lines to fashion editors, buyers, celebrities, and other ardent fashionistas, is in full swing. With every strutting step down the runway, the stunning brunette model not only helps sell clothing, but also helps to demolish any lingering stereotypes about how a fashion model should look. A curvy size 12 rather than a skinny size 2, Candice makes her living modeling plus-size clothing. She is just one example of a successful model who is breaking the traditional “fashion model mold” of very tall, very thin, and often, very young.

Plus-size Equals Success
Now 21, Candice began her career as a plus-size model at age 14 with Wilhelmina. This past January, she moved to Ford’s 12 Plus division. For her print and runway work, she spends much of her time traveling to exotic locales such as Africa, Spain, France and other countries where plus-size models are in great demand. October 2005 was her first trip to Milan’s Fashion Week (she went again in March) and the first time that the week featured plus-size fashions.

Candice is at the small end of the plus-size clothing spectrum and is just the size that many designers prefer to show off their stylish and trendy duds. “I feel healthy, not plus,” she says. “I think someday there won’t be a line [between plus and straight] anymore.”
Driving the demand for stylish, plus-size clothes are fashion savvy teens and women who have rejected the frumpy, shapeless clothing foisted on them in the past. As the demand for fashionable clothing in larger sizes increases, so do opportunities for larger models to show the clothes. In addition to Ford and Wilhelmina, just some of the other top agencies with plus divisions are BMG Models, Click and Elite.

Chenese Lewis, the first winner of the Miss Plus America pageant and spokeswoman for the “Love Your Body” campaign (www.love-your-body.org), is another hot plus model. Representing and promoting herself, the 26-year-old, who lives in L.A., has found success modeling for various clothing companies, including the trendy chain, Torrid. She says that while it can still be tough for plus-size models to make a living (she also acts and appeared briefly in the movie “Phat Girlz”), the “average-size woman is a 12 or 14 and the market is slowly coming to reflect that reality.”

Lewis, who broke into the industry in 2000 when a convention for plus-size models came to her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, says her larger size of 20 can sometimes be a stumbling block to modeling jobs. She knows that the market is changeable, however.
“Right now they want smaller girls,” she says. “A couple of months from now they’ll want larger. You may be hot one minute, someone else is hot the next.”

Diversity Rules the Day
“There is a misperception out there that if you’re not 5’ 10” and skinny you can’t be a model,” says Nick Soren, owner of Classic Modeling Agency, which has offices in New York, Denver and Los Angeles. “That’s not true.”
He emphasizes that there is a trend, driven by advertisers, toward more openness to different looks in the industry for both males and females. Ethnic diversity has also come a long way, he says. “All you have to do is go to a fashion show to see that there is much more diversity than in the past.”

Serena Vo, a full-time model represented by Soren, specializes in commercial print modeling for stores and catalogs. The petite 5’ 2” 19-year-old, got her start two years ago. She does acknowledge that with her short stature, runway work is still pretty much closed to her, but she says her Asian ethnicity is a big plus. She points out that many agencies look for ethnic models. “They want people who look different,” she says.

Straight-size model, Tia Mills, also with Classic Modeling, is 5’ 10” and wears a size 6. She works primarily in Colorado doing print and runway, modeling for Calvin Klein and others. Mills started out as a promotional model before coming to the fashion world and found it not as hard to break into the industry as she had expected. “I did not have too many problems,” she says. She credits her diverse looks with possibly being an asset.

Oldies but Goodies
Good friends Kathryn Barnes, 75, and Lou Moscoe, 77, are living proof that fashion modeling careers can start at any age and last a lifetime. These two “oldies but goodies” work extensively in the Florida market, where, according to Moscoe, “95 percent of
people are retirees.”

Barnes began modeling in her late 30s, and Lou first took to the runway in her twenties. “My mother pushed me to model,” Moscoe says. “I was tall and skinny with long legs, but it was the last thing I wanted to do at the time.” Both of their first jobs involved modeling fashions on television. Over the years, they have specialized in runway work for department stores and boutiques, print work for brochures, and fashions and products on the Home Shopping Network. They also do television commercials and Barnes has been in four movies.
Their ages have, at different times, proven to be a help and a hindrance. “We went to a Nordstrom call and they wouldn’t take anyone younger than 48 or 50,” says Barnes. They note with good humor, though, that lately they’re doing fewer golf course brochures and getting more calls for funeral home ads. Overall though, says Moscoe, “The last 25 years have improved for older models. How many women our age do you know who can still wear heels and walk a runway?” AFM

Advice for the Aspiring
“Be yourself and feel good in the clothes you’re wearing,” Lou Moscoe says. Barnes touts the benefits of attending a modeling school, which “gives you poise and helps your self esteem,” she says.
“Follow your dream,” Serena Vo advises. “And find a good agent. Don’t let anyone discourage you.”
“No matter what your looks, size, age or ethnicity may be, if you believe you’re beautiful, you can make anyone believe you’re beautiful,” Tia Mills says. “Always give it your best and never give up.”

“Whatever you do, exude confidence,” Lewis says. “You don’t have to be a size 2 to be beautiful. Do your research and know the market and how to promote your own success. Even if you have an agent, stay on top of your game. Try your best and don’t give up.”
Candice’s advice to aspiring models of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors: “Go for it! You’ve got to be happy with yourself,” she says. “Don’t think, I’m not tall enough or small enough or this or that. The modeling world is really opening up and there is a place for everybody. You have to just give it a shot. Look at Kate Moss. She is only 5’ 7”. She’s not a gigantic girl! My mom even went for an open call. Mom is 44 years old and said, ‘Why not?’” And we agree, why not indeed!