Anna Bayle

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Wild Is The Wind

2009-04-13T23:18:00.008-04:00

The editors of VOGUE China asked me to write a color fantasy story for their April Issue. I asked a good friend Alvaro to illustrate the story I wrote.

WILD IS THE WIND
by Anna Bayle

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~Kahlil Gibran

Once upon a time, there was a village girl from a far mountain province in China. She lived in a hut with her brothers and sisters on the top of the forlorn and weather beaten mountain across the great river. Her father was the local goat herder and her mother made straw baskets to carry the local produce. She was the third of seven children and she shared the chores of their household with her siblings, while their father and mother scraped a living.

Annami, whose name her father gave her to mean “my star”, was her father’s favorite. Annami grew up seeing how hard her father worked to put food in their table. In the harsh and blistery winter months, he woke up early to lead the goats to where the animals can find sustenance. In the warm spring and summer months, it was not so bad but he had to traverse precarious paths with the goats to find a place for them to pasture. Her mother spent her waking hours weaving straw with her blistered fingers. Annami longed for a better life for her family. For even though she has never been to the city, she heard that there are machines called bicycles that could make traveling easier. She heard that with hard work, money can be made in the big cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. She longed for the day that her father would be able to spend more time with them and not wake up so early or come home at dusk, beaten and broken.

No matter how hard life was for Annami’s family, the children have a very happy childhood. They would roam the mountain in search of yang mei (red bayberries) and chase wild animals in the spring and summer months. They went to a small hidden lake and jumped from huge boulders into its refreshing waters. On glorious days, Annami felt blessed to have this special place of rejuvenation and peace.

Sometimes, Annami would go to the lake alone to dance and play among the stepping stones of the lake. It was at these moments that she was able to dream. She pictured herself as the princess of the lake, dressed in finery and jewels just like what she has seen in newspapers used to wrap rice and barley from the market in the valley. She was in her private world of dreams and fantasies. Some afternoons, the sun would be in its perfect place and she would see jewels sparkling on the reflecting waters. The wind would blow through the leaves of the trees and she could feel it envelop her with it cheerful carefreeness. She knew she was alone but at the same time she felt the spirits of nature watching her; dancing and spinning with her. At these times, she felt one with the earth. She felt exhilarated and complete; it was pure joy to bask in the beauty of her surroundings. She felt like one of the many wild flowers that bow and look up, giving their beauty to the majestic sun. It was this way that she spent most of her afternoons after finishing her chores. When she went back to their hut, she is at peace and the penury of their hovel did not bother her at all.

One day, a city woman came to town and the villagers were very wary of her. This woman was just passing by on the way to the next big province. Quigong, who was dressed with exquisite and durable fabrics, was very critical of the small village and the young girls that she espied. She is actually a scout for a huge modeling agency that just opened in Beijing. Her job was the scour the villages of China to find beautiful maidens for the agency. She had two tall, fair and skinny young Chinese girls traveling with her. Quijong has given up on finding anyone in this village until one afternoon she sees Annami coming back from her afternoon trek to the hidden lake. Quijong sees a girl with thick black shiny hair and glistening skin bronzed from the sun. The girl she saw looked very happy in a very naïve way. The villagers informed her who she was and Quijiong proceeded to find the hut of Annami’s family. It was almost evening before Annami’s father arrived.

Everything was decided then, despite the misgivings of Annami’s father. Annami was to leave in the morning with Quijong and her entourage. Annami left with only her clothes on her back. She was whisked off to the big city where she was trained in the arts of being a lady – standing tall and proud, putting make-up, fixing her hair, talking elegantly. She was taught to walk and spin and show garments to clients.

Annami was entered into the biggest modeling contest in China and because she was unlike everyone else in the competition, she won. Her winning the contest was like a whirlwind of frenetic activities of photo shoots, press conferences, speeches, awarding ceremonies, flying to Paris and being brought to the biggest fashion house in Paris. There was no time to think for Annami; a flurry of events propelled her to the pinnacle of fashion where she is an exotic and mysterious beauty. Through all of this, all Annami had was the fortitude of her heart and her dreams.

Alone in Paris, though surrounded by myriads of people who adored her, she is not fazed by her solitude for she grew up with the stark solemnity of nature. Many times in the mountains she was alone traversing the steep paths amidst a glorious sunset. No matter where her fame took her, in her she mind she was still back in her village and treated everyone she encountered as she had treated the people in her village - with nobility and honor. Yes, her outward appearance has changed and she has become sleek, coiffed and chic but inside she is still the village girl, at one with nature and guided by its laws. When she worked, all she had to do was picture the splendor of nature: the blooming of a flower, the delicacy of a violet, the exotism of an orchid, the incredible force of thunder and lightning, the freshness of rain. All these she felt and expressed when she worked.

One day, she was brought to the hottest fashion designer in Paris, Karl Lagerfeld, who was going to design the clothes for a very big house, Chanel. She was to be the bride for this press show that was to be watched by the world press. There was a lot of excitement in the air and the whole fashion world was buzzing. The house of Chanel was to be revived with the insertion of the genius designer.

Annami was nervous for the first time; she knows the implication of being the bride for the Chanel show. She will now be thrust in the zenith of fashion. She would have to walk alone to close the show. She would have to have the magic to carry this, for all expectant eyes will be upon her. She went through the length of the fashion show modeling her garments but her mind was on the finale. She would have to invoke all the energy she had to top every model that went before her for she was the bride; she wore the closing dress- the last image that everyone will leave with and take with them after the fashion show.

It was a siren dress that was cut to show the curves of her body and she will walk into the stage with her shiny straight black hair, down to her waist - the virgin bride. Just before walking out on stage, she took a long deep breath and remembered the craggy hills she used to climb to get to her secret lake. She walked out in the dark, hesitant and unsure. She walked on when the spotlight came on, in her mind headed for the sparkling waters, as she focused on the bright spotlight trained at her. There was a hush in the room that was palpable as Annami glided to the end of the runway. It seemed like an eternity for Annami to reach the end, as she sensed sharp and gaping stares directed towards her. But she blocked all thoughts and remembered herself headed to her secret lake.

When she got to the top of the runway, she felt the gentle wild wind blow through her hair and suddenly, it all came back to her - the sun, the rainbow, the glistening diamonds in the waters, the quivering leaves on the trees, the small wild flowers scattered in the banks of the lake. She smelled the dew in the grass, the rejuvenating whiff of the gentle wind and fresh air transported her. She was back in her secret lake, ready to dance and surrender herself to the beauty of nature. She spun around, arms wide, embracing nature and giving herself to it. She felt herself becoming a flower, resplendent in nature, arching her back to adore the glorious sun. Her straight long black hair swished out and caught the ends of the rainbow, until all she could see and all everyone could see was…….....all the colors of the rainbow.

As published in VOGUE China, April 2009

The Sensuality of Dance

2009-03-14T10:04:00.004-04:00

- by Anna Bayle
As published in Madame Figaro, China
(original version)

"Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like no one is listening, and live like it's heaven on earth." William Purkey

There is something in this quotation that hit a spot in me when I first read it. Dance is such an expression of one’s personality. This quote urges and gives permission to anyone inclined, to just ‘express yourself’. I know that at moments when I want to feed my soul, I find myself dancing. I wish I could sing like an operatic diva or paint like a master to release the emotions that I am feeling inside. But since I was not born blessed with those skills, I content myself with releasing those emotions in some form of dance.

When I retired from modeling, I embarked on activities that could replace the physical exercise and creativity outlet that are essentials of modeling. Modeling is physical exercise in itself, as you have to bend a lot to put your skirts or pants and shoes on, stretch out your arms to get your blouses on, wiggle to get inside the gowns – all this in double time and running back to the lineup just before walking out on the runway. Modeling was also a way for me to express myself, as creativity was encouraged when asked to portray different types of women. So when I personally decided to end my modeling life, I had find other activities that would keep me in shape. I am not very fond of exercising in a gym where the machines you touch are cold and inanimate and I thought that it would be a great idea to take dance lessons. I also knew that I have stirring passions in me that needed to be addressed, so I had to find an outlet for them. What is great about New York is that there are schools for anything under the sun – be it cooking, singing, languages, drawing, etc. Here, there are dancing schools with live music and also the very best teachers in any particular dance. And the choices run the gamut – there is ballet, tango, hip-hop, African, flamenco, swing, salsa, foxtrot, quickstep, square dancing, belly dancing, etc.

It has been said that you can tell if a person is a very good lover by the how they dance. Could it possibly be true? Or is it that people who dance are just freer in spirit or less inhibited that the spontaneity and liberation from bodily constraints makes them good lovers. Is it because people who can dance are able to express their emotions through their bodies? Could it be that the rhythm and harmony in the movement of dance gets translated into the bedroom? Anyway, I was ready to explore my sensuality further, convinced that learning to dance something well would make me a better lover.

Mugler Press Fashion Show

I signed up first for an African class, which always attracted me because it seemed that African people danced in a very primal way. They have no inhibitions and can effortlessly contort their bodies. I always wanted to do African dancing. I thought, ”Let me try it - if only to release the animal in me”. I was very excited because you dance to live music with 4 or 5 drummers playing on different-sized drums while chanting. On my very first day, it really felt pagan to me. For a start, they wanted you to jump around with your legs apart and with knees bent, thrusting your pelvis forward at the same time. These movements felt entirely foreign to me because it is ingrained in Asian women to be ladylike, demure and to certainly, always keep your legs together. You really have to dance from your “hara” or your center (which is located just below your stomach) and feel those primal urges. In this dance, you have to let go of your upbringing and feel like you are one with the earth. I could do the motions, but something in me was fighting and was hesitant to completely let go. I observed another person in class who can make her flesh quiver and vibrate from her neck to her feet while her head and face remained still, just like how Beyonce Knowles does with her behind. I asked the girl how she does it, and she could not explain it to me. When she told me that it was very easy, I was completely ‘psyched out’ of that class. I continued on, despite feeling not up to par. I also started to think that trying this African class was very ambitious of me. After all the non-stop jumping for a whole hour, I was exhausted. I am resigned to the fact that I do not have the stamina for this and coupled with the fact that I felt too feminine to keep my legs open all the time, I changed to another class. If this is a sign of my prowess in bed, then so be it. I will leave that to the athletic and energetic ones.

My next attempt was an Afro-Cuban beginners’ class which also had a drum group but with singing. I liked the music much better because it is less frenetic, and maybe because I have Latin blood in me. After all, I grew up listening to Spanish melodies because my country, the Philippines, was a colony of Spain for 500 years. In Afro-Cuban dancing, there is a lot of hip and pelvic movement but the action is also goes from side to side, as opposed to thrusting forward all the time. There was a lot of gyrating, but this time the instructor would teach you how to do it properly. She would isolate the movements and make us do them in very slow motion then once you get it, she then makes you speed it up. For instance, on the count of two, we would to a thrust with our pelvis, then do the same thrust twice in the same amount of time, then same thrust 4 times..and so on and so forth until we are doing it and ‘shaking our booties like Beyonce’. Oh, there was a lot of jumping too, but not all the time. The drum beat rhythm ranges from fast to slow. The class actually taught us different folk dances dedicated to their gods and goddesses: Chango (god of lightning), Oshun (goddess of love), Yemaya (goddess of the sea), and Ogun (god of war and iron). The motions for the hands were simpler too – like planting rice, undulating our shoulders and hands to look like waves, offering the earth to the gods. This was a lot easier for me to follow because one can really get into the captivating and ritualistic beat of the drums. In fact, after every class, everyone forms a circle and anyone who wants to go to the center to dance solo, does so. I have witnessed some incredible dancing from people who don’t even look like good dancers. The power of the steady drumbeat evokes an ecstatic seizure in them, as if they were bewitched and it is quite an amazing sight. I loved this class and always felt spent afterwards, but always exhilarated.

After I had gone to several beginner classes, I moved to a popular intermediate class. Apparently, the instructor was very good. Now that I knew the basics, I was ready for the next challenge. This class has a line dance format. The drummers were on one end of the long room and we start at the opposite end. We formed three long lines. And we danced forward, in rows of 3, following the instructor down towards the drummers, then peeling off, forming the line in the back and starting again with a different step. The trick is to be behind the instructor and if that not possible, behind a dancer who is very good. To be behind someone who is not sure and who does not commit to the movements makes you very doubtful of yourself, as well. When I see someone who is good, it makes me feel like I am in rhythm with them. The lesson here is,

"If you are going to copy someone, copy the very best."

This was a great class that gave me such release from the tensions of being in a high powered city like New York. I became a regular and the drummers became very familiar with me. I can hold my own in the dances but once I peel off from the line, I am doubled up in pain and out of breath, walking slowly to the back of the line. Waiting in line for my row’s turn to dance gives me the chance to get my breath back and I am ready to brave the distance towards the drummers again. The drummers would look at me questioningly once I peel off from the line, obviously struggling for air and staggering to get back to form the line again and I would just signal that I drank too much alcohol, which gets them all laughing.

The good thing about dance is that you really are exercising every part of your body and at the same time enjoying the music. You sweat a lot, stretch every muscle in your body, align every bone but more than that, you are able to release a lot of pent up energy that is toxic for your well being. It does really feel like having sex because for a whole hour you are moving your body to non-stop rhythm. This was more to my liking. Even though I am sometimes out of breath, I am exercising my sensuality with the many suggestive movements. I have tried hip hop dances too, but just like the African dance which needs cardio-vascular resistance, I miserably failed.

John Gaddi teaching me the mambo

Life went on and I got married and also got busy with the launch my own lipstick line in the States and Canada. Then I got divorced and spent a miserable 2 years of not going out. One day, I was checking out a socialization class for my then 3-year-old son and I happened to see a flyer for ballroom dancing. I was curious, but I also knew I had to do something to get out of the house. I enrolled in ballroom dancing classes and became addicted to it. It was a great place to socialize and have contact with other people without getting involved because in each class, you partner up and switch partners after a minute or two. I have to say that once you get to learn partner dancing, you may never want to dance solo again like in a disco. I learned all of the dances – waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, jive, salsa, meringue, tango. However, my passion was for the Latin dances. I got hooked on salsa and went from beginner to advanced in no time. This is great dance after Afro-Cuban dancing, because all the basic movements taught in the Afro-Cuban class are used in salsa dancing.

Salsa, which literally means, “sauce”, is supposed to be the dance showcasing the woman. It is a dance of sexuality and sensuality, both for the male and female. I loved this dance because of the music and because the movements are smooth and sensual. They first teach you basic steps and then they teach you some complicated ones that you can incorporate when you dance socially. There are a lot of socials held in huge ballrooms for you to practice dancing in and to meet people. I started going to the Copacabana in New York and it is very funny, but it is like walking into a den of wolves. Latin men are predatory; the moment you walk in with your tight flouncy dancing dress, everyone checks you out. Every male in the room will ask you to the dance floor to see if you can dance. But most of the men are so advanced that even if they are generous and will take the time to lead and guide you for a while, they are intent on finding a dance partner who can show how good they are or who will make them feel good dancing. Because in dancing, you are only as good as your partner is. I suppose in bed, it is the same thing, it could only feel as good as how much you make your partner feel good.

Every male in the room asked to dance with me and I graciously accepted because I wanted to learn. But because I was such a ‘newbie’ and was not very receptive to their charms, they never asked me again. Still, I kept going to the Copacabana every Tuesday night and slowly learned the dance. I have to say, I learned to dance salsa with the older Cuban gentlemen who had the patience with my bumbling efforts. They taught me that salsa dancing is nothing but ‘ feeling the beat’. These older men, from 60 to 80 years old and still full of life were more ‘feeling’ than showmanship. Yes, they wanted a pretty girl in their arms and but also sincerely wanted to teach. The younger Puerto Rican men were more speed, precision and fancy moves and only wanted to show their prowess dancing.
Salsa is a dance that can be danced 2 ways. “On 1” or “on 2”. Dancing on 1 is a bit easier as you follow the down beat of the conga, while in 2 you start on the 2nd count but it makes the dance a lot faster and smoother. The older Cubans taught me how to dance in 1 but the Puertoricanos made me dance in 2. Now, this dance is definitely like sex. You don’t even have to have sex, because after a good 5 minutes of intense spinning around, body rolling, swaying your hips nonstop – it feels like you already had sex. There is a lot of body rolling, shimmying your shoulders, gyrating close to your partner, jerking your head back and forth with your hair swishing out and a lot of flirting and making everyone look at you. First of all, you perspire like crazy, you have your eyes on your partner all the time because the dance is so fast that if you don’t, you will not know which way to turn and after being spun and thrown every which way, your hair is all messed up like someone has shaken you silly.

Valentino flouncy skirt

It felt like sex and I got obsessed with it. There is a salsa circuit in New York and every night there is a different place to dance with live music. And with blaring of all the horns, saxophones, trumpets, string instruments, congas and drums plus the fast singing in a salsa band, it is impossible to be depressed. Their music sings of the celebration of life that you can’t help but feel good. Sometimes, I don’t even have to dance. Watching very good salsa dancers, does it for me too. In fact, I see the whole troupe of the American Ballet Theater at a club called S.O.B. (Sounds of Brazil) all the time. Salsa is a great dance for ballet dancers because there is a lot of spinning involved. But it is when I watch Latin women, no matter what age, dance the salsa, that I am mesmerized. I am amazed at what they can do with their bodies. They are so confident about how ‘hot’ they look that they are practically sizzling. I wanted to be like them so bad. My sister finally asked me what I was doing, going out every night. I answered jokingly, “I want to be ‘ the salsa queen of New York’.” She exclaimed,” How sick is that? You are not even Puerto Rican!” I didn’t care, I love to dance it so much that you can see me dancing in the streets with strangers. As long as I hear the music, I am compelled to sensually roll my shoulders and sway my hips, flirt with the men I am dancing with and like the Latin women, revel in my being a woman.

Dancing salsa with John Toribio

As I got older, I gravitated towards another Latin dance that I adored, which is tango. Tango is definitely a man-woman dance and it revolves around passion and desire. Tango is so inviting to me because of the control that one has to have and the feeling that one has to convey to be able to dance it. Argentinian tango is sometimes danced cheek-to-cheek, almost as if you are an extension of the man. You are at the mercy of the man leading you, for you cannot move any which way you want. In salsa, it is the same, the man has to lead you but you can always break away from their hold and do what they call “shines” and dance by yourself. This is not at all possible in tango. Here, you are the man’s woman and you will follow his lead.

I remember a Tango instructor say to our class one day,

“ In tango, as in life – it is always the man’s fault. Either you lead the woman the wrong way or you overestimate the woman’s capabilities.”

I had to laugh hysterically at this parallelism because when I think of intimate relationships, I thought it to be very true. It is always’s the man’s fault. Men promise us everything but do not deliver, so in fact, they mislead us. Men also elevate us to such high pedestals that when we fail to come up to their expectations, they feel deceived, but in fact, I prefer to think it is their fault because they did overestimate a woman’s capability to love. I have not yet excelled in tango so I might get back to it someday. After all, at this time in my life, I feel that I am ready for men to lead me.

Now that I am really much more mature and have not been out dancing every night, I took another form of exercise which I believe to be very good for the body. I started Tai-chi classes. The movements are very controlled and fluid. It looks like it is easy but not really, because it takes a lot more energy to do small, precise movements than to do big ones. It feels like a dance to me when I see people practicing TaiChi in the park. And though there is no music, I feel the life and energy flow through me when I do my movements, like when I am dancing.

Like the girl in Igor Stravinsky’s ballet ’Rites of Spring”, who danced herself to death, I think I will continue dancing until I die. I urge everyone to find the music that moves you and dance. For like the bored accountant who secretly took ballroom dancing classes in the hit Japanese movie to, “Shall We Dansu?”, we all have that stirring passion in us. Sometimes, you can just lock the door, pull down the shades, put music that moves you on the CD player and dance. Go on. ….Nobody is watching!

ANNA BAYLE: Walk With Me

2009-02-24T17:42:00.014-05:00

As published in Madame Figaro China

The amazing journey of the world's first Asian supermodel
by Paula Nocon

“The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.” Goethe

They called it the 'Anna Bayle Walk.'

It was not just a walk – it was part sashay, part glide, part pose. It was a dance.

On fashion runways, the Walk was done in stilettos, in flats, barefoot, tiptoe. It was done for fashion's kings, masters, critics, merchants, slaves.

The Walk was praised, copied, admired. It became the walk of a decade. It became a song. It became a trademark.

And it was named after the world's first Asian supermodel, the Filipina Anna Bayle, who triumphed in the 1980s and 1990s as a catwalk goddess on the most acclaimed runways in the world. Anna Bayle walked for every single fashion designer who mattered, from Hong Kong to Paris to New York.

Yet, the Anna Bayle Walk was not just a fashion trend. It was not just a breeze that blew through. It was the lifelong march of a determined woman who achieved absolute success.

Yes, women – all women – must learn how to walk. Perhaps they must crawl at first, and true, they will stumble, they will fall, they may even be pushed aside. But a woman who has learned how to truly walk, her own way, head up high, her soul shooting up her spine, is a woman who has learned how to live, how to love, how to give, how to choose. She has learned how to balance herself.

A woman who can call a walk her own is a woman who has come to know herself, and love herself.

And even after the runways and red carpets and flashing bulbs have gone away, even when the applause has faded, even when no one is watching, the Walk goes on, through life, on the streets and alleys, on the pavement, through beaches and parks, through triumph and tragedy, through joy and sorrow; to this day, still, always, Anna Bayle just keeps on walking.

Madame Figaro celebrates art de vivre, joie de vivre, and the privilege of being a woman, so this is the focus of the article.
Questions:
What has modeling taught you about being a woman? about life?
KNOW YOUR WORTH.
As a woman, modeling has taught me how to ‘know my worth’. What I mean is that women go through their lives and loves letting situations happen to them. As women, perhaps at some time or another, they were rejected or they were passed off and other people were chosen instead of them. What I learned in modeling is that sometimes rejection does not really reflect on you but on the person who rejected you.

For instance, if you are Asian and you go to a casting and everyone (editor, photographer, director, etc) loves you for the part but the client is specifically looking for a blond Caucasian and you do not get the commercial. This does not mean that you are not good enough for the part. It only means that for their commercial purposes, they needed something else which you could never fulfill.

The same goes in affairs of the heart. Just because a man has chosen someone else before you, reflects on his choices and not necessarily on you or your worth. Over the years, I have learned that people make individual choices and the most important thing, as a woman and as a model is that I know that I am worth it. If they don’t see it …it is really their loss.

As for what modeling has taught me about life, I have now come to a conclusion that in life, one must really dream it and want it, to be able to acquire it.
It was only when I went for it, and consciously thought that I could be a very successful model,…. did I, indeed, become a successful model.
In life, I believe it is important to have dreams. It is important sometimes to take a moment and think about all the things we want to be. And when you have determined what it is that you really want to be, then your subconscious helps you make the right decisions towards this goal.

page 1

You are intelligent, articulate and you have amazing depth - which goes against the usual model stereotype! How have you cultivated this throughout your life?
The supermodels I encountered during my time were really intelligent. I do not think one could get to the top without that. It takes a lot of commandeering one’s career to reach the top. For instance, Cindy Crawford was a valedictorian.

I have always been a scholar. In kindergarten, I was the valedictorian. Coming from a family of 7 brothers and sisters, I thought that I had to compete for love and attention. I strove hard to get more gold medals and honors than my over-achieving sisters throughout grade school. Then, without my parents knowing, I took an entrance exam for Philippine Science High School, which was a government program of accelerated education aimed at training the young brainiacs to be scientists. Out of thousands from all over the country who took the exam, only 150 were chosen. At 13, I had a stipend and was being paid to study. When I started college, I was offered 2 more scholarships to the University of the Philippines, also after taking exams that were given to thousands.

When I became a model around my 3rd year of college, my mother lamented that I was throwing away my life; she begged that I go back to school fulltime. At that time in my life, I had already understood the importance of being independent, of being self-supporting. Modeling was paying for a lot of things – the most important of which was, freedom. And I did not want to give that up. Finally, when all her friends would send clippings of me from all over the globe, she relented and just nagged me about my weight.

When one has a background of excellence in academics, it does not just go away because one is now jet-setting. I was not even the best student at the Science school and the university; I believed I was in the bottom of the barrel beside my uber-intelligent classmates. However, the thought processes stay with you all throughout your life.
They say that a human being acquires 95% of his or her intelligence by age 7. As a mother, I surrounded my son with a lot of love. I invested a lot of time and effort to be beside him while he is growing up and I tried to expose him to anything that will develop his intelligence and give him all the skills to prepare him for living his own life.

As for cultivating being articulate and having depth, I read a lot. My father told me once that, if I ever was depressed or sad…he said just read books. I might not experience everything in life but just reading about other people’s experiences, gives me an insight into everyday situations and emotions that I would never get the chance to. Perhaps by informing myself, I will have the tools to tackle anything thrown at me.

The lowest points of your modeling career. The highest.
The highest points of my modeling career were whenever I walk down the runway and hundreds of people applaud simultaneously and call my name out loud and some are shouting “Bravo, Anna”. It is a very intense feeling when one is in front a live audience and one feels so adored.

Sometimes, after the couture shows, I would walk in an exclusive restaurant with another model in Rome, and the clientele would applaud when we walk in. It feels very redeeming that your artistry is noticed by people who are 'in the know'.

The lowest points were of course when I first started modeling. I call them the ‘lean years’; when I decided to leave the comfort of being in Asia to try my luck in the international fashion capitals of the world.
I remember eating only a spring roll each day for a week when I first arrived in Paris because it was the only thing I could afford (5 francs and 40 centimes) and the only familiar food I can point at behind glass counters because I did not speak a word of French then.
I remember falling asleep in parks in London and Paris waiting for the appointed times of my go-sees; that is, instead of going home in the metro just to go back to the same area again.
I remember feeling really down and depressed in New York when I was finally replaced at my job as house model at Maximilian Furs (of ‘What Becomes A Legend Most’ fame) because I kept going to Europe to do the collections. Now, I did not have a salary and I was afraid I could not pay my rent for my one bedroom apartment in New York. I probably had $10 in my pocket and I was eyeing flowers in a Korean store when a gay friend stopped me from buying the one thing that would make me happy at that moment of misery– flowers. This is what he said, “Anna, do not buy the flowers now because you do not have the money now. When you have the money, you can buy all the flowers you want.”
It really hurt me inside not to be able to get what I wanted at that particularly ‘down’ moment but when I came back to New York and I had already made it, I made it a point to have fresh huge bouquets of flowers in every room in my Park Avenue apartment changed every week.

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You have rightly deserved the title World's First Asian supermodel. Tell us what it was like to make it at a time when standards of beauty were predominantly blonde, buxom and white.
When I first moved to New York, the covers of the magazines then were Cheryl Tiegs, Christy Brinkley, Renne Russo and Andy McDowell. It was very difficult to enter the New York fashion scene. I was hired immediately by a top modeling agency but was not getting any editorials or designer jobs that would propel me to the top. And when I lost my job at Maximilian Furs, I had no choice but to head for Europe. The same friend who stopped me from buying the flowers (Luigi Javier) also said to me, “Just go to Paris and do not come back to New York until you are a star.” It was the point of no return in my career. It was ‘make or break’ time.

It seemed that New York was a closed door to me. New York was a fashion capital that only wanted proven professionals. I did go to Europe –first stop Milan, where my agent told me that there was no work for me. And I took my last money that I saved and took a train ride to Paris. I even checked into a hotel where I only had the money for one night but told them I would stay for the week.

The French fashion people are very different; they want to discover beauties. Their idea of beauty is also quite different. When Thierry Mugler hired me for my first and only press show, I was immediately plucked from obscurity and put beside the big stars – Jerry Hall, Pat Cleveland, Marie Helvin. Sometimes, people want to see the stars and sometimes, people are also intrigued by unknowns and would like to see more of them.
Fashion will always revolve around the new. But the esteemed fashion journalist, Bernardine Morris, of the New York Times once told me,
“Not everything that is new is beautiful…but everything that is beautiful is new.”
I was able to break that “blond and buxomly’ mold because I was really “non-specific”. One could not tell by my looks where I was from – I could have been American Indian, Brazilian, Chinese, Latino, Black, Japanese. I was more of a chameleon and was able to fit in with whatever look the fashion designer required.

Before I knew it, the fashion cognoscenti were calling me “The look of the 80's” because I was in all the big fashion press shows in Milan and Paris. The 80’s was the era of the popular television show ‘Dynasty’ - of big shoulder pads and powerful women. It was a time when women were making their mark in the corporate world; striving and succeeding in a purely masculine environment. I think that my success was more of an attitude rather than a look. Fashion is always a sign of the times and I was in the right place and the right time to be noticed.

After 4 years of living in Paris, I returned to New York. I was now a proven professional and a star and this time, all doors were open. Sometimes, the best path is not the direct path. Sometimes, one has to make detours along the road to reach one’s destination.

Tell us again about how you came up with the Anna Bayle walk.
As a model, it is important to be unique. To copy how every other model walks is simply to be a robot or a clothes hanger. I wanted people to notice me. Over time I developed my own style – which is walking on tip-toes. Even with flat shoes or barefoot, I would stand on my toes and sashay down the runway.

One cannot be anything but oneself and if you try to pretend, people watching are not convinced. Instead of forgetting my roots, I tried to embrace them and bring them out from within me. Sometimes when you portray something that is intrinsically yours; something that nobody else can give – then you are able to distance yourself from the crowd and stand out.

I always remembered the washer women from my country, the Philippines. They would wash their clothes in the river and when they were done, they would balance their wash load on their heads. They had to cross the river, stepping on wet stones, barefoot. They were light on their feet and always had pointed toes in order not to get wet or fall from the slippery surfaces. This was a picture I always had in my head. It is a beautiful paradoxical picture of elegance and simplicity. This image in my head is was what I incorporated in my walk.

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Fashion has changed from what it was during your time. Tell us honestly what you think of fashion and modeling today.
Please reference “March of the Innocents”, an article I wrote for LookOnLine.com. (The first internet fashion trade paper) www.lookonline.com/marchofinnocents.html

Looking back, what do you really think of
"success" and "fulfillment"?
I think success is a process. I honestly believe that if a person gives something or someone, good energy – then that person will get it back.
So whatever we put our minds to, and we apply ourselves or we give it all we have –I would consider that a success. If every day is a good day, no matter what you choose to do, then cumulatively…you will find, you are a success.

As for fulfillment, I do not think I understood that word until I became a mother. The height of my fulfillment as a woman is in having a child to love and care for. For they say,
“It is not really important that someone loves you but what is more important is that you have someone to love.”

I urge all women who can have children to have at least one. If you can’t, then adopt one. I know this to be a secret among mothers. Now, I know what mothers all around the world were referring to when they have that knowing look in their eyes and they say “You’ll see. It’s different.” When women know that they would do anything, sacrifice all, and give up everything for another human being - it is love at its purest and it is very fulfilling.

Most important thing you learned from living in Hong Kong. In Paris. In New York.
In HongKong, I learned how to be the master of my fate; how the choices I make everyday will determine my destiny. (This is my first time I traveled out of my country and lived apart from my family and relatives.)

In Paris, I learned to be a woman. I learned how to value my womanhood and also the subtle power that came with it. (After all, Paris is called ‘The City of Love’.)

In New York, I learned how to be a true professional and how to be a successful entrepreneur. (It is in New York that I started my first successful business.)

About MEN. Just share with us anything you want to impart about love and relationships! When I was much younger, I have had my share of long standing relationships and it was good to be with someone you can grow with. However, as a model meeting men for the first time, it was hard to determine whether they were with you because of your looks or because of you.
And yes, Paula, it is a privilege to be a woman.

I love men and always will! But now that I have a son, I seem to look at them with more compassion than I had before. It might be a simplistic way to think, but I see men as being kids once - vulnerable and wanting of love and attention. I believe that men’s capacity to love is taught to them by their mothers. So, we, women must teach our children how to love.

As for marriage, I want to say, “Marriage is great…if it works.” Sometimes it doesn’t.

I am happy to say, there is only one man in my life. And it is Coca-Cola…THE REAL THING. He is my son, Callum.

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What are you looking forward to at this stage in your life?
At this stage of my life, I am looking forward to guiding and equipping my son with all the good values in life that will help him to succeed in his life.

I look forward to falling in love again. I look forward to meeting my soul mate. I would like to meet a man who will love me; I would like him to be someone I will love. My son is on his way to independence and at this time, it would be great to have a companion for life, as single motherhood is very isolating.

Kelly Klein who was married to Calvin Klein once told me,
“They say that a woman should do 3 things in life”:
1) Plant a tree.
2) Have a child.
3) Write a book.

I already have a child and my gardening days are not here yet. So, I look forward to writing a book.

VOGUE ICONS

2009-02-16T08:38:00.006-05:00

As published on LookOnLine.com (The First Internet Trade Paper on Fashion) on Dec. 14, 2008

Anna Bayle giving homage to fashion’s legendary icon, Yves St. Laurent (Photo: vogue.com.cn)

READ ANNA'S EXTENSIVE PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF MASTER DESIGNER YSL ON HER BLOG POST "THE KING AND I" AT www.annabayle.com

Beijing, December 6, 2008

Vogue China invited an international coterie of guests to celebrate their third year of its existence. The iconic magazine flew in celebrities from all around the world to give salute to an iconic city - Beijing and an iconic year for China – 2008, in light of the recent success of the Beijing Olympics. Vogue Icons was also a celebration of Vogue magazine’s 116-year old legacy. The glamorous night of icons and icon makers was held at the Park Hyatt Ballroom. The impressive guest list was a cross-section of East and West, fashion and film, society and celebrity.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Vivienne Tam walk the red carpet with Chinese model Du Juan / Kate Moss (Photo: Vogue.com.cn)

The red carpet featured the president of CondeNast Asia - James Woolhouse, Chinese actress Maggie Cheung, Japanese soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata, Nina Ricci’s artistic director Olivier Theyskens, movie director Oliver Stone, supermodels headed by Kate Moss, Du Juan, Jessica Stam, Sasha Pivovarova. Even global icons Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse donned the glamour in Chinese-inspired outfits designed by Vivienne Tam.

Black and silver with red and pink bouquets was the setting for Vogue Icons gala dinner

The multi-media program for the evening was an exercise in celebrating the past with the present. The first part defined the iconic status of Vogue magazine with its 116 years of existence. French film actress Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkins of the ‘Birkins bag’ fame took to the stage to talk about what makes an icon. Then Candy Pratts Price, editor-in-chief of Style.com presented an award to Kate Moss for her 20 years in fashion. After which, Angelica Cheung, editorial director of Vogue China, applauded the work of Mario Sorrenti, the fashion photographer as an icon maker and China’s very own supermodel, Du Juan. Anna Bayle, the first Asian supermodel, paid homage to one of the greatest fashion icons, legendary Yves St. Laurent. The audience remembered the fashion master’s artistry in reverent silence while they watched curtained screens spanning the length of the ballroom drop from the ceiling, playing images of Monsieur St. Laurent at work in his atelier.

Maggie Cheung, Clemens Lee (GM of Audi) and Angelica Cheung (Vogue Editorial Editor)

Roland Mouret, London based designer, introduced Jennifer Woo of Lane Crawford. The Lane Crawford brand is known to bring international fashion to China. Philip Lim, a new generation Chinese designer, talked about his first Vogue moment. Olivier Theyskens, artistic director of Nina Ricci, introduced China’s beloved icon, film actress Maggie Chung, known for her role in "In The Mood For Love". The dinner came to a satisfying halt after model-actress, Milla Jovovich showed another one of her talents by regaling the glamorous crowd with two songs. After which all the guests were transported to a celebration after-party at the Legation Quarters which was the site of the old American Embassy beside the Tiananmen Square.

Elaborate Chocolate Dessert for Vogue Icon Dinner

The lavish fashion event, organized by Melvin Chua of the Ink Pak Communication Group, was a feat that can rival any gala fete in the Western world. In collaboration with Vogue personnel, Chua orchestrated a 4-day affair of festivities for the international guests. There were limousined tours to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and various museums and silk markets in the heart of Beijing. There were dinners at the exclusive China Club and Aman Resort at the Summer Palace.

If the elaborate and elegant Vogue Icons fete is any indication of what China can offer to the international fashion scene after the spectacular and unmatched Beijing Olympics, then we better brace ourselves for what is yet to come. China is on route in the Silk Road of fashion.

-Anna Bayle
(Anna is Lookonline.com's contributing beauty editor)

THE KING AND I

2008-06-05T20:09:00.041-04:00

The King is dead. Bells are clamoring all across Fashion Land heralding a great loss. We all know it would happen one day and we imagined that when it happens, there will be a tremendous mourning for no one has ever reigned supreme. Mere mortals like me, feel that immense void, knowing that we have lost a most incredible artist - a genius in our midst. Mere mortals, like me, know how we have been blessed with knowing this man. He has touched us deeply with his art. Every fashion editor, every socialite, everyone who has ever been in contact with him will have something to say, for he was truly special. He was our revered king. Even if our encounters with him were a mere light fingerbrush of his persona, we applaud in awe and bow supplicantly, knowing we have touched greatness. A mere mortal, like me, can only remember the magic of the late king.

I arrived in Paris with only one goal and that was to be a star. I was not sure what path I would be taking towards that goal or if it was at all possible for me to be a star. But I was sure of something……I was sure I would never be a star if I did not work for Yves St. Laurent.

He is the undisputed king. The man who brought trousers to a woman’s wardrobe with his famous 'smoking'. He is an enigmatic king, so beloved by all.

My first stop when I first arrived in Paris was to go and look at the couture house of YSL on 7 Avenue George V. From across the street, it seemed so unattainable to me then, but I was determined to work there. Many times, I have passed through this street espying the intimidating ‘closed door’ and each time, I tried to conjure and imagine the ways that would make it possible for me to work there.

I was not star struck…no....it was more of a yearning. I yearned to wear those beautiful clothes. I yearned to be one of the most beautiful women in Paris wearing his clothes. I yearned to be Mounia. I yearned to be Kirat. (Yves Saint Laurent’s favorite models in the 80’s) I wanted to be one of the girls that were in full pages of Women’s Wear Daily. It was dream for me and my desire consumed me. I could not imagine that I could call myself a success if I did not work for Yves Saint Laurent.

It did not happen immediately. My entry into the house of YSL went a different path. I was working for other big designers before I started working for YSL. I was what the Parisians called a “mannequin vedette” (a star on the rise). I was unknown until Thierry Mugler put me in his much acclaimed press show. You will find that the French love to discover people. They love to see raw material and they want to mold you into a piece of art. Mugler was my mentor and I would be walking all around Paris in Mugler’s clothes. I was Mugler’s girl.

And when you are a rising star of one designer, others take notice of you. Soon I got calls from other designers who asked for me particularly and one day, I got the call from the House of St. Laurent. I was not on cattle calls anymore, wherein fashion houses see dozens of girls. I have arrived at a point where I was a special ‘call in’ to be presented to the designers. Though still young and new to Parisian fashion, by this time I was not as impressionable as I was when I first arrived. I knew how to comport myself and look the part – a beauty.

In the couple of months that I lived in Paris, I began to understand that hunger or ‘drive’, a very commendable trait for Americans is not a trait that the French admire. In fact, they abhor it. Mystery is what attracts the French. The more they don’t know you, the more they want to get to know you. By this time, I have learned to hold back and just be. In my mind, which I had to convince myself every single day, - I am a young, beautiful model and I can shine on any runway. You almost have to walk into any fashion house thinking, ‘You need me more than I need you and it will be your loss if you do not hire me.’ Working for YSL might be the only single reverberating desire that consumed me in my early days as a model, but no one will every know it by my attitude when I walked into the house of Saint Laurent.

I was shown to the cabine where I met Madame Munoz who ran the cabine. Madame Munoz was the key to working for Saint Laurent, if you were a model. Hundreds of beautiful girls pass through her eyes each and every day. She single-handedly gets to decide who will do the show because you will never get to see Monsieur St. Laurent without her okay.

I was asked to wear a garment and I was shown into an all white fitting room where Monsieur Saint Laurent was sitting on an armchair and LouLou dela Falaise was hovering beside him. I was asked to step up onto the raised round fitting stall that was spotlighted. Loulou dela Falaise was very friendly and all smiles. Under those thick black-rimmed glasses, Monsieur Saint Laurent was smiling at me too, but he did not talk much. It seemed to be just a matter of procedure. I could feel that he liked me and I could also feel a sense of excitement in both of them. I think they wanted a model just like me who is new; who can bring a different flavor to their couture show. It is standard for all designers to try one or 2 different new models each season and insert them into their regular lineup of models. It is like debut; a coming out for a new model. Usually, it is someone ‘au courant’ or very hot. It is as if to say to the whole of Paris and the other designers, “If you think this girl is beautiful –wait till you see what she would look like in our clothes. We can make her more beautiful than she ever was before.” Well, it was my time and I was chosen. I get to do the couture show with all the other cabine models and the regular line-up which included stars like Dalma. (The collection is created on cabine models –inspired by them and fitted on them. When the collection is done, clothes are distributed to the whole runway line-up and refitted for minor adjustments).

The premiers and the seamstresses were called down to bring the garments to be fitted on me. Monsieur St. Laurent did the choosing and after several garments, Monsieur Berge appeared. He is all business and did not concern himself with what was going on. He took a look at me and I see the slightest nod of approval but it seemed that his main concern was the well being of Monsieur Saint Laurent.

I could never fathom the dynamics of their relationship. Yes, it was a business partnership – the business man and his creative counterpart. One relying on the other to survive and excel. On one hand, you had Monsieur Saint Laurent who looked fragile and extremely shy and who spoke only in a very low voice, almost in a whisper. On the other, is a very assertive man with a booming voice and a very intense stare. The combination of the two personalities struck me as odd, but it reflected a very strong symbiotic relationship. What I felt was much more than a just a business partnership and much more than just friendship. One felt as if Monsieur St. Laurent was in Pierre Berge’s ward. Monsieur Berge’s demeanor was very protective and very concerned with the slightest nuisance. It felt almost like Monsieur Berge was taking care of a child or a sick man. I think this added to the enigma of Monsieur Saint Laurent. He was not ever left alone to fend for himself. There was always Monsieur Berge.

I thought nothing of the clothes that I was told to wear. I did what I was trained to do and that is, to look beautiful in them. Normally, I was more aware of what is given to me to wear. When I fitted, I was already studying the clothes to know what I am going to do for the show. But there was such aura in that salon…. such mystery that I was just carried away in the process. I did the motions, but I was floating on clouds, in the midst of my dream.

Days before the show, I told myself to relax. My dream is happening to me and I have to be ready to accept the near approaching possibility that I will realize my dream. I had other shows that were important but this was special. I am about to do the Saint Laurent show.

STORMY WEATHER
I was in a daze the entire day. Something big was happening to me but I went through the day in a reverie. It was all hazy. I was emotionally invested in the show –having my own little fantasy spinning around in my head. It felt like I was in a movie and I was a Cinderella who was, at last, going to be dressed for the ball.

The show was at the Hotel Intercontinental on Rue Cambon. It was a very more intimate stage because it was a couture show; the long narrow runway was 5 feet high up from the floor. It was a very grand and elegant venue with golden gilded columns and sparkling chandeliers, with the prominent YSL logo on center stage framed by a profusion of flowers while golden chairs with crisp white covers filled the whole space.

Someone was testing the mike and spouting out numerals in French which I understood to be the numbers of the garments. I arrived early enough, so I stood in the back of the empty hall, staring at the runway, imagining myself up there when the music played….
Don’t know why
There’s no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain’t together
Keeps raining all the time.

Life is bare
Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather
Just can’t get my poor self together
It’s raining all the time

When you went away, the blues walked in and met me
If he stays away, ol rocking chair will get me
All I do is pray the Lord above will let me
Walk in the sun once more.

Can’t go on….
Everything I have is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain’t together
It’s raining all the time

I walk around heavy hearted and sad
Life comes around and I am still feeling bad
Rain’s pouring down
Blinding every hope I had
This pitterin patterin
Beating and spattering drives me mad

LOVE . LOVE. LOVE.
This misery is too much for me

Can’t go on
Everything I had is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain’t together
Keeps raining all the time
All the time

I heard somewhere that pain brought out the creativity in any artist. It is like saying that to make something beautiful, they have to have a lot of suffering. We know this of Vincent Van Gogh, of Mozart and of many other acclaimed artists. When I heard the song, in Lena Horne’s sultry and haunting voice, which was going to be played over and over again in between musical numbers, I understood him. I understood that there was suffering. I understood that he was in a lot of pain and that that pain can make you beautiful or that it can make you create beautiful things. Haunted by the music, I was immediately transported in that frame of mind. ‘Yes, I am broken hearted and in pain but in all my suffering,… I am beautiful.’ I don’t think I will ever forget this song. It was a gift that Monsieur Saint Laurent has given to me. This gift is the knowledge and realization that one can transform the pain into creating something beautiful.

My masked pain was my yearning. My desire to succeed has given me a lot of cause for pain. The many things I have given up to be in this position all came back to me and I used all that energy and desire and let it all flow through me and out of me. I started to really feel my yearning rather than hide it.

I went backstage to sit for my make-up where the fabulous embelliseur from Columbia, Jose Luis, started on my face. I was a blank canvas and I just let him transform me into the St. Laurent girl. To any new model, the backstage of any designer is sacred. When you walk backstage, you will feel whether you belonged or not and that would affect the entirety of how you performed in the show. As a model, you had to imbibe the house’s character trait. You had to be loved or at the very least, be liked by the premiers and seamstresses who were dressing you. Fortunately, I did feel I belonged. Once in a while, Monsieur Saint Laurent and Loulou de la Falaise would approach and check the make-up and they looked pleased. I finally looked at my reflection in the mirror when Jose Luis was done and I was also pleased with the result. He did a great job. There was a lot of make-up which was on the side of heavy colorful side but I looked really expensive and exotic.

Then the magic happened. I donned on my first garment and I saw a reflection of myself on the mirror. I have never seen myself this beautiful! I looked so expensive,.. so unattainable,.. so beautiful. I can only speak from my experience and this was by no means my first couture show. I have done several for many big names but honestly, I saw with my own eyes the transformation that the clothes did for me. It is his magic. It is his vision of a woman and I must admit, Yves Saint Laurent is a designer who loved women. (Even after 25 years of working and thousands of shows, I will remember this day.)

YSL couture show

It was funny but just before we were about to walk out, Loulou came to each and everyone of the models and handed us a diamond-encrusted anklet. She instructed us to put it on our right foot if we were ‘taken’ and the left foot, if we were available. I got thrown off by that request. Even though I had a boyfriend at that time, I did not feel like I was attached, so I put it where I instinctively felt I wanted to put it…on my left foot. It is funny how that worked because it must have put all of us, the models, in the mood of seduction, whether we were aware of it or not. Of course, I was not analyzing at that time but looking back, it was indeed a clever play on the subconscious.

(Diamond encrusted anklet on left foot)

When the show started, the real movie began but for me everything was in a haze. I know that every time I walked out, the people were applauding and I was happy that I held my own beside the Mounias and the Kirats. All I remember was “Stormy Weather” over and over again and once in a while, “Numero Vingt-cing”, as we walked down the runway.

YSL couture show

YSL couture show

I also remember the ‘damn’ chandelier in the middle of the runway. We all had to make a mental note to ourselves when walking down the runway to clear that; because if you walk straight down the middle, you would have lost your hat. So I would walk down dead center of the runway but around the chandelier, I had to veer slightly to the right then go back to the center, after I cleared it. It is a very subtle adjustment, but when one is nervous, it is a big task.

YSL couture show

I remember the end when Monsieur Saint Laurent walked out to take his bow during a very intense and prolonged applause. He was beside Mounia wearing the bridal number and all of the other models on stage, when someone handed him a beautiful bouquet of white lilies. The whole show was a success, except for the fact that the pollen from the flowers stained Monsieur Saint Laurent’s suit. After we all got backstage, Monsieur Berge railed at the assistant who was in charge of the flowers. He was not going to let anything happen to Monsieur Saint Laurent – not even a dash of pollen.

Celebrations all around and the backstage was in a very triumphant mood. The atelier was very happy and I knew I will be coming back. What I did not know was that I was chosen to shoot the Saint Laurent ad with one of the biggest photographers of that time. At that time, it was between Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton. I was to shoot the ad with Helmut Newton.

HELMUT NEWTON
Call time was a 7:00 a.m. and make-up started. Violetta, a Spanish model, a favorite of Saint Laurent was there with a German model, the other newbie like me. She was a very tall with big breasts and a square jaw. They did the German girl first, maybe because she was German and she would be a shoo-in with the famous German photographer. But minutes after she left the van, she was sent back and I was called to the set.

(Cocktail dress to be shot for the YSL ad.)

The mood of the shoot was foul. It started badly and everyone on set was on edge. My first garment was one of the garments in the show, actually one of my favorites. It was a cocktail dress made of black palette (sequins) and burgundy taffeta sleeves.It was nerve racking for me because Helmut Newton was known to have a kinky side to his pictures. He was into S&M (sado-masochism) and I did not really know how this style of his would translate into a YSL beauty ad. I also really did not know what to expect, as it was my first time working with him. However, my desire kicked in and I really wanted to please Monsieur St. Laurent. It was a great honor to be chosen above all the rest of the models to do the ad campaign.

I had on a feathered hat or accessory that looked like a giant sea urchin on the middle front of my head. And the sleeves of my garment looked like insect wings. Helmut Newton put me on a ledge and I spread my arms to show the shape of the sleeves. And then I did the unthinkable. When models are in front of a camera, the first thing they position is their faces so it will show them in a good light. But I knew that this photographer would not want a normal photograph. So I posed with my head down so the hat partially covered my face. I think I caught Helmut Newton’s attention and he started shooting silently. Never did I show my eyes or my full face to him. I gave him the details of the garment and I had a feeling he was delighted that he will be able to take good pictures, after all.

Helmut Newton YSL ad

When the shoot of that garment was over, I was brought back to the van and dressed in the garment that was on the German model while Violetta was doing her shoot. This time it was a pink dress suit with black piping. Helmut pointed towards a beautiful sculpture of a naked woman lying on her side indicating that I should pose there. I decided to sit on her shoulders. I did not cover my face but I did not give Newton a full frontal either. I only gave him my profile. Now, I could feel the mood lifting on the shoot. There were about 6 garments. It was probably planned for us to have 2 per girl. But all of the German girl’s garments were put on me and I got more pages than anyone.

Helmut Newton YSL ad

The pictures came out strange but they were beautiful in their strangeness. And in the next month, when we had to prepare for the ready-to-wear season, I was chosen, together with Violetta to do the season’s preview cover of Women’s Wear Daily.

WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY Cover at the TROCADERO
The photographer was Guy Marineau of WWD. I wanted this cover so badly before and now I have it. While I was doing them, I did not remember that there was a time when this was one of the things that I really wanted to have happen to me. I am on my way, for now I am a Saint Laurent girl. I am a regular and I am treated like one of them by all the other Saint Laurent girls.

(WWD page by Guy Marineau)

(WWD page by Guy Marineau)

A SAINT LAURENT GIRL
It is good that I have a quiet demeanor when I am working and I stay in my corner and am oblivious to the other girls. I am not perceived as a threat in a cabine that is full of rivalries and intrigue. The biggest recurring one is the drama in the cabine as to who will wear the wedding dress. Every season, it is the same story. Mounia has always held this honor but she is in constant battle with the atelier. They sometimes threaten to take it away from her but I was told that she does everything to keep it – tears, voodoo, threats. There has always been a big rivalry between Mounia and Kirat, as they were the 2 front runners. I am always caught in the middle, as I travel with these girls constantly from Rome to Paris for the couture collection. Mounia was my roommate when we were working in Rome but Kirat is a close friend who calls me ‘Anna Banana’. Maybe because we are both Asian, she has taken to me and even so brazenly told me to leave the stoic Asian group and be in the ‘sexy group.’ For the longest time in all the fashion shows, I was partnered all the time with Toko, a very tall Japanese model and the walk was always stoic. Kirat wants to claim me and put me in the sexy group with her and Dalma. We always have a private laugh because she tells me that she is always threatened by Mounia with ‘pins and dolls’ but she laughs loud and remarks, “We Asians have something stronger than any voodoo because we don’t believe in it. Isn’t that true, Anna Banana?”. Yes , it is true, we Asians were not afraid of voodoo, we had our own ‘mojo’. That nonsense is only as strong as how much power you give it. Asian models were always a big mystery to the French people and a staple in almost every fashion house because the one thing that Asian models provide that others can’t is exoticism.

Norman Parkinson YSL Photo shot in Barcelona

There is another trivia that I discovered about Saint Laurent and I was very amazed at this finding. You see, designers do not know our birthdays but one day just chatting with the girls in the cabine while waiting for fittings, we discovered that Saint Laurent is partial to models born between December and January. Everyone in the cabine and everyone who was working at that time for St. Laurent was either Capricorn (Mounia, Kirat, Amalia) or Sagittarius (Nicole, Dalma, Violetta, and me). Now, how could he possibly know our Zodiac signs? It was too exact to be a coincidence. The ready-to-wear show is, of course, a different story for there are 50 models hired, as opposed to 10 or 12 for couture. I am really perplexed…but maybe I shouldn’t be. After all, I am one of them who saw the magic of this incredible man.

DAVID SEIDNER
Another big campaign I did for Saint Laurent was with David Seidner. I was the principal and had almost all the shots and I remember the most memorable shoot in the Gare du Nord. I was all made up and ready in the garment but for some reason we were not starting the shoot. We were on hold for about 45 minutes even though everyone was ready. David was very apologetic and informed me that he was waiting for a basket of violets. Huh??? Then it hit me. I am to play Audrey Hepburn, as the flower vendor in "My Fair Lady". I am very ecstatic to have done these many campaigns for YSL.

David Seidner for YSL

There were many more shows and even trips for St. Laurent and each show was very special for me. I might not have gotten very close to him as I have gotten close to Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaia but I don’t think any of the other models were that close either. You could sense that Monsieur Saint Laurent lived in a different world. He is on a very high pedestal. Where we in awe? Yes. Was he treated like a god? Yes. Was he protected from interactions because of his extreme shyness and his fragile nature? Yes. He was always surrounded by a cordon of protectors and we all respectfully kept our distance.

It did not matter that he was inaccessible. For me, it was a wonderful and special privilege to be touched by his magic. Monsieur Saint Laurent inspired me to work through my emotions and accept whatever I was feeling and still look beautiful. As a mere model, that was an important thing to learn. There was beauty. There was art. There was creativity. I can only be extremely thankful to have had the chance to work for him. And, I bow.....

Shall We Dance?

2007-10-09T10:04:00.000-04:00

In a recent article in the New York Times by Julie Bloom, she reported that models with a background of dance have a substantial advantage over the girls who don’t. She stated that

"a string of in-demand models with serious dance backgrounds literally have a leg up. At the same time, as the pages of this fall’s set of weighty magazines attest, professional dancers are influencing fashion in ways never seen before."

Miss Bloom gave one of the top models, Coco Rocha, as an example.

During my modeling years, I remember many times when I said to myself, “Thank God for my insistent mother.” For every summer when I was a child, she enrolled me in folk dancing. Yes, I would have preferred ballet……but growing up in a third world country - there was not much choice. I used to resent her choosing my activities for me, like the piano lessons and the art classes. But then again, when I was growing up, parents chose for us not the other way around.

I begrudged these 'forced' dance and music lessons, but in them I learned how to count beats in music; alternating between allegro and andante. I was able to determine that there is a high point and a low point in every piece of music. I also learned that any piece of music tells a story and that I am able to use my body to tell that story. Not that I was a critical thinker when I was younger because one just takes the lessons and forgets them, however, because one has the basics of music and dance, one is now wired to pick up those clues when listening to music. I also learned how to perform: I learned how to be comfortable in front of an audience despite my resistance to it.

Up to this day, even way after I retired as a model, I found myself taking numerous dance classes and exploring where my body could take me. I took African dance, Afro-Cuban dance, salsa, ballroom, belly dancing, etc. You name it…I can dance it. Dance gives me an outlet for creativity. In the same way singers use their voices as musical instruments, though I am not a prima ballerina, I use my body as an instrument of creative expression, as well.

Genre, tempo, and downbeat of the music were the biggest clues for me of how I would enter the runway. It was instinctive.

There were multiple times in my career when the musical advantage was blatant. Where other girls just walked down the runway, I danced down the runway, figuratively. There was even a time when designers like Versace would ask the girls to walk against the music. This is done sometimes to give the show a different edge. And even with that, a model can just walk and disregard the music but I found myself walking not to the downbeat but to another rhythm that I could hear from the music. Drummers know what I am talking about. It is a nuance, yes, not consciously observed by the audience, but I am still walking in harmony with the music while other girls walked like they were just walking in the street.

THE SHOWS
It was not always easy to do your own thing. Most of the time, we are asked to walk with other girls especially in ready to wear collections. But there are many times when you are given the opportunity to do as you please. When I was a starving model in Paris, we had to do a huge show in a chateau in Versailles somewhere, for Kenzo. The girls were transported to the place on a very comfortable bus in the morning. We had so much time to rehearse and prepare that by the time the guests arrived from Paris we were all ready and made-up. We were backstage drinking champagne. A big group of models formed a circle and even took turns dancing in the middle while the circle clapped their hands. I remember Gloria Burgess regaling us with her dancing antics. We were just having ‘bored models amuse themselves’ kind of fun.

When the show started, I had to go out with about 11 other girls wearing Balinese inspired dresses. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the champagne. Maybe it was because it was a party, really and everyone was just having fun, even the audience. Backstage, even Kenzo was relaxed and giggly. Maybe because I knew instinctively that as a new model in Paris, I had to make a move sometime to get noticed. This was a good place as any for we were out of the ‘tents’. (collection time shows) It was not a press show but a show celebrating Kenzo. The difficult journalists were not in town; most were French press and the French are usually very open to originality and uniqueness. I don’t know what got into me but I let the music carry me. When I was walking down the runway, I started to pose like a Balinese dancer making all the hand movements from the Balinese dance while walking down the runway.

The thing about doing something good is that some of the girls after me started to copy me and do the same thing. It was not part of the choreography but it became part of it. I am not saying that a model should do unrehearsed things on the runway, especially these days where they expect girls to march in and out of the runway. But sometimes you, as a model, are given a chance to excel where it does not disrupt the flow of things and where your creativity is much appreciated. It is at that time that you should dance.

I remember once during a couture show of Christian Lacroix, I was given a Virgin Mary gown, a gold/silver shift that clung to my body. On top of that, I wore a huge stole of the same material but embroidered and it was placed on top of my head like a virgin’s veil. The music in the background was operatic aria. There is a high point in the music when the tenor belts out a “high C”. I walked down the runway to the music slowly waiting for the music to build up. As the music got faster and more intense, so was my approach of the top of the runway where a model turns and poses to go back. When the tenor hit the note, I was right on the place where I was supposed to be and I dramatically dropped the veil at the same time to go around my arms like a stole. The audience burst out in tremendous applause. It was really a timing thing and I really could not duplicate it in the next 2 shows. During the break before the next show, Lacroix people: the ladies of the atelier and the press agents of Lacroix, came to me and told me their hairs stood up during that passage. In a way, I knew. I knew I hit the high note and it was perfect. I knew that I moved to the music and it carried both the audience and me to a point of climax that the image and the moment will stay in their minds for a long time. I knew that I did a great job and that this house will hire me again for the next season. I also knew that Christian will not hesitate to assign his beautiful gowns to me for I knew how to make his clothes come alive. It was really a moment. And the thing with moments….you have to be ready when it comes. They say that “One should dance like nobody is watching.” In modeling, sometimes you should find that inner dancer in you, pretend nobody is watching and express yourself.

Bloom Where You Are

2007-06-22T04:22:00.001-04:00

Maxine Whitney at the Cherry Blossom Esplanade, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Seasons come. Seasons go. There is only one prerequisite to being a model - and that is to be beautiful.

Seasoned models are models who do the whole circuit, meaning Milan, Paris, London, New York - twice a year. Spring-Summer and then Fall-Winter (the latter being the stronger season of the two). And the models who are really honed and who have their thumbs on the pulse of fashion are those that do both ready to wear collections and couture collections - the ones that do the circuit 4 times a year. These models who do both series of collections absorb the fast pace of fashion change and whether they know it or not, embody which way fashion is turning. You will see it in the way they dress – the coats they wear (current shapes), the colors they wear (current moods), their skirt lengths (the latest styles), the shoes they wear, etc. They are called ‘clothes hangers’, which they are indeed, and seasoned models’ clothing are a good benchmark for what is in fashion.

The work of a model is both simple and difficult at the same time because the key to being a successful one is the discipline involved in being a professional. I say it is simple because once you have all the discipline (the difficult part) down…it really comes down to one single element…beauty.

Is beauty easy to come by? Yes, if we are talking about superficial beauty. A person with great genes will always be a presence people would want to look at. But beauty that glows, beauty that strikes us and touches something inside us and makes us want to see more, does not come often. Like women who are in love, women who are pregnant, brides, etc.. These are particular moments in a woman’s life where all the hormones conspire to make the bearer distinguishable from the rest; eyes shine brightly, skin is just flawless, hair is healthy and luminescent, lips are full, cheeks are naturally rosy. To look like that blooming rose every season is a challenge for models.

BEFORE versus AFTER
Most models take their vacation immediately AFTER the collections. I have a different take on that. I took my holidays just BEFORE the collections. Why, because I had to make sure that I had that wholesome, ‘rested look’, that my skin is glimmering from a new tan, that I am reborn and refreshed from my recent holiday. That even if there is chaos around me when the fashion shows start, I am relaxed and in a better frame of mind. While everyone is harried, tense and ready to explode, I, on the contrary, am the epitome of calm. I am self-assured, secure, and irreproachable. You have to have that kind of strength so you are not easily swayed or 'got off your game' by intrigues, by fashion people treating you badly and most of all, to exude and maintain your confidence. Because as you all know, the moment you get angry, your face muscles tense up and you get ugly. It is just a nuance, but all photographers will tell you that it is significant. They know when a model is tense or not happy because the face is not relaxed. Everything registers on the face, unless you are a poker player, and even then, there are telltale signs.

It was very important for me to go away and feel good before the collections. First of all, one needs all that grooming – the spas, the exfoliation of dead cells, the treatment of one’s hair. Then there is the quiet time to regroup and feel ‘tight’ with oneself. To feel that one is in control of one’s destiny - of making goals and of having the determination to stay with those goals.

And the most important reason for me to travel before the collections, is the opportunity to be inspired. I will always treasure this gift of travel; to see something new that will give you the impetus to create. I always love traveling to new places and to discover,feel and breathe the beauty from everywhere.

My holidays, dictated my moods for the season. For instance, I loved going to Bali, because I am able to understand what a princess is suppose to be (as in Balinese princess). Fantasy, yes… but necessary for the ego-driven world of fashion that I chose to belong to and aspire to excel within.
Sometimes, when I am in Mexico, the romance from the boleros of the mariachi bands make me feel romantic. There are visual, auditory clues for me when I travel that I pick up and use when I am modeling.

To have an encyclopedia of those ‘feel good’ emotions is a good tool for a model, so you can project them whenever you are on the runway or on a photo set. Designers will give you a gamut of various clothing styles and provide you with music to walk by to determine moods they want you to project. You can tap into your most recent inspirations from your travels and use them to portray what is asked of you, much like actresses.

PEAK OF ONE'S BEAUTY
Coming out of a Giorgio Sant’Angelo show, whose designs were all body hugging coordinates, Peter Beard, the famous photographer once said to me, “Enjoy the peak of your beauty.” I know it was a very kind compliment but I was a little disturbed because the statement infered that there is an end. I would like to think that a woman's beauty is a cycle with peaks and valleys. Around the same time, I met Anne Lyon, who is a good friend of Peter Beard and having a ‘girls talk’ one day, I could never forget what she shared with me, something her grandmother.taught her.

“Anna, bloom where you are.”

Wherever you are, at whatever station of life you are in, bloom right there and then. Now, I think of the different seasons, and blossoms opening up to grace the world with their beauty. It is not limited to age, not limited to time, not limited to what you do or are. It is just, as women, we can slowly open up anytime and show our beauty.

Much has been said about me these days after the Tatler cover and cover story and my 4 page spread in an Asian magazine, Metro; many commending me and I am sure, some detractors, as well. I think it is normal not to be liked by everyone. What is important is that whatever stage we are in as a woman, we open up and bloom where we are. It is not for us to wilt when we are not watered, or loose our petals and dry up. It is not for us to expose ourselves in scorching sunlight to be burned, nor be in a small pot where we cannot grow our roots. We must find that which gives us water and sustenance whether it be motherhood, a passion, an exciting endeavor, a business enterprise. We must find a healthy balance with all those good nutritious elements and ….we must bloom where we are.

With that note: I am going on a 2 month tour of Asia and will be posting from wherever I am.
The summer of 2007

NIGEL BARKER and the Big Squeeze

2007-04-18T17:40:00.000-04:00

Excerpt from Tatler story…
A month ago, I got a call from Anton San Diego, editor-in-chief of Tatler, to do the cover for a special Fashion issue. I immediately agreed, as it is a great honor. Timing was not the best for me because I had to cover the fashion shows for LookOnLine.com; that is 10 grueling days of fashion shows at Bryant Park. So there I was at the shows with a TV crew to also film footage for my TV show, The Next Anna Bayle. I figured that I had to be wide-eyed and mentally ready for the shoot, so I kept putting the shoot off until the collections were over…………
On the last day of the shows, at Chado Ralph Rucci, the finale of the New York season, I was more relaxed, after having a couple of drinks with the famed Bernardine Morris of the New York Times. I espied the handsome Nigel Barker who has been in the front row seats of all the fashion shows, patiently waiting for the show to start. I suddenly remembered my cover shoot with Tatler........
I got up from my seat and with my typical ‘selective spontaneity’ and brazenness, introduced myself to him. It was a wild stab because I did not even know if he would be in town after the shows. I discovered that he moved to New York years ago and is now based here.
Shooting with Nigel Barker was intriguing and a lot of fun. Here is a very good looking TV celebrity who turned out to be down-to-earth and a pleasure to work with. Having been shot by illustrious photographers in my lifetime, I consider this photo shoot an honor as well. ….

Dynamics of a Photo Shoot
When I was working as a model, I wanted very much to impress the fashion photographers because if they liked you, they booked you for other editorials, bigger campaigns and desirable location shoots. So for me, it was always this sense of “I am going to make them love me.” It did not matter how I was going to do it, but I will do it. I will be their slave and contort my body in the most unnatural way or stay in one position with absolutely no movements for 20…25….30 minutes. I will spin and jump around to their hearts’content until they get the perfect shot. I will climb mountains and stand on the ledges of the 50th floor of a skyscraper, with the photographer shooting from across the street on the skyscraper opposite me. I will pose beside real panthers that can chew me up to pieces in less than 5 minutes. I will lie down on an iceberg and get frost bite with nothing but gold sequins between my flesh and the cold ice.

I will also flirt with them and give them ‘the look’ (the one you give, only to your lover). It does not really matter that the photographer may be a woman or a gay person. She or he still captures in a photographic image the message you sent that will attract men. And even if all the people viewing this image are all female or gay, they are subconsciously going to identify with what you are projecting. As they say in the business, “Sex sells.”

The photographer, on the other hand, squeezes everything out of you to get a beautiful picture. “Look to the right.” “Tilt your head higher.” “Dance.” “Smile with your eyes.” “Spin around” “Give me that haughty look.” “Pretend you are dead.” “Climb that mountain and pose at the top.”

So you see, you - the model, will ‘aim to please’. While the photographer if he does his job well, will squeeze the life out of every ‘pleasing bone’ in your body.

Frisson (an almost pleasurable sensation of fright)
It is always exciting for me to do pictures with photographers that I have not worked with before. There is a little fright involved, as you don’t really know what you are getting yourself into. At the same time, it is pleasurable because through the photo shooting process, you get to exercise your individuality and maybe discover some things about yourself that you did not know existed. This always happens when you are around very creative people. Fashion photographers, especially, and some creative designers, stylists, make-up artists, etc. could have a perception of you that is entirely different from your perception of yourself. Being open to how others perceive you, thereby gaining a better awareness of yourself is how you grow as a model.

In an editorial photo shoot, you never know what you will get. It is a chemistry thing. You, as a model, are the subject but it is up to the photographer to make you, the subject, beautiful. An editorial photo shoot is sometimes an exercise in exploration and discovery. Such was the case in this Tatler cover shoot with the famous TV celebrity, Nigel Barker.

With Nigel, the process of discovery was very pleasant. With the help of ace stylist, Rodney Hall, whose choice of garments and accessories for me were on point, the photoshoot proceeded nicely. We agreed that I did not want to sell myself as a model anymore so the shoot will actually be straightforward - more of a lifestyle shoot or a portrait. Having seen some of Nigel's work and his insightful comments on fashion photographs from the TV show, America’s Next Top Model, here is a photographer who appreciates great lines on a model, a model’s command of a photo set, bone structure and eye contact, and of course, a model with an inherent sense of where the light is.

The photographer who has not worked with you before and has only seen pictures of you will try to get to know you - your best angles, your personality, your strengths and your flaws vis-à-vis the camera lens. In terms of an editorial shooting, the photographer will try to capture a model’s essence; he will try to zero in on what he thinks is the most beautiful or most striking facet of his subject.

The best photographers are the ones that are able to squeeze all the essence out of a model to manipulate a photograph in order to achieve the desired effect. Like movie directors, who are capable of getting their actors to give everything they have got emotionally, in order to greatly enhance the storyline of the movie. The very best of the photographers are the ones that elicit a model’s inner self. The very best of them are the ones who are able to bring out the ‘real you’…not the one you postured.

Il y a des frisson dans l'air.
(There is electicity in the air)
There is always something going on when photographer meets model. (I am not talking about catalogue shots, which is the factory line of photo modeling). Photographer and model interact to get the best possible picture. That sense of excitement or electricity between these 2 lead players in a photo shoot, no matter how mild, translates itself into a good, if not great, photograph.

Most models will probably not openly admit it. But working with very good looking photographers makes the process a lot easier. If you have to flirt, you don’t even have to imagine a fantasy figure behind the lens because you already have your fantasy behind it. Flirting with a photographer like Nigel Barker is a no-brainer. He is a very handsome man, intriguing with that English accent, and a perfect specimen of East meets West. He looks Caucasian, but I detect Mediterranean features and strong Asian sensibilities.

Nigel Barker, who at one time, was on the other side of the camera as a model, probably has a better understanding of a model's range of reactions to any photographer. Having been a model before,he knows the score; he knows what has to happen in a photo shoot for a model or subject to start giving of herself and her essence. I surmised that his experiential knowledge of how a model feels, has a lot to do with his being very patient on set and at the same time, endearing to his subject.

I sensed that as a photographer, he was trying to squeeze the essence out of me in his polite and teasing way. But as I mentioned before, it is a discovery process for both the photographer and model. I discovered he has a naughty streak to his nature. And there were moments where I felt he was really pushing me to give of myself, which a true photographer has to do. But, as always, a model controls what she or he gives, voluntarily or involuntarily, in terms of emotional presence. The very best models are the ones that are always present, body and soul.

In the little time that we interacted, I believe he understood that my sexually is not superficial, nor my sensuality a trait that I try to sell. It was something he had to coax out of me which I acceded and gave to him in very small doses. Upon seeing the final prints, I consider him ingenious because here is one photographer that understood me or a facet of my personality. The funny thing is that when you hold back your sensuality, it comes out stronger. And it takes a 'genius' photographer to capture something that is hidden and present this intrinsic characteristic in an image, with a latent, animalistic quality to it, almost like it was 'caged'.

I loved working with Nigel Barker. He is 'twisted', but sometimes you have to put yourself in the hands of someone 'twisted' to get a different you. These are the fun moments in editorial shooting. When there is electricity in the air; when there is a push and pull between photographer and model. When everyone on the set is so relaxed, letting things happen naturally, so that a beautiful picture can be created.

The Big SQUEEZE
At some point during the cover shoot, Nigel instructed me to go profile with my body. He even demonstrated a very calm and non-violent pose. Little did I know that he was just after my ass. Naughty Nigel.
As for me, after seeing the cover and my great looking behind, I kept thinking - Thank God, I listened to Amalia (exquisite YSL model from Mali) and all these years did her formula called the BIG SQUEEZE. It goes like this.....

“Anna, if you want a great ass like mine, every time you are walking down the street, and every time you can, remember to SQUEEZE your buttocks while you are walking.” (1-2,1-2,1-2 like the Kegel exercises).

The Tatler Cover (April 2007)

2007-04-17T14:13:00.000-04:00

To View The Entire Article Click here... (Adobe Reader)

Model Grace

2007-04-11T09:56:00.000-04:00

INTERVIEW with Isabel Bohrer of Coutorture.com (premier internet fashion community site) on the subject of grace.

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IS: When you think of the word "grace," what images come to your mind?
When I think of the word “grace”, I see a swan gliding through the waters of a pond, an eagle in flight soaring proud , or a dancer moving his/her body with fluidity.

IS: How does grace play into working as a model?
Grace is an important component of being a model. I define grace as beauty of form and movement.

A model’s movements on the runway or a photo shoot must be fluid. Fluid movements, like walking elegantly on a catwalk captures the eye of the audience. The human eye subliminally always goes to beauty in all its forms (symmetry, harmony,etc..) . The audience will take notice of a big commotion or a big splash but overall, the audience wants to look at something that is pleasing; something that is elegant and graceful.

At also makes it easier for the photographers and videographers to shoot a model that walks down the runway with fluidity because the photographers can anticipate your next move. The chances of their getting the perfect shot is greatly increased by the fact that they know you will be in the right spot, at the right time, in the perfect pose, for them to get the ‘perfect picture’.

This concept is the same in a photo shoot, making jerky movements is a gamble because the shot may or may not be great. Fluidity is key, as you go from one pose to the next. A photo shoot is an exercise in control. A model that has graceful movements in front of the camera, making graceful lines with her body, makes it so much easier for the photographer to capture a great picture.

IS: Do you perceive yourself, or other models, as graceful?
Yes, I do perceive myself as graceful. I was known to have the most graceful walk during my time. Even when I was doing sports wear and not couture, like the fashion shows of Dorothee Bis and Betsey Johnson, where you had to jump around the stage and have fun, I managed to play the role that was given to me and still project or maintain a ‘signature’ essence of elegance and grace.

All models who consistently work the runways are graceful, really, but in different degrees. Walking with grace and elegance is an art and some just do it much better than others, as in dancing. Everyone can dance, but some excel.

A very good example was the model, Mounia, who in the 80’s was one of the muses of Yves St. Laurent. She always did the wedding numbers. She was not a looker and much shorter than everyone working, but she always delivered. You would look at her and the garment she is selling, even though the runway was populated by the most beautiful models and more beautiful dresses, because she is one of the girls who took modeling to be an art form. She moved her whole body (positioning of hands, the tilt of the head, pursing of her lips, blink of her eyes) to interpret the garment she was wearing. By investing so much of herself, she could always command the attention of the audience whenever she walked in.

IS: How is your perception of grace altered by the clothes you wear? Do some clothes make you feel more graceful than others? If so, why?
In the fashion business where there is much diversity in terms of clothing and themes, one does have to adjust as a model, as I have mentioned above. Some clothes are definitely more graceful than others.

As a model, I always studied the lines of a garment. It dictates the movement necessary to show the garment to its best advantage.

When I am wearing couture clothes, the lines of the garments are definitely more elegant and you have to hold yourself a certain way, as opposed to casual clothes and sportswear. However, it does not really matter what you wear, because you are still selling beauty. And even if I am jumping around and giggling with the rest of the models on stage, I still do it (the jumping and giggling) with grace.

On Grace:
And now, for the intangible element called ‘grace’.

For the longest time that I was working in the fashion business, interacting with a multitude of fashion people with a vast range of temperaments, I firmly believe I would not have lasted as long as I have, if I did not comport myself with grace.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote,

“Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait”.

In fashion modeling, a business where the underlying premise is beauty, there is beauty and there is ‘beauty with grace’.

For the successful models who are put up on the pedestals of fashion, there are those who accept their genetic gifts from God with grace and…… of course, there are those that throw cell phones at their housekeepers.

To view whole article, go to http://www.coutorture.com/features/view/224

Roxanne

2007-03-31T11:45:00.000-04:00

Photographer: Norine Perreault

Roxanne
You don't have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don't have to sell your body to the night

Roxanne
You don't have to wear that dress tonight
Walk the streets for money
You don't care if it's wrong or if it's right

Roxanne
You don't have to put on the red light
So put away your make up……

Ten days of an unforgiving schedule of the New York collections and another week of trying to shoot the cover of Tatler Magazine for Asia, on an extended bout of the flu, I finally sit down to watch the Grammy awards. There was much excitement, as Sting and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were going to perform live. As Sting was singing this hit from the Police, I finally get it! I felt a sense of comfort envelop me, as I listen to the words and kept singing them to myself. “Put away your make-up. Put away your make-up.”

After I retired as a model and was going around with Elsa Klensch of Style CNN, to the backstage of major fashion shows in Paris, London, Milan and New York, it was a revelation to me how much I was welcomed and accepted by the fashion designers and the fashion people I have worked with for many years. Each and everyone of the designers, even the big names like Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianfranco Ferre, etc…acknowledged me and made the extra effort to comment on my presence. I told Elsa that I was pleasantly surprised. Here is what she told me. “Fashion people are comforted to see me. They feel that if I am okay, they will be okay, as well.” In a business where people are hanging on by the thread of ‘you’re IN or you’re OUT’, seeing someone move on and do very well seems commendable.

Retiring, or stopping whatever it is you used to do is difficult whether it is your choice or not. Habits are hard to be broken. Even older people in their golden years who are tired of working will miss their daily routine. Throwing myself into the fashion scene once again, I had to conform, but I did it with detachment. Yes, I had to look fashionable but as Sting says, “I did not have to put the red light on.” Funny, for someone who always tore up pictures or polaroids that did not present me in a good light, I was more tolerant of my failings this time. I had to interview girls that were probably 25 years younger than me. I would cringe when my cameraman, Mark Walker, would say, “move closer” so my face is framed with 16 and 17 year old girls’ faces - a tight shot. Oh no! My wrinkles, my age spots, my eyebags, my loose pores…. I did it anyway, with no fear.

How does it feel to know that you are not the most beautiful in a picture or a frame, when you are trained to be the most beautiful? How does it feel to be the foliage in a flower bouquet, the baby’s breath around the red roses, when you used to be the center flower? Well, now I know. Yes, we will all be in a different station in our lives, one way or another. But to face this fact 'full frontal' is a revelation. When I retired and the ‘model mafia’ of Linda, Naomi, Christy took over, I told myself that “What ever is happening to me will happen to all the girls…even Naomi.” It is an inevitable fact. Some fare better than others but it will come, just the same.

It is not enough that I had to agree to put myself in a tight television frame with 17 year old girls. Now I have to shoot a magazine cover while I am completely sick with bronchitis. It was a challenge. I knew my energy level would be low even though I could put it on anytime. My first shoot was a walk up to the 5th floor. “God, why are you punishing me this way?” As I was navigating the stairwell, one step at a time, I could feel the wheezing in my lungs.

I was very thankful that the photo shoot crew was very professional and the photographer, Norrine Perrault, a couture model from the 50’s, who worked for Jacques Fath was very pleasant and not so demanding. Kevin Mcqueen, the make-up artist is an old acquaintance and, the sweet Japanese hairdresser was as quiet as a lamb. I only lost my temper with the stylist who did not do her homework. She called the day before to ask me what I think would be needed for the shoot. I told her a basic white shirt. Well, she brought 4 of them that looked really ratty and not my style at all. Still, I tried to be very patient with this stylist. However, I reached the limit of tolerance when I put on a signature red Valentino couture gown, which I brought, and she brings out a cheap white fur stole for the shot. Somehow, I know Valentino would crucify me if I let this happen. Valentino's clothes do not even need a model sometimes. His clothes are so exquisite and beautiful by themselves on a clothes hanger. And this stylist wants me to wear a white stole ...for what? To cover the perfect lines of the garment? (You can always mix and match, but always with taste.) Now my diva fangs came out and I berated her in front of everyone. “Please do your homework.” "If you want to dress me, you better get to know me." “Do yourself a big favor and google me."

A photographer has to orchestrate a combination of elements into one picture...hopefully a great one. These elements are: model pose, model energy, perfect make-up, perfect hair, styling that works, light and shadow, the mood, angle and perspective. Meaning, each hair in place, flawless make-up, the right lighting and the perfect angle, the exact glint in the eye of the model. A perfect picture happens in singular moments. It is best if at that very moment when a photographer can capture that perfect picture, all the other elements are perfect too....then magic happens.

A great picture only happens when everyone is on the same page; a photoshoot has to have great teamwork. Everybody in a photoshoot should do their jobs to perfection and JUST MAYBE…there will be a magical moment and the picture will look fabulous. When one party in a photoshoot slacks, there will be problems in the picture. And it is a pity, because maybe you have a great picture but the hair is in the face or the garment does not fit, or the lips are too red, or the model blinked. The stylist finally redeemed herself by adroitly taping the gown on me. Once the pictures go to the discerning eyes of magazine editors, the picture that will be chosen is the one with the least flaws and the most dynamic. So it is really the goal of a photo shoot to have the most number of pictures to choose from.

I really did not expect much from this photo shoot because as a model, you can always almost feel when it is a good shoot or not. I was skeptical that we would find a cover from this shoot because after working for many years and working with the very best photographers, lighting comes to me instinctively. The lighting was not set up for a cover shoot. Norrine, the photographer, kept asking me to look towards the light. I know this will never make the cover so I kept reminding her it is a cover shoot but I think her motivation was to get a good editorial picture. Covers need to have eye contact with the lens. I played along because in a photoshoot, photographers are the like conductors of an orchestra or the directors of a movie. They see the picture on the lens, while I, as a model, have only a instinctive visual imprint in my head.

When I saw the stills, one picture jumped out. I love this picture. I was really pleasantly surprised, for here was a magic moment. The perfect hand movement, feet off the ground as if I am floating, face relaxed, no tension on the mouth, splendid lighting, hair in place, great natural make-up. The best thing about this picture is that something is happenning.

Gown by Yuki Yao

Even if I have put away my make-up for a long stretch…I am consoled by the thought that I could still take good pictures. Even though I don't want to sell myself as a model anymore, I can still 'do classic'. No plastic surgery, no exercise, my undeniably more matured (a euphemism for older) looks.

I can ......

put away my make-up…..put away my make-up….
I don't have to put on the red light.........put on the red
light.

The Hard Costs of Beauty

2007-03-15T10:14:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Olympus.org

Now that the fall winter collections are over, I had the time to look back and assess some basic realities about beauty and fashion. I covered the New York 2007 Fall collections which started officially on Friday, Feb 2 and ended Friday, the 9th. I received the schedule and it was funny for me to see this sheet again. It seems that this sheet will follow me all my life.
There was a time when I would hold a sheet like this in my hands to see how much surface I have crossed out (meaning my workload as a model) in Milan, London, Paris and New York. And when I retired from modeling and apprenticed with Miss Elsa Klensch, I also had a sheet like this and hundreds of press and backstage passes in Paris, London, Milan, New York with my name on it and Style, CNN.

We meet again, the schedule sheet and I. I am the beauty editor for LookonLine.com and so here are my assignments. I am thrust into the beauty world once again and it seemed to me like old times…. but not quite. I prepared for the shows again but instead of packing my mirror, my make-up kit, my hairbrush, my walkman, and my sanity - I packed my digital camera, my digital recorder, the chargers, the invites, the schedule, my notebook, my pens and my ipod. The biggest difference I see now is the sleep issue. While models slept early so they would not have eye bags, the editors and writers stayed up all night writing their articles. It would be difficult not to write them immediately, as one sees a lot of clothes. There is so much visual and visceral input.

Entering the fray of fashion again, I am like a Pavlov dog trained to react to stimulus. FASHION connotes Ideal Beauty. Beauty equals good grooming. Therefore, FASHION equals GROOMING. Being a part of the fashion circus, even though I am a not a model anymore, I still have to make the effort. The fashion business is an exclusive club. You have to look like you belong; meaning, you have to look fashionable. Or you have had to be working the shows for a long time and fashion people recognized you. Or you have the history and background to talk about fashion; meaning you have to talk and comment like you belong. Everybody else will stand out like a sore thumb.

So, here we go again with the discipline of beauty. My hair had to be cut. The facials had to be done. I had to stock up on the beauty creams and hair paraphernalia once again. My teeth had to be whitened. Not that I did not have a beauty regimen as a mother, but you really have to go up a notch if you are going in front of the fashion public once again.

SOIGNE
One of the biggest compliments I ever got from a designer, (Oleg Cassini, who had the moniker, 'the oldest playboy') was

“Elle est le plus soigné”.

Soigner – French for “to nurse, to tend to, to clean”. But when you say someone is soigné, you are not saying that person is the the one that needs the most attention or cleanest but that person is the most groomed.

“Anna Bayle is the most groomed.”

Like a pedigree dog, it sounded like I was the most brushed dog. I was the best smelling. I had the brightest eyes. I had the chic-est ribbon and I prance about like I was the most beautiful dog, ever-ready to be paraded. I accepted the compliment with grace because I put a lot of work into these small details. Yes, I was brushed; I was perfumed, and primped up with a bright yellow ribbon. I appreciated the designer noticing because perfect beauty might look effortless, but it is a lot of work. In the business of beauty, it is the small little things that you do that makes the difference between beauty and perfection.

The hair, the skin, the legs, the hands and feet, the lingerie I wore, did I pluck my eyebrows? Are might teeth white? Do I have red lines in my eyes? Are my bangs the right length? When I take off my clothes to fit the garments, will the designers feel that I am clean or groomed enough to handle their precious masterpieces?

Yes, models are perfect specimens –they have beautiful bodies, they have translucent skin, they have healthy hair, they have bright eyes. But it is the extra effort one puts in it that covers all the flaws that could detract from your beauty. You might have a face like Paulina Poriskova, but if your hair is stringy…you might not even get noticed. You might have a body like Jasmeen Ghauri (known to have the best body in the 90’s), but if your skin is not glowing, it does not shoot you to the top. You might have the best personality and everyone really likes to be around you, but what if you dress like a bum all the time?

THE PRICE
Being the most groomed came with a price. Trained as an entrepreneur, having my own cosmetic line, I was curious as to the hard costs of what it means to be beautiful.

Grooming starts with the skin. Facials are important as it cleanses your skin. If you are going to put make-up everyday, it is best to have a good canvas to start with. Of course, drinking lots of water helps. Then there are the beauty products –the moisturizers, the masks, the eye cream, the lip balm. The trick is to find a good match for your skin type. Buying beauty products is like buying perfume. You have to try them all and find out what works with your particular PH mix. You have to find - the right shades, the right tones, the right consistency, the right effects that it gives your skin.

Healthy hair is equally important. I have always used Carita products which I hoarded when I was modeling because there was limited availability of their products here in New York. Beauty has no price though because you want that healthy hair that glow and shine. You want a beautiful mane to complement your glowing skin. Once a month, I would go to Carita, and a woman massages hair products on my scalp for a whole hour while my feet are on top of a stool. It was a real treat and I fell asleep during the process, all the time. It was an expensive treatment, with the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Anjani availing of the services. I even sent Donatella Versace to Carita when she asked me about how I took care of my long hair.

When I had my hair cut, you would think that it was just a simple hair cut because my hair was straight down to my waist. I could even cut it myself. But in reality, no, it took a lot of time and effort for it to get there.
I don’t just let anyone cut my hair. I was very particular with who gave me a look, even though these well known hairdressers were kind enough to not make me pay. One of my favorites was John Sahag. You don’t hear about him now but in his prime, here was a very good looking and sexy man, straight from the movie “Shampoo”. You would think that cutting my hair straight would take 15 minutes at the most but John Sahag cut my hair and took about almost an hour and a half. Why, because he was a perfectionist and so was I. He was known for precision cutting in the “80’s”. So he would cut, then he would ask me to shake my mane, then he would cut again.
One hour and a half of boredom sitting in John Sahag’s hair salon, but when my hair was straightened for the shows and I took a spin in the runway, my hair had a life of its own. It spun with its weight and the gravity, but when I stopped spinning, it landed perfectly, NO HAIR OUT OF PLACE. This is precision. It is a small thing, but this small thing means a lot and contributes to your whole look.

Then comes the lingerie. When ever I got my check from my agencies in Europe, my very first stop was La Perla. For someone who takes clothes off for a living, I took pride in having the best undergarments. Personally, I loved beautiful lingerie; the men did too. But when you are with the designers fitting your clothes, your 'body esteem' gives them the idea that you are worth their putting their most beautiful garments on you.

Of course, the weekly manicure and pedicure is a must. And the conditioning of your skin. Carita had a treatment where they exfoliated your whole body with plant extracts which was less abrasive. It felt so good to get your dead layer of skin taken off. You always feel reborn and have a good canvas to slap on the body lotions. Sometimes I doused myself with expensive Carita oil before I took a warm bath and then just pat dry. This layer of beauty oil on your body gives you a glow.

Mentored by Thierry Mugler, who was a perfectionist, I am of the discipline that you must always strive to make everything better. You can always improve and inch your way to perfection. For instance, he told me that those endearing little wisps of hair in my forehead create a shadow in photographs. So I had to wax a perfect forehead every 2 weeks. It was painful and a chore but if I left those hairs on the side of my forehead, I don’t have that ‘perfect shape’ head.

Some models had other beauty regimens that were even more complicated than mine; like injections to take away varicose veins or rolfing to align the spine. I once sat on a 2–hour bullet train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto, and the Japanese models took their make-up off when the train left the station. They were massaging their faces all through out the trip, applying a multitude of creams. They only stopped fiddling with their faces when we were 10 minutes into Kyoto. Talking about discipline and grooming! The Japanese take the cake for that. They really take their skin seriously.

I remember the Japanese Shiseido make-up artists backstage who would clean my face thoroughly and then massage their moisturier and foundation on my face. Not only does it make the model's facial muscles feel relaxed and refreshed, the foundation really enters and sticks to one's skin, giving a very natural look.

NOT THE PRODUCT……THE EFFORT
The costs could add up. Before you know it, you have spent thousands of dollars. Affluent women have the edge, of course. They can just ask a masseur to exercise every part of their body, 24/7, and they would look fit and feel good. And they have all the resources to afford all the 'magic creams'. Truth is, these magic creams exists. But youth has an edge, as well, because freshness and naturally tight pores cannot be bought.

At 16, you would have to ask yourself , well, “How I can afford these things?”. The truth is… it is not the product. It is great to have these expensive products but grooming is about “caring for”. It is about spending the time and the effort to make it look good.

When I started modeling at 16, I used Ponds cream every night to clean my face. It is a very inexpensive product that if you take care to use it studiously, you will notice a difference in your skin. Some other products do the trick, like Nivea, perhaps, or almond oil or witch hazel oil that you can buy in the pharmacy. You just have to find the right product that is a ‘fit’ with your skin type.

And for my hair, I used to soak it in olive oil for a whole day. It is the worst heavy smell that you could imagine and it is a big task to wash it off, but I have done it for years; it strengthens the hair and makes it really shiny.

There is no doubt that exercising is good for your body. A good personal trainer can help sculpt your form but being one who never exercised because it is just not my thing, I do it the easy way - I go to dance classes that I enjoy. In conclusion, the real cost is your time. How much time will you invest in making yourself perfectly beautiful?

"LOOK AT ME": How to Make an Entrance

2007-02-27T00:02:00.000-05:00

Watching the Oscars last night, I am reminded of the many evening gowns I have worn in my lifetime. I am reminded of what it is like to mesmerize and make people gasp by that combination of a beautiful garment and the woman who brings the garment to life. It is a formula that always works.

“Beautiful gown + confident woman = STUNNER”

If you noticed, it is the same women who stand out, year in and year out at the Oscars. Some of the actresses, will always have class and will always carry and comport themselves with elegance and grace. You will also notice women who wear garments that are bigger than their personalities; consequently, you see them struggling with their garments or worse, the garments wear them and not the other way around.

Sometimes, at American idol, you hear a comment that says the song is bigger than you; which is a nice way to say, you did not do the song justice. Well, it is the same with clothes….sometimes the grandeur of the garment overtakes a woman’s personality instead of complementing it and the result is an ‘unconvincing beauty’.

I think choice of garment is very important in presenting oneself. At an affair like the Oscars, celebrities not only have to make the right choice of garment, they also have to have the right choice of hair and make-up, accessories and jewelry. They also must choose a garment that complements their personality and what they are feeling as of that particular moment. The Oscars is a singular moment in a year for an actress to present her personality and say “This is me.” “Look at me.”

Coupled with the fact that the Oscars is the ‘mother of all red carpets', women must choose with timelessness in mind. They must choose garments that will leave an indelible mark in our memories. Fifty years from now, we would like to remember you as glamorous.

The WINNERS
Last night, 3 women were memorable to me. It is not because they had the most beautiful garments but because they carried the garments, MOST BEAUTIFULLY.

Cate Blanchett was the most chic for me. She chose an Armani that is subdued and elegant. She has that long neck and the tall elegant stature. In fact, she can wear anything but decides on a dark metallic silver palette that accentuates her complexion. Her choice of garment is one that is timeless; we can’t date it. Details in blood red embroidery are in the bottom of the gown. I love her fashion sense. She seems to have a knack for what is current.

Photo credits: Oscars.org
Penelope Cruz in a glamorous ‘ blush’ gown by Donatella Versace was a stand out because she wears the garment. The garment does not wear her. She wears the garment like it is her second skin - effortlessly. The simplicity and elegance of her hair and make-up connotes 'classic'. The phrase ‘natural beauty’ comes to mind and the choice of the natural hue accentuates the fact; the gown is a mirror of her beauty – simple with intricate detail, soft and light but with a lot of substance.

Jennifer Lopez, in a jeweled taupe empire waist gown with a famous and talented husband at her side, has also succeeded in making us look at her. It is a very simple gown, probably vintage, but it is an entrance maker. She has succeeded in steering away from what people expect her to wear. I like the fact that she has her own style and that she chose a garment that takes away from her famous body and puts the attention to her beautiful face.

NOTABLES

Here is a Valentino gown worn by Anne Hathaway, and it looked contrived. I would have loved to have seen this gown on Julia Roberts.

Rachel Weiss wore this silver taupe silk chiffon gown by Vera Wang. This would have looked fabulous on Nicole Kidman. The funny thing about gowns are they are constructions made to accentuate the female form. Long body types carry them very well. She looks beautiful enough, but I really think the dress is ill-fitted on her. (There must be no visible bumps in strange places). Real haute couturiers are able to fit clothes perfectly on any body type which is of course an art. This is not the case with this gown.

Jodie Foster, who is a fixture in Hollywood, stomped across the red carpet in this slate blue Vera Wang gown to match her blue eyes. She donned a garment that was perfect choice for her colorwise. However, here is another example of an ill-fitting gown. It is too long for her. Sometimes the illusion of a longer hem works and makes one seem taller but when you look at the carriage of the gown as a whole, the proportions are off.

In evening dressing, you want to achieve a longer silhouette however, if you don't cut to the right hem length, the effect is the opposite - you look like your wearing your big sister's gown. (See also Rachel Weiss above)

Nicole Kidman will look fabulous in anything. I love her choice of color because she stood out. The trick is to choose a color that no one else will be wearing. I also love that because it was not really her night (no awards to win), she downplayed her glamor a couple of notches.

Reese Witherspoon dresses for fun and is very original in her choice of gown. Representing the younger contingency, she was spot on.

And yes, Helen Mirren, if you think you are going to win, by all means, sparkle and shine and wear gold.

Den Mothers of Fashion

2007-01-19T09:45:00.000-05:00

Patrick Blanchard of Cosa Nostra

If I write and talk about modeling like I did everything by myself, that is absolutely not true….. I always had my mothers beside me. Watched over, guided and nurtured, I took my baby steps until I was able to fly. And even when I was soaring the heights of fashion, all around me where people (male and female) who watched my back for 15 years– my den mothers.

As a model, I was very lucky because great designers took me under their wings. I also had the best modeling agents who ‘hyped” me and orchestrated the rise of my modeling career. But what of that mother figure who sits by stage right and who talks to you every day- nags you about your health, takes care of your schedules, talks to everyone about you constantly and how great you are, and is directly responsible for your financial gains?

I am talking about all the bookers out there who have taken it upon themselves to mother models that they are assigned to – the silent partners of this business enterprise called modeling. Unrecognized and underpaid, they are the sub-architects of your career. While you strut your stuff on the runway and earn thousands of dollars, their modest gain is a job well done of spotting and developing the talent, maybe a bonus at the end of the year and the satisfaction of adroitly brokering fashion deals.

As the middlemen who match clients with models, theirs is not an easy job as they deal with colossal fashion egos on both sides of the coin, every single minute of a working day. On one side, they have to appease screaming clients and on the other, they have spoiled, narcissistic men and women compensated for their beauty and physicality. They have the unpleasant task of comforting and cajoling insecure models because they cannot lose the talent to another agency. Sometimes they take abuse from some representatives of design houses who demand and threaten if the fashion house does not get the list of models that they want.

PARIS
My first real booker was Patrick Blanchard of Cosa Nostra. When I arrived in Paris and was staying in a hotel that I could not pay for, Patrick arranged that I room with a model, Lisa, who had her own apartment. He was a great booker because he was very much ‘in the know’; he went to as much shows as possible to familiarize himself with what is happening in the fashion scene.
At the start, whenever designers requested to see me, he always had suggestions that would enable me to get the job. Most of the time it worked but sometimes it didn’t, like the couture show of Ungaro. Patrick could not figure out why for several seasons, I would be called in to try out for the Ungaro couture show and I am always ‘almost in’ (they would not ask you to fit the clothes, if they were not considering you for the show)…but not quite, because I was never booked. Though very confident that I had the job after my fitting appointments at Ungaro, I was equally perplexed and disappointed. Until one day, when Patrick said the strangest thing to me. We had funny way of communicating with each other; he is familiar with my warped sense of humor and I am familiar with his. I am sure he comported himself differently with his other models.
Patrick called me for the appointment. “I want you to go your appointment and when it is time for you to walk, walk like you have been having sex for 2 days, non stop, and you just got up to get a glass of water and are going back to the bed you stood up from.” It was an outrageous suggestion, bordering on perverse. However, in my mind, there was really nothing to lose, as this was my third call to see Monsieur Ungaro. So I did wake up the on the day of my trial fitting, keeping in mind the scenario I was suppose to play and presented myself to Monsieur Ungaro’s atelier, in a state of “relaxed sensuality”. To my utmost surprise, I was booked that season and the many years to come.

Another story to illustrate my booker’s uncanny genius was when I complained to Patrick about a particular design assistant of one of the biggest Italian design houses. I confided to Patrick that the design assistant was awfully rude, dismissive and unnecessarily mean. Fashion people in charge of casting see hundreds of models, so their tolerance and patience is really thin, but I honestly felt there was more to it than that. I couldn’t place the source of the assistant’s distaste. Was it discrimination? Chemistry? What did I do to deserve this treatment?
Patrick pulled me aside and this is what he told me, “Sometimes with these people, you have to give it back to them.” “Go to your go-see and be obnoxiously arrogant.” “Be rude.” “Be cutting, be vicious.” I surmised that with the feedback from Patrick’s conversations with casting people of the fashion house, he is able to pinpoint the problem of why I am not booked; he psychoanalyzes and strategizes a way for me to get booked.
So next time I go to this big Italian fashion house, I internalize the attitude of ‘nasty’, almost sado-masochistic ‘nasty’. I pranced around the atelier like it was my domain. I treated the design assistant like a menial who was there for my whims and pleasures. Wouldn’t you know it? I was booked and every time I show up for the show, this particular design assistant is awfully nice to me. Go figure.

Patrick was on top of my bookings and he took an important role in orchestrating my career. I remember that after the shows there was this affair, sort of the French Fashion equivalent of the Oscars, where they would award Oscars to the best collection of the season. The designers were allowed 3 models each. I was a favorite and was chosen by almost all design houses and the heavy hitters were bidding actively for my presence. However, it was non-negotiable subject to me. I didn’t do these kind of jobs where I will have to choose between designers that have booked me for years.

I really was not apt to choose as it would offend the artists that I respected and worked for. You will find that some designers could be very possessive with their models. I consistently took a ‘no jeopardy’stance. In fact, after the press shows in Paris, there was always a big party at the Privilege and when I would arrive home from my last show of each season, there were always deliveries of gowns to my apartment. Design houses send their clothes with the idea that you would attend the affair and that you would dress in their garments for the evening. I always abstained and would send all the dresses back, as it was more hassle than necessary to choose one. It was an easy decision to make because even though I wanted to celebrate the end of the season with everyone, the plain truth was that I was exhausted. It is the time that you give way to your body and you let your adrenalin levels normalize. For 1 week or 2 of keeping it together during collection time, you have to strike a pact with your body and give it the necessary balance of rest and quiet that it needs to recuperate. You take your make-up off and go to bed. All the gowns were beautiful and I loved all the designers…. but I’d rather not choose if I don’t have to.

So one of these Oscar seasons, Patrick related this funny story. He told me that the Italian designers are aggressively bidding to get me to do the job; they kept calling and asking, “How much does she want?” Of course, Patrick probably said something to the effect, “Anna Bayle is not available”. He told me that these conversations went on for days before the Oscars, until finally, one Italian design house, true to the mafia-like way of doing business, asked Patrick, “You…How much do YOU want?”

The bookers are there beside you while you are out there making a name for yourself. They do not do the actual work but they are the ones that get you there. They also help you make the right choices, protect you from situations that will hurt your career and keep you on a steady path, molding you into a star.

MILAN and ROME
Marzia Bava of Why Not always had a welcoming smile on her face as I would arrive in Rome Fiumicino or Milan’s Linate airport. She brought us straight to our hotels and if we had to work immediately, she delivered us to the next fitting. Marzia was always present backstage, making sure we were alright - have we eaten, did we go to this and that fitting, and make arrangements for dinner with the agency that same night. She would alert us that the van was outside to take us to the next show and after the show, Marzia is running alongside us through the huge corridors of the Fiera.
Everyday, she looks for you at the Fiera, personally delivers the changes to your schedule, making sure that you are aware of the additional shows and fittings. Being in the van with her makes you relax as she will deliver us to the next show on time, giving us time to kick back and joke around with the other girls in the van. On the day after the last show in those cities, be assured that Marzia will be there to pick you up at your hotel and deliver you to the airport. I don’t know how many times she does this in a day, but she does it with a smile on her face. As a model, you are never alone if you are with the best professional agencies who take care of their own.

NEW YORK
Despite the fact that the New York way is more ‘hands off ‘because the premise is that models are professionals, the efficient and pragmatic New York bookers are always available to guide you as to how to conduct yourself. My agent, Ellen Harth, took a ‘hands on approach’ with me but there also were my bookers from both my agencies (Elite Runway and Elite). You already know Chips Newsom, who told me that I had to get rid of the diva attitude that worked in Paris but not in New York. There was Jillian Gotlieb, Abel Rapp, Wilson Wendell, Ro Penulian. They negotiated big deals and got me great photo jobs. If ever I had a problem, I can go to them and tell them what was bothering me about a job. I spoke to them everyday and I am sure they knew my telephone number by heart. Here are people who cared about me in their small way, making sure I was always professional.

Psychology of Bookers
I always wondered about the psychology of bookers. They work very hard to make you a star and consequently, to make you rich. During my time, they were salaried and the job was not commission-based. Whether they push you with the clients or not, is not reflected in their income. They did their jobs because they loved the business. It takes tremendous fortitude to field all phone calls about a model, continue to sell a model that is already worth millions and not be resentful, especially if the model is an ungrateful whiner. There was a time when the bookers honestly cared for the models and were dedicated to them? Has that changed?

In this day and age, where the issue is a model’s health, my question is -where are the people who cared about the models? The standard ‘beef’ (excuse the pun) about agency bookers was that they talked about and treated models like ‘pieces of meat’, which is not my personal experience. Has the modeling business, come to a point where it is only money that counts?

MODELS' HEALTH GUIDELINES
Lately, there has been much talk about health guidelines and health certificates. Didier Grumbach of the French Chambre Syndicale purports that they have 2 unions that monitored the modeling agencies. Diane von Furstenburg, the president of the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers in America) sent some health guidelines to design houses and modeling agencies. I tend to agree that this issue is partly a modeling agency’s responsibility. Simply put, no model gets booked without the agencies because this is how models are paid.

Professional modeling agencies must have professional models. Has it become a veritable meat market where the sellers don’t care about the products they sell, which happen to be human beings? Shouldn’t the bookers handling the girls take special care, especially now, that models are really children, who are years away from emotional maturity? In my time, girls under 18 traveled with their parents and managers (Naomi Campbelle, Tyra Banks, Beverly Peele.)

The bookers of modeling agencies, as a group, is the fashion sector that would know if a model is sick or has health issues. They talk to the models everyday and they get feedback from the design houses about the models they send. I am not saying that the bookers are responsible for the demise of the ultra thin model. But they have the capability of addressing the health concerns of young fledging models.
Designers do not see the girls that often; they only see them during the fittings and the shows. We cannot expect them to happily make last minute changes in their model line-up (a line-up they have set for months), when they have so many other important things to worry about…like the success of their collection, for instance.

In these times, when there are anorexia-related model deaths and the health of models is a big issue, a slogan comes to mind when it comes to the one thing I want to say to the bookers - the den mothers and den fathers of fashion.
“ It’s 10:00 pm…..Do you know where your children are?”

Don't Leave Home Without It

2007-01-10T12:12:00.000-05:00

"At my thinnest...I was definitely not sick."

In the early 90’s, Elsa Klensch of Style CNN was interviewing all the models backstage with one question –

“What is the one thing you don’t leave home without?”

Each and every one of the models described a particular garment or fashion accessory: my Azzedine Alaia jacket, my Fiorucci jeans, my Hermes cashmere blanket, my Chanel bag, my Manolo Blahniks, my Ferragamo boots…etc.. When she got to me, with no hesitation, I replied, “My sanity.” Everyone in the crew plus people who were listening in, of course, laughed.

Well, it is entirely true that I had to keep my wits about me all the time with the kind of schedule that seasoned models had. First of all, when you are doing the fashion circuit (Milan, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo), you are displaced from your environment twice a year. And if you do the couture collections, that makes it 4 times a year. It is a constant round-robin of frenetic activity; in and out of planes, jet lagged, staying in numerous hotels and an unforgivable schedule. Traveling businessmen do it all the time but they don't have to be beautiful and flawless, at the same time.

Once a season starts, everyone – the designers, the assistants, the PR people - are in a state of heightened energy and excitability. They may appear calm and amicable when you arrive for your fitting, but if something goes wrong with any one girl’s fitting before you that day, the whole atelier is agitated. I have stayed a full 4 hours for a fitting…most of it waiting time.

This all comes to a crescendo when the day of the fashion show arrives. All seem orderly and systematic but it is only the calm before the storm. Everything is going like clockwork; you check your rack to familiarize yourself with your clothes, you make sure you have the right shoe sizes, the hair and make-up gets done, you put on your first garment and you line up for the start of the show. Minutes before the show starts, there is some building up of adrenalin on your part.
Then, the show starts and so does the frenzy. The person calling you to line up for your next passage, starts screaming your name …but…. you just walked off the runway. So you run to your rack, undress and dress with the speed of light. You run back to the line while hairdressers are putting doodads in your hair; the hairdresser running with you and your dresser in tow, handing you your bag and gloves. The organized houses will put models with the most passages close to the stage, but sometimes you are not so lucky.

There is no rest. It is like this for a full 30 to 40 minutes, the duration of the show. Then after the designer takes a bow, you exhale for a brief minute. You undress and then you grab all your belongings and run across the venue where the tents are and jump to the next tent or the next salle. Sometimes, you don’t fully dress but you just wrap your coat around you; as you will have to take your clothes off again really soon. You have that quiet preparation again….then pandemonium starts all over again. It’s a little bit more relaxed in New York because everything is done with exactness and also in some European shows where design houses are able to afford a bigger line-up (more models).

I am sure you get the picture. It is the kind of work where you will have to pace yourself and keep your cool. Adrenalin levels go up and down throughout the day for models, and it is in your best interest to be wide-eyed and alert. Any slacking on a model’s part will sometimes result in gross mistakes like tripping on the runway, getting rattled and losing one’s temper with the make-up and hair crew (big drama that you don’t need) or simply doing a mediocre job. If you do a show with low energy while all the models around you are 'on their toes'…you stand the chance of being singled out and cancelled for the next season. Sometimes the pace is insane..but you can’t be insane. Don’t leave home without your sanity.

IN THE PAST: Don’t leave home without your visa.
Before I started modeling in Italy in 1979, the Milan ready-to-wear collections was a new frontier for modeling. According to the models before me, it was like the ‘Wild Wild West’. There were no fittings and no go-sees. Models arrived for shows with designers they have never met, worked for an hour or less and got paid enormously. Some models told me they even took whatever they wanted of the garments they wore.* (Not in my time).

When the Italians got organized and decided to have their 10 days of fashion shows held in one place in Milan - the Fiera, this precipitated a whole lot of work for models. The French agencies were quick to bring in foreign models, mostly Americans. The local models did not appreciate the American girls taking their work. The Italian agencies probably complained to the authorities that the foreign models were coming into Italy with tourist visas and have no legal standing to work and get paid by Italian design houses.

That was really before my time but I did feel the back end of it. I was in a hotel bar with several American models on my first trip to Rome, waiting for some of the models from my agency who were doing a show at the hotel. While the show was going on, the models from the show came rushing to warn us. Apparently the police went backstage to check models’ passports and visas. The girls who warned us told us that they ran out but some other models were detained and taken in custody. We were told that some girls left by jumping the hotel windows. I think we all went through the kitchen, or something. Anyway, it was not through the lobby. Next season, we all had working visas. We couldn’t leave home without it.

IN THE PRESENT: Don’t leave home without your health certificate.
As of today, 25 years after ….in Madrid, Milan and Rome you cannot work as a model unless you have a doctor’s certificate stating that you are of sound health. In Spain, you have to have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 18 - a 'height to weight ratio' that indicates whether or not you are overweight for your height. A 5-foot-9 (175-centimeter) model weighing 125 pounds (57 kilograms) would have a BMI of 18. According to the Times, Esther Cañadas, Spain’s best-known model, does not qualify under the new rules as she is said to have a BMI of only 14.

In Italy, there is a manifesto which is meant to be implemented for the Rome couture collections, this January. The manifesto states that models have to hold a license issued by city officials, a panel of doctors, psychologists and other experts and this time, their BMI ruler is at 18.5. Apparently, this paper is confusing everyone.

Paris, London and the New York fashion industry leaders will not set requirements as they believe the regulations are restrictive and hard to implement and monitor. But if you ever work in Italy, Spain or Brazil…don’t leave home with out it.
For more information about the model ban, go to Eric Wilson's New York Times article, Health Guidelines Suggested for Models, Jan 6 2007.

IN THE FUTURE :
I stand by what I said in my article, Modeling is not a Sickness…Anorexia is. Modeling has been a profession for centuries and thousands of models have gone through this path without anyone telling them what their appropriate weight should be. One would think that all of us should know our own weight limitations and be responsible for our own individual health issues. But since the modeling scene is populated lately by very young and immature girls, then I suppose, someone has to guide or educate them. I do agree that there is a problem and that health consciousness should be raised.

Obviously this issue won’t go away, but let's not make it hard for the models either. What they go through, working, is hard enough. Why give them the extra pressure? Why subject all models to something that cannot really be measured? How healthy are you? Can you honestly qualify that? Even if you have a certificate that says you are healthy, a couple of diuretics can make you drop 5 lbs. overnight. If a segment of the fashion industry continues to set unreasonable requirements for the models to work,... good luck to them. I honestly don't believe fashion designers will cancel their 'favorites'.

Kristen McNemany

Does anyone remember the model Kristen McNemany? She was bone thin but had as much life and vigor in her as, let's say, a professional boxer. We are all genetically different; size and shape may vary. Numbers are deceptive. For instance, I had these vital statistics 35-24-35, but I was flat chested. My extra wide ribcage made up for the extra inches. By setting standards that are determined by numbers, they are setting a precedent that they have no way of implementing and judging fairly. Case in point: Can you honestly say a person, blessed with a very active metabolism, is sick if she is born that way? If the fashion industry wants to mandate the weight of models who are suppose to be professionals, what will be next?

Here are some ridiculous and imaginative prognostications that will hopefully make people relax on this controversy. If this model ban goes on, ...who knows? Other unreasonable requirements might follow. Of course, my exaggerated stipulations are a stretch, but to put it all in perspective, that is what some people from the fashion industry are doing, as well. (My levity in the following statements is not to make fun of the tragic deaths of 2 models due to anorexia complications but to drive my point across.)

Drug testing? (The famous model, Gia, died of drug use. Why did they not implement a ban then?)
Don’t leave home without your urine sample.

What about …..if you had any plastic surgery…you’re banned? (Let suppose 4 models died on the operating table due to complications).
Don’t leave home without a dermatological certificate.

What about…..if you get to earn this much…you will have to retire. (Let’s say, 3 models died because they were kidnapped for ransom due to their highly publicized income, and in the process, they were accidentally killed).
Don’t leave home without your accountant or your W2 forms (tax forms for the self-employed).

What if the next topic of controversy is a model’s education?
Don’t leave home without your high school diploma.

What if you want to be a model in the future and you have to bring to work everything listed below:
1) health certificate 2) urine sample 3) latest income tax return 4) certificate from your dermatologist 5) diploma

Then I suggest…Don’t leave home.

A Model Christmas

2006-12-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

Christmas for the children (Liz Lee, Anna Bayle, Lulu, Dianne Dewitt and the children of the orphanage)

It is Christmas time and all is quiet where fashion is concerned. European designers are gearing up for their couture collections in January and the New York designers are preparing for the ready-to-wear shows in February (In my time, New York collections came after the European collections in March. The fashion calendar has since changed.) Still, there is a lot of work to do for seasoned models. There is catalogue work and trunk shows for designers in big department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorfs in New York.

For popular models, there are really no long holidays. They have to deliberately book out and tell their agencies that they are not accepting work for a set period of time. Models have to take their vacations when they feel they are not missing a lot of important work or considerable revenue.

CHRISTMAS in TOKYO

Plastic cups with champagne line the runway, Tokyo
One of the most memorable Christmas moments for me was in Tokyo, while I was working for the Big 4. Hanae Mori invites 4 international designers for a week of shows in December. There are intensive dress rehearsals and 3 shows in a day to accommodate all the viewers.

I remember being there for a week-long trip falling on my birthday, December 6. My 'then' boyfriend had already taken the week off so we could fly off to some vacation spot and have a break. However, my agent in Paris called me for the Big 4 which was with some designers who I work with all the time. The lineup that year was: Lacroix, Moschino, Vivienne Westwood, and Hanae Mori. I felt really bad changing the plans I made with my 'then' partner but it was a substantial sum of money for a week’s work. Since modeling is like a consulting business (where you never know when you will be booked for the desirable jobs), it is better to take them when they are offered to you.

During my time, a model’s lifespan was about 2 to 3 years. As Heidi Klum would say, "One moment, you are in, then the next moment, you are out." I have been very lucky to have worked such a long time, actually, almost 25 years. One of the reasons for my longevity is because I never said no to work.

So there I was in Japan, completely jetlagged and all alone on my birthday. At 5:00 a.m., I was wide awake and feeling really displaced and lonely in my hotel room. At 6:00 a.m., when it was light outside, I decided to walk around the empty streets of Omotesando in search of a wine shop. With no family... nor friends for a birthday party in Tokyo, the least I could have on my birthday was champagne. I found a store that I went back to during a show break.
Before the last show, I opened the bottles and passed plastic cups to the girls who were around me in the dressing room. I did not mention that it was my birthday but we had a small toast. It was comforting to share a drink with my fellow fashion soldiers, other models who did the whole circuit (Milan, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo). Tokyo is the last leg before the holidays and the frenetic activity and energy during the collections is winding down. Soon, we will be home.

Big 4 Christmas party for crew

On the last day of the BIG 4, there was a party for the whole crew, including models and designers, given by the producer of the fashion shows, Kohei Katsura. Coming from backstage, we saw to our surprise, both sides of the entire length of the runway were lined up with white plastic cups filled with champagne. The audio system for the show was playing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. The song brought near tears to my eyes and I am sure it affected the other models, as well. We have been away from home too long.
It is always a welcome moment when people in fashion kick back and relax. And if only for that moment, we remembered we are all alike (no divas, no goddesses, no catwalk queens)- just normal people sharing a tradition.

CHRISTMAS in PARIS

Personalized Dior Christmas scarfs from Monsieur Marc Bohan
When I was working at Dior, we also had our holiday toasts but I always loved receiving the personalized Christmas gift from Monsieur Marc Bohan. The whole atelier and probably, the whole house was given a different Dior scarf each year. Another tradition was the celebration of Three Kings Day on Jan 6, where we ate these special cakes decorated with gold crowns.

CHRISTMAS in NEW YORK

Dinner at Oscar's house in Santo Domingo (Diane Dewitt, Anna Bayle, Shaun and Oscar dela Renta's friends)

When I moved to New York, one of the Christmas traditions that I looked forward to was Oscar dela Renta’s Christmas trip to Santo Domingo. Jack Alexander, a former male model who handled the booking of the models would invite us to Casa de Campo, the hotel that is part-owned and designed by Oscar. Every year, we did a charity fashion show in an open air venue for the orphanage that Oscar de la Renta founded in his hometown. Oscar even adopted Moises de la Renta, a boy from the orphanage. Moises was probably 4 or 5 years old then. He is now working with Oscar, designing his collections.

Though we were allowed to bring our boyfriends, husbands, children, etc., I never availed of it. But most of the girls did and it was a family affair. It was good to meet the family and friends of the other models that we work with each and everyday. The models' masks of efficiency and professionalism are off in this different and more relaxed setting. It felt good to be normal and not posturing all the time.

Fun and Laughter
We were completely spoiled by Oscar; we each had our designated rooms and were free to use the facilities of Casa de Campo, a vacation resort. We would go horseback riding, golfing, drink pina coladas and lounge by the pool and we were provided with mopeds to explore the whole resort. Gallivanting in the compound and out in scenic spots of nearby towns with the other models was always fun.

We’d be invited to lunch or dinner at Oscar’s house by the sea or the houses of his friends in Punta Cana and it was always merry and filled with laughter. We would pile into the minibus and arrive at Oscar’s, where we are serenaded by the Dominican equivalent of a mariachi band. The romantic music, in keeping with the exotic setting of flower filled gardens and balmy, breezy weather puts all of us in a very relaxed mode.

The generosity and hospitality of Oscar dela Renta is unmatched. Oscar dela Renta is a ‘giver’; he is one who would gallantly share his good fortune, in a very unassuming way. You could say that Mr. dela Renta nature is characteristic of Latin people, but I know otherwise. Mr. dela Renta is a very special person and it is an honor for me, as a model, to know this man.

During dinner, there is a lot of laughter and teasing as Oscar is quite mischievous. For instance, he would ask me who my boyfriend was. I would reply. Then Oscar, pretending to know the person, jokingly would say, “He will take you to the cleaners”. He charms all of us with his sense of humor and once in a while he would sing. I loved it when he sang, as Oscar is a handsome and seductive balladeer. Sometimes, his friend, Julio Iglesias would sing for us, as well. During one Christmas trip to Puerto Rico, we were all in a dinner table with the King of Spain.

After dinner, we would all pile back into the minibus, Oscar and his friends included, and we would go to some local club and dance the merenge. The gentlemanly husbands of his friends were kind enough to teach us the dance, while the wives applauded and urged us on. There was always a good time for everyone involved.

We were free to stay for a day or a week. I would cancel other paying jobs to do this show. Sometimes I would just fly in and fly out after the show. It was my ‘Christmas sharing thing’. I felt very good each time I did this show, knowing that it would make a lot of children happy. After all, what is Christmas for, but for the children.

BEAUTY IS A BUSINESS
There is really no rest for models. It is a brief respite. For immediately after Christmas day, the thought of the couture collections loom ahead. After partaking of our traditional Christmas delicacies with our families and loved ones and drinking excessively in celebration of the holidays, the scale awaits.
In less than a month, one has to be in top form. THINK THIN was pasted over my refrigerator door. (Qualifier: Think thin is not to be equated with Look sickly.) There is no time to waste; those extra pounds gained during the holidays must be shed. After all, beauty is a business.

The Power Of Two

2006-12-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

Working with IMAN, Thierry Mugler Fashion Show

I posted a comment to my article, Too Much Information, from a certain Juan Miguel. He replied, stating that he is thrilled and he would never have imagined that I would highlight his opinions and include them in my blog (Van Gogh Ran through A Xerox Machine). Juan Miguel's post resonated with my message, rounding off and completing my argument. Though his letter had a different flavor, his editorial voice is congruent to mine. By sharing it with the readers, I hoped that it would facilitate further understanding of what I was trying to say.

I have always believed that it is stronger or much more powerful when there are two. I came to fully understand the 'power of two' concept from working with the other models. And, it is not only in modeling that the power of collaboration will apply, but every facet of our everyday lives. If we have the same goals, let's work together...not against each other.

COMPETITION ON THE RUNWAY
Walking solo down a European runway is a feat that requires presence, projection and courage. For a good minute, you are alone on an 80-to-100 feet runway and all eyes are on you. You muster up all the energy that is inside you, keep it whole (as opposed to scattered energy), and walk out like a queen. Not all models can do this; that is why there are ‘catwalk divas’.

In the runway, some girls just go about being a diva in the wrong way. They try to upstage another girl on the catwalk, to their detriment. I find that this never works because the audience is not fooled; they see the negative energy of models whose only intent is to put themselves forward without regard or respect for the other models on the catwalk.

I remember walking down a Chloe show and here comes a very famous model swinging a shoulder bag, twirling it around like a baton, on her right side. Upon passing her, she hits me by accident (There are no accidents, according to Freud) and the next model behind her, a beautiful brunette named Antonia, sees the whole incident. When Antonia comes off of the runway, she is livid and tells everyone what this famous model did to me and swears to me that she will hit that model or push her offstage, the next time she ever gets on stage with her.

The really devious models just stand in front of you when you are already posed, just to get the center spot or to get noticed. What they do not realize is that the audience sees everything. The audience senses models’ attitudes and demeanors onstage and they are turned off by these shameless and sly moves.

Most designers are explicit on how we should go down the runway. "There are 3 of you together. Anna, you are in the middle." An unscrupulous model will always find a way to change things around. Even though we are posed in triangle and suppose to move down together in a triangle on my cue, some jumpy ones will move before me and jockey for the central position. I try not to get fazed by these guileful actions. When I am working, I am always thinking of the big picture. It always has to be a good balanced picture for the audience, the videographers and photographers. As models, our sole purpose is to show the clothes. The clothes won’t be seen to their best advantage if you have one model on top of the other, vying for center stage.

What do I do? I even it out; I go to the other spot that the girl has vacated so the flow of the show does not get disturbed. My instinctive choices turn out for the better because in the long run, I gain the respect of the designer, the photographers and the audience.
It is called professionalism. I might be a catwalk diva but this is the designer’s show. Not mine. I cannot put my interests above the designers'.
Anyway, I believe if you are really good, it does not matter where you are placed. The eye will go instinctively to the strongest presence or the most beautiful.

When a model tries this trick once too often, I have to give them the signal not to do it ever again. So when I am sure it will not disrupt anything (For instance, when we are out of the range of the video cameras and there is already another group of girls at the bottom of the runway getting the limelight), I give the errant model a taste of her own medicine. I blatantly stand in front of the said model, in the fiercest pose I can conjure, just before exiting backstage. The audience and photographers closest to where we are standing are smiling and winking at me - intimating that I am correct in setting the boundaries. I just wink back with a naughty smile on my face. There are ethics on the catwalk and sometimes you have to draw the lines for some impudent models.

THE POWER OF TWO
Sometimes, it works in your favor not to be threatened by the other divas but to work with them. If you have a strong presence and you work with another strong presence, the result is really powerful and beautiful. When diva meets another diva, an explosive mixture in itself, there are times when it is not ‘one-upmanship’ that ensues, but glorious fireworks.

At a Mugler press show, we had these gold lame siren dresses and we had a cornucopia of accessories on (heavy earrings, tiaras, bracelets, wigs) that could fall any minute. And to make things more precarious, we had gold platform shoes with laces tied across the length of our lower legs up to our knees. I opened the scene and Iman was to close the scene. We had to walk very slow as the clothes were very tight and the 4-inch platform shoes with laces were very difficult to walk in.
I am walking back as Iman is coming down the runway and I observed that one of her shoe laces has come undone. She would have to drag the one shoe held only by her toes, with the long laces getting in her way and possibly tripping her. She still manages to walk down but I could sense her difficulty. Iman, whose style is to walk very slow and contained, was in a hurry to get this number over with. I decided to wait for her midway, so at least I can support her if she falls. When she got to where I was waiting for her, I extended my arm to help her, but still in character. We walk back slowly, like 2 princesses, but then Iman stops, faces me, moves awfully close to me, shoves her right leg through my legs and uses my body to support her. She proceeds to bend as far back as she can like the petal of a flower opening. I immediately got her drift and proceeded to bend slightly back, not all the way like she did - just enough, so we did look like a flower. The room exploded with thunderous applause and from everywhere the shouts of “Brava! Brava!”. Everyone was calling both our names and the flashbulbs went wild when we were on this pose, for this surely would make a great photograph.

From then on, whenever I am in a group with Iman, and we have to go down in pairs, Iman would say, "I am walking with Anna Bayle." Iman knows I am not there to upstage her. She knows that I would work with her.

HEALTHY COMPETITION and MUTUAL RESPECT
With great models, you will find that there is always competition, but I will sincerely say that I would not have been the model that I was, if not for some models that others perceived to be my competitors.

Synchronicity with DALMA
Oscar dela Renta Fashion Show

In healthy competition, everyone strives to be better. Each competitor raising the bar and it pushes everyone to do well. You feed off each other’s talent and in the end, everyone wins.

I don’t think I would have pushed myself as much, if not for the great Dalma - the beautiful Brazilian model who always conducted herself with elegance and dignity. When I started to work in New York, we would find our racks always close to each other. In the line up, we were always beside each other. Even though we have different builds and different styles, we are able to work together in healthy competition.

Dalma had a fast and energetic walk. I have a walk that was particular but I could speed it up or slow it down depending on what was asked of me. Despite our difference in walking styles, we were often asked to walk together. But when we did, it was completely synchronized; it was as if we were joined at the hip. We worked off each other,.... never against.
It seemed that we were always 'in tune' with each other; our movements are together and precise. There are no hesitations. Whenever we walked out on the runway, it is ‘boom..boom..boom’ and we are out of the stage in seconds, delivering a powerful impact. We always get the applause. It is for that reason, we are always booked together and we do the same shows.

People think of us as competitors but in reality, we have mutual respect for each other. Over the years, Dalma has given me solid advice and hopefully I have been a friend to her, as well.
Sometimes, Dalma would get a dress too big for her frame. It is the same exact gown as I would get, but her's is strapless while mine had spaghetti straps. Since I had a bigger chest frame (not necessarily bigger bust), my body could hold a strapless garment but it would surely fall on her while she was walking. Dalma would ask to exchange dresses and I would agree immediately. We would not bother telling the design team anymore. When they called Dalma, I went forward and when they would call Anna, she would stand in my place on the line up. That way, the designer would still have the right sequential appearance of the garments in the fashion show.

A very powerful publisher, trying to plant seeds of intrigue, once said to me,“ I don’t know who spins better - you or Dalma.” I replied, “I am sure we are both just doing our jobs to the best of our ability.”

Lately, I have been doing research for my TV show and I have been watching these model searches. I see the models competing with one another, each entrant badmouthing the next. It is deplorable and not how it should be. During my time, there was a lot of camaraderie. Maybe that is the reason we enjoyed working together, despite our competitive natures.

The funny thing about conflict is that we should not really fight things or people we encounter, but go with it. We should use another person’s strong energy to make us stronger and make it work. The result of collaborating is not only double. Sometimes with great elements and the right chemistry, we can make gold.

VAN GOGH Ran Through A Xerox Machine (Letter to Anna)

2006-12-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Starry Night, VAN GOGH

I received this letter about my article, Too Much Information. It is a good read from Juan Miguel, someone who knows his fashion history.

what is the most interesting, inspiring fashion? the answer to that question is greatly subjective because there are varying levels of taste which naturally stem from varying levels of interest and sophistication. there is always bad taste as there is always good taste (now THAT is purely subjective). agreement will never be quite unanimous. especially in this day and age when women wear short skirts one day and long ones the next, pegged pants yesterday, palazzos today, and clam diggers tomorrow! truly, never has there been a time of such un-uniformity, of such sartorial freedom. fashion has become so very varied AND so very fickle. whatever is a girl to do?
...i guess the challenge for any designer nowadays is to create work that is SIGNIFICANT to current lifestyles, trains of thought, activity, and sensibility. each designer has an
interpretation of all these things and the one whose work resonates most effectively is the one who is celebrated. mary quant and the youthquake of the sixties, dvf and ysl and halston and bra-burning in the seventies, mugler's and
montana's shoulders coupled with calvin klein's easy american style as women marched into the workplace in solid power-assertion of the 80's, armani's sobering minimalism againts versace's flamboyance and tom ford's sexy gucci amid the personality and image and sex obsessed, dichotomous nineties, marc jacobs' luxury cyber-youth granny chic spin hand-in-hand with the vintage-pre-occupation and dollar signs of the early 2000's... blah blah blah...

fashion has become very mainstream because people see it more. there are so many magazines, there's style.com, project runway, the ubiquitous red carpet, on and on. it's like a van gogh ran through a xerox machine and you end up with 10000 copies. there doesn't seem to be anything special about fashion anymore. maybe this is why they say haute couture is dead because everything is truly now for the masses. but i think it's not quite dead yet because we still see some of it around, thank God!
an inny-inny-tiny fraction of the world buys haute couture but it has always been the playground of the true designer. of course lesser mortals scoff at couture offerings but you and i know it's only because they simply do not understand (funny how they finally "get it" five years down the line; they always do or at least one would hope). however, i don't blame them because a lot of the stuff is truly pretty far out and it hits you right in the face when you first see 'em. but if only people could see couture for the "idea," you know...
couture is an art form. beyond intelligence and creativity, haute couture is for the brave. not only does it take true talent to come up with something new, innovative, unique and beautiful, it takes guts - to do it, to show it, to celebrate it, and ultimately, to share it. some people say that couture is insignificant but i beg to disagree. if there were no couture, we all might as well be wearing potato sacks everywhere, everyday, forever and ever. most people don't realize (especially before miranda priestly's wonderful monologue; some of you readers understand what i'm saying here) that what we wear now evolved from an ensemble sashaying down a designers runway eleventeen hundred years ago. you know what miranda means?
personally, i do not care what the critics say, particularly those insipid so-called "style gurus" on tv who in their self-aggrandizing and uncreative cataract perceptions are kings and queens of mediocrity. i'd like to see chalayan make more robot dresses, and more armor from galiano (i love the new stuff he did!; that armor is the new montana shoulder pad! talk about the empowerment of women!).
i want my heart to beat fast. i want to get excited. designers who are intelligent and brave do it for me because they have vision and oh how inspired they are...
cheers anna and take care...
juan miguel
4:22 AM

Modeling Is Not A Sickness...Anorexia Is

2006-12-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

There is an article today in the Fashion section of New York Times by Eric Wilson, about what Paris, Italy and the New York fashion industry is doing about the issue of models’ weight. With the recent deaths of 2 models with eating disorders, there has been focus on this problem of models being too thin.

I must reiterate. Modeling is not a sickness – anorexia is. (From my article, To Eat or Not To Eat: Pain or Pleasure, Nov 19, 2006)

In my day - in Paris, Milan, Rome, New York and Tokyo – we were fed, ...and fed very well. I have no reason to believe that this practice has changed.
Sometimes, the food backstage was even better than the food I could have at home. In Paris, the table spread backstage, complete with uniformed waiters and linen napkins, can sometimes approach what a 5-star restaurant would serve. Provision of good food for everyone involved backstage, was the norm.

In Paris, Rome and Milan, no matter how early in the morning, there is always freshly squeezed orange juice, milk, water, coffee, tea and champagne served. Croissants, smoked salmon, petite finger sandwiches and bite-sized pastries from Laduree or Sant’Ambrose fill the food table. Make no mistake......in these cities, we were spoiled rotten by the designers.

COLLECTION TIME
Press shows in Paris were big long affairs. A model was asked to report 3 to 5 hours before the show because of the intricate hair and make-up per individual show. There were days when I had 7 or 8 press shows in one day, and I know it is going to be a long, ‘work like a dog’ kind of day. During this crazy 2 weeks of shows, I would sometimes be fitting till 1:00 a.m. and have to be in the tents, six hours after, by 7:00 a.m. the same day. I have to partake of what the design houses were offering backstage because there is simply no time to eat before leaving home nor was there time to leave the Cour Carree du Louvre to sit down for lunch in a restaurant.

I would jump from tent to tent (of the shows I was involved in) and check out what was good to eat. I remember Saturdays in Paris; one of the big days because you have such heavy hitters like Montana, Jean Charles de Castelbajac, Issey Miyake, etc. in the line-up.
Being Asian, even though I still had shows to do before the Issey Miyake show, I would always go to Issey's tent where there was Western food and Asian food. I would go there because they had bento boxes for the models and all the dressers. The Issey Miyake production crew was very accommodating and I, of course, would choose what the Japanese dressers were eating – rice and fish. Out of kindness, my Japanese dresser would even offer me her bento box. All those years, the Miyake people knew I 'ate and ran' only to be back after 2 hours to finally do their show.
The question was never "Where will I get food to eat?" You can pace yourself and the likely question you are going to ask yourself is, "At what show will I eat?".

In New York, where the bookings are by the hour (as opposed to bookings by the show), the fashion houses make sure that models are comfortable; assistants of press agents or assistant designers run around offering us something to drink and eat, the moment we arrive.

LA DOLCE VITA
As for putting the blame on agents, I must say all my reputable agents (Elite, Diva, Cosa Nostra, Why Not, Agence Presse), made it a point to feed us well - especially in Italy. When we are done with our shows, our agents would picked us up in SUV’s and vans, to cart the models to a restaurant where we will be seated in a long table of 20 to 30 girls. We would eat full meals – antipasti, pasta, main course, dessert, wine, after dinner drinks. Sometimes there were 2 different agencies in one popular restaurant. Models were allowed to invite their girlfriends, even though they were with competing agencies. Our agents were only too happy to oblige.
My agent in Paris, Jean Louis Dumas of Diva, who was more a manager for select girls, would take me to dinner after the shows and even take me to jazz clubs and places with music, if my schedule would allow it – just to get our minds off the fashion shows.

The Europeans who pride themselves on a good quality of life, would never sacrifice the pleasure of eating. The good design houses and the reputable modeling agencies treated models very well and this means they fed you very well.

In New York, where we were sometimes booked for the day, the girls would leave during lunch and go to good restaurants in the area, even if food was provided for us backstage. Models eat. Some of us could eat a lot. Or, we would go to this small place besides Parsons and order carrot smoothies. Really, no one is twisting anyone’s arm not to eat.

THE BEAUTY BUSINESS
There is really no excuse for getting sick. Perhaps, the only excuse models can have for not eating or providing themselves with the necessary energy requirements to get through a hectic and adrenalin-filled day, is low self esteem.

We cannot fault the organizers of the fashion press shows nor the designers, for the bad press. Models have always been thin. However, beauty was never equated with being the thinnest. Beauty was equated with being en forme. There is a big difference. Too thin looks sickly. En forme (in form) means –just right.

It is absolutely true that a long silhouette looks better for the clothes. It is true that when the clothes hang on a model, one can fully appreciate the elegant lines that the designer has created. It is true that the thinner you are, as a model, the better. However, sickly does not cut it; it becomes unattractive. I think models should understand that they are in the beauty business. Emaciated, skeletal, cadaverous - does not make them beautiful. It is the elegance, the energy, their ‘projected’ well being – that makes them beautiful.

In my article, To Eat or Not To Eat - I confessed to the mistakes or wrong choices I made when I was young, but I never blamed anyone but myself.

There is no reason to ban models and make it a press grabbing campaign. Just don't book the sickly looking models...they'll get the idea and hopefully will get their acts together.
There is no reason to weigh models and make it a requirement. If the fashion industry does this, a precedent will be set in place. What would be the next step? Ban models who use drugs?

This is not the Olympics, nor is it a lightweight or featherweight boxing match. After all, it is only Fashion,.... it it not something to die for.

Too Much Information

2006-12-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

Dovima with Elephants by AVEDON, 1955

Information is power….....but....information in the wrong hands is disastrous. Also, wrong information in powerful hands, is equally disastrous.

An interesting comment was made in reference to my last article, Where have all the models gone?, about real models being a myth, to someone of the younger generation. My response to that comment is a statement I heard from Bernardine Morris, (New York Times and lookonline.com) that really struck a chord in me.

“It is not what’s new that is beautiful….but what is beautiful, that is new.”

The times have indeed changed, for better or worse. However, the classics and the masters will be with us, no matter what. In 50 to 100 years, for instance, the indelible pictures of Avedon will still remind us of the art of Fashion. The art is what I really miss – more than the faces.

For me, whatever reflects the times cannot be denied. It is in the hands of the fashion editors to guide us on what is beautiful. They know the history of fashion and they are well informed as to the chronology of events in contemporary fashion. They are tuned in to the pulse of fashion and use their exacting taste and 'personal style' choices to filter, sift or interpret everything new and feed it to us. They hold the power to educate us.
When present day media takes that power from those 'in the know', because the media holds the numbers, then the art suffers.

QUALITY vs.QUANTITY
In this day and age of google and blogging, ET and emails, Utube - Fashion is strewn all over. Who is to guide us on what is good taste and bad taste? Who will show us who are the innovators and who are the ‘pretenders’? Are we to sacrifice quality for quantity?

In my humble experience, it took 2 to 3 years for fashion to go down to the streets. A garment of a prestigious designer that is hailed by the fashion magazines, will be copied and sold en masse in the department stores (not in the designer’s name), 2 to 3 years after.
A good example of this 'trickle-down effect' is Azzedine Alaia - a creative designer who has been designing body hugging clothes from the very start. His innovative and creative art is picked up by influential fashion editors and is featured in the fashion magazines. He signs a contract with a huge Italian manufacturer to produce his ready-to-wear clothes. His design is copied by other clothing manufacturers and watered down for mass consumption. Three years after, every garment in all the department stores is body hugging. The consumer does not know that it is because of the influence of Azzedine Alaia – they only know the department stores are flooded with it. Sort of, the pyramid effect of fashion. I can only surmise that in this day and age...this process will go a lot faster.

FASHION FROM THE TOP
I am one of those who believe that fashion from the top is an art form. The many artists and creative people in this industry collaborate to come up with something beautiful. (Designers with their ateliers, fashion editors with their stylists and photographers, stylists with make-up artists and hair dressers, photographers with the models, and so on). That is not to mean that street fashion is not creative - some are.

Art, of course, is for everyone - but at it's inception, it still has be discerned by people who know.
We should recognize that the fashion industry is an exclusive industry because it protects the interests of the artists and the many people who work in that industry. To a certain extent, this industry is also elitist; it is for people who understand it – the fashion editors, the stylists, the fashion press, the make-up artists, hairdressers, etc. I believe that to put it in the hands of people who don’t understand will have ramifications.

These days, it is great that Fashion reaches far and wide – that a lot of people see it, first hand. But in the end, if they don’t understand what they see…. that, in fashion lingo, is called a fashion victim.

Where have all the models gone?

2006-11-29T12:43:00.000-05:00

All artwork provided by Alvaro from his series - Homage to the Fashion Magazines

As I walk by the magazine stands and scan all the covers, I observe, every passing month, the mysterious and blatant disappearance of the model. All covers of the mainstream fashion magazines are actresses or singers; Cate Blanchett for Vogue, Natalie Portman for Harper’s Bazaar, Jessica Alba for Elle, Faith Hill for Glamour, Scarlette Johanssen for Allure, Ashlee Judd for MarieClaire.

What does it mean? Does it mean that this generation of magazine readers prefer to identify with movie actresses and singers? Of course, this is what sells. But why?
What does that say of the fashion editors’ choices and their influence in shaping fashion? Are they under pressure from their publishers to increase subscribership? Is this phenomenon dictated by the people putting the ads in the magazines? Is it just a phase? Is it here to stay?

When I was doing the press for my lipstick line, Anna Bayle Lipcolours, 8 years ago, I was very surprised to find out that one of the most influential magazines in fashion and beauty was IN STYLE. It featured nothing but movie actresses.
Is it because magazine editors have to catch up with IN STYLE’s subscribership, that they follow IN STYLE’s formula and showcase actresses, as well? Is it because fashion innovators like Tom Ford, up and left the fashion circus in 2004 to ensconce himself in Hollywood, only to dress movie stars? Is it because the biggest press that a designer could have is when his/her garment is worn by a beautiful actress on the red carpet during the Oscars, viewed by millions all around the world? Is it because models, these days, are not good role models? Is it because of ET’s (Entertainment Tonight) popularity and coverage of fashion (news, fashion shows, red carpets) and their increasing role in taking fashion into the Entertainment arena? Is Fashion following where media leads them?

Where are the Paulina Poriskovas, the Linda Evangelistas, the Cindy Crawfords, the Beverly Johnsons? Have they been relegated to the inside editorials? No, because the main photo editorials are also on the actresses. So why?

I don’t claim to know everything. The most plausible reason is probably a mixture of a lot of influences and 'cause and effect' scenarios that play in and within the different industries – publishing, moviemaking, TV, beauty products and fashion.

MY THEORY
My theory (only from my perspective): The fashion world works like every microcosm. Each one creature dependent on the other for survival (designers, manufacturers, fashion editors, models, photographers, videographers, fashion journalists, groupies, fashionistas, beauty product makers, modeling agencies, the consumers –not in that order).

When one group gets more powerful than the other, then the balance of things change. Every other group will react to this movement and there will be changes.
I think, when a model starts earning more than fashion editors…it’s a problem. When a model becomes more important and gets more press than the designer showing…it’s a problem. So what is the state of fashion shows now? - Very young girls with developing personalities showing $80,000 garments. 'Walking zombies' is the phrase I always hear. I believe the fashion world is refusing to give that power to the models right now because the models (and their agents) have abused their celebrity.

Mine is a very simplistic take on the issue of models vs.celebrities. There are many reasons why things change but in this day and age, TV is very powerful; it is a rocket ship for disseminating information. Like what Sex in the City did for the fashion industry. Like the crossover of the models into TV when George Michael in his song, Freedom, featured Cristy, Naomi, Linda, Cindy and Tatiana Patitz in his music video that was played all over MTV; all of a sudden they were household names. Are the fashion magazines crossing over, targeting the more prestigious media (not necessarily the bigger) –Hollywood?

When will it change back? I don’t know, but IT WILL ….because fashion is a cycle. I hope it is soon, because I do miss the beauty, the art, and the freshness of an undiscovered face.

BIG FOOT and the Big V

2006-11-24T13:33:00.000-05:00

“That Anna Bayle…she is so beautiful, but she has feet like boats!”

Valentino with seamstresses at the Spanish Steps, Rome

(A comment made by Valentino to Kirat, the famous Indian model.)

I went on my second assignment as a beauty writer for lookonline.com (the first internet fashion trade paper) to Valentino’s party to celebrate the launch of his new fragrance, Rock and Rose. November 16, 2006.
At the party, I saw Valentino, Giancarlo Giammetti- his partner and Carlos Souza-his PR director. They were happy to see me, as I was happy to see them. All of a sudden, the grandeur and elegance of the Rome couture collections all came back to me.

THE BIG V
As a model, you aspire to get the big ones. You cannot get any bigger than Valentino in Rome.

You are sent to the house of Valentino to do your fitting. I remember going up the Spanish steps from Piazza di Spagnia and the House of Valentino is a couple of doors down to the right of the Spanish steps in via Gregoriana. The entrance already intimidates one; all white façade, a glass door and the door handle is the Valentino logo in shiny black.

Once you enter the atelier, you are stripped of all your identity, really. You take off all your clothes and jewelry, and leave all your belongings behind in one room. It is a ritual that never fails to amaze me – the transformation in me is palpable. You put on the silk Valentino stockings, the Valentino shoes made especially for you and a single crisp white cotton robe. You put your hair back into a ponytail. Even before you put his clothes on, you already feel like a million dollars.

You go to the make-up room where you will find Rex, one of the best make-up artists at that time. Rex will take his time transforming you into a beauty. You will become a Valentino girl with the flawless skin, heavy eye shadows and the perfect lips of that season.

Then you enter another room populated by the white-robed atelier women; your looks or garments for the show are all lined up. The house of Valentino is probably one of the most organized houses that I have ever worked for. Everything is ready for a model’s fitting and the schedule for fittings work like clockwork. You start with the coats for day and work yourself into evening garments.

There is a mock-up runway and Valentino sits at the end of the runway. Some photographs are taken. There is not much to change with a look at Valentino’s. The accessories are all laid out –the hat, the gloves, the jewelry, and the bags – all Valentino and they all work to complement the garment. Taste at the house of Valentino is a given: elegance is the stamp.

The whole process (make-up time, waiting time, dress rehearsal) takes from an hour to 2 hours, depending on whether some models are late. A model’s professionalism is key – as you are capable of holding up everyone’s schedule. But once you start fitting, the dress rehearsal only takes 20 minutes of that time.

You leave the atelier and this time I take the short cut down to the Piazza. I love this route going back to my hotel, as I get to go through the house of Valentino, where there is a garden and sculptures. You get to ride the elevator but when you get down to the Piazza Mignanelli, you have this marvelous gigantic head in bronze- a sculpture by the Polish artist, Igor Mitoraj.

The clues are all around me, as I enjoy the works of art in and around the house of Valentino. ELEGANCE and OPULENCE.

POWER in ROME
Valentino is a power in Rome; I experienced his influence, first hand, when during one season, I got stuck at Rome’s Fiumicino airport. I was so busy working that I always leave the responsibility of all my travel arrangements to my agents. I left from a Parisian fashion show to fly directly to Rome on a late flight - as my first fittings and shows are on the next day. I arrived at the immigration desk in full make-up and one of the young officials decided to play God and refused my Philippine visa. I was testy, as I have been working the whole day. “Fine”, I barked. “I will go back to Paris.”
Let them sort this out. I was not worried; I just wanted to sleep. Guess what, the flight I was on was the last flight of the evening and since I was not my charming self, the immigration officer even decided that I could not leave the airport, nor talk to my agent (no cell phones then).

I could see my agent through the glass partition and he was trying to reassure me by making hand signals. He stayed with me for 3 hours till 1:00 a.m., a thick glass pane between us, while his assistants were making phone calls everywhere to spring me out of the temporary jail I was in. But he could not do anything at such short notice: it was late and all his government official contacts were unreachable. I had to sleep in the airport. I was so exhausted but I had to do it – because if I didn’t, I would be a wreck for all the couture shows I was suppose to do the next day. At 6:00 am when the airport opened, the immigration officers let me leave the airport. I think all it took was one call from Valentino.

THINK RED
Valentino’s show is something for the books. For a start, once you put your garments, you cannot….. I repeat – you cannot bend your elbows anymore. Why? Because the garments will get creased. Of course, when doing the shows, you are really better off not sitting down or moving around too much. But in this house, you have to keep your hands down by your sides.

The other unique thing is the models who have big busts are all strapped down with white gauze. In the context of couture, during my time and probably to this day, big breasts are considered vulgar. Couture is about neat elegant lines. That is the reason not all models can do couture. It takes a special kind of girl to be a couture girl.

The beautiful German models with big bosoms are grumbling to themselves, after the show. I don’t blame them- I am sure it really hurts, like having a mammogram. I have empathy for them, as I sometimes wear shoes 2 sizes too small (never at Valentino where the shoes are custom made). Pain comes with the territory.

I bet, if I was not a good model, I’d be out of the model lineup. My crime being – FEET TOO BIG! Maybe, big feet are not elegant. I can’t change my foot size, but surely, I can change the way I conduct myself – with elegance.

The most vivid memory I have of Valentino clothes are his red couture gowns - precious masterpieces, even though it is his white collection that made him famous in the 60’s. I am interviewed often and asked who my favorite designer is. I cannot name one, for there are many great ones.

But if I had the money - I would like to be dressed in Valentino sometimes, because nobody does RED like Valentino.

TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT: Pain or Pleasure

2006-11-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Modeling is not a sickness……anorexia is.

Apparently, a model in Spain died of being too thin. She weighed 88 pounds.

I believe, at the height of my modeling, I was 110 lbs. I stand at 5’10” and really, my weight never got lower than that. Still, I would get friendly reminders from concerned fashion editors to take care of my health. I remember Bernadine Morris of the New York Times, telling me that it is OK to be thin but not if I am sick.

I won’t lie to you. I starved myself sometimes, specially, before the couture collections - which happens twice a year. It is so embarrassing to arrive at your fittings in Rome, the first stop and find that that beautiful gown that designers made especially for you is going to another girl. Here’s that ‘sexy’ number that every model will want to wear and there is nothing more unforgivable than you ripping the zipper accidentally when the women from the ateliers are dressing you. They have been working on the garment for 3 months and here you come, destroying their masterpiece. The women at the atelier start whispering and they can’t even look you in the eye.

Almost all couture design houses have a stuffed mannequin (of the A list models) with your body, customized to your specific measurements that they fit your clothes on before you arrive for your actual fitting. It is in a model's best interest to be consistent with her weight – it is about being professional. The less alterations they have to do on your finished garment, the better. So, I have learned to be on point with my weight; lest those pattern makers from the atelier start slapping my mannequin around in anger and frustration.

It is easy to lose weight, really – it is a choice between pain and pleasure.
Why do we do things? Whatever we do in life, it is to gain pleasure or to avoid pain. It is one or the other.
Well for me, the pleasure was not in the eating - but in surveying myself in the mirror and the immense pleasure it gave me to see that whatever I wore, I looked good. And the pain for me was the thought that all my bookings or shows would be cancelled if I gained weight. The thought that designers would reassign all my beautiful gowns to another model is enough to keep me thin because that thought would be really painful to me.

CHOICES & MISTAKES

I really had to lose many pounds when I started to work for Thierry Mugler in Paris; I was young and had baby fat. However, it is easy to lose the weight because the French have a good diet. The French never snack; they eat solid meals and they take their time doing it. Have you ever seen a fat French woman? Not really - because they eat small portions and they take promenades after they eat big meals.

Anyway, I was so busy working that I never had time to eat. I admit I did not have good eating habits. Things get so hectic and I got by with only my adrenalin, that my first meal of the day would be at 4:00 p.m. – the hour when I felt my energy fading. However, when work was done, I ate very well. Sometimes, in the morning, I would drink milk – a habit that was forced on me when I was in school just to put something in my system for energy.

This bad eating habit of mine would get me in trouble sometimes; I would get ‘low blood sugar’ episodes (hypoglycemia). The most memorable was one afternoon at Azzedine Alaia’s atelier. I came from other bookings but I always went to Azzedine’s everyday to fit his clothes. Azzedine had put this beautiful, completely see-through, body hugging bridal gown on me. The mermaid silhouette (siren) was stunning. I was standing tall in 4-inch heels and Azzedine pinning beside me in front of a 3-piece mirror. I was concentrating, looking at the mirror, so I would not lose the pose for Azzedine. Suddenly, I saw black spots in my vision. The last image I saw on the mirror was me, starting to faint. Then I hear Azzedine screaming out loud, ‘Au secours! Au secours! –Quelque chose a manger. Vite! (Help! Help! Something to eat! Fast!)

When I came to, I was lying down on the sofa in the white wedding dress and beside me was a table, literally, full of food. “MANGEZ! MANGEZ!” Azzedine was coaxing me to eat. I did, but during all that time he was laughing his head off, saying “Voici, Anna Bayle” (This is Anna Bayle) then he would look up to the ceiling, roll his eyes and reenact my fainting. Azzedine really got a kick out of it. If you come to think of it, it was funny.

At the end of the day, you must eat or you will not have the energy to do all the shows you are booked for. I got very good at eating for energy in the different cities I worked in. Most of the time, we were billeted in 5 star hotels. What I would do is call the hotel from backstage, wherever I am working, and ask to be transferred to room service. I ordered grilled fish and a salad each day. I tell them to deliver it to my room and leave it there. So at night, if I did not want to go to dinner with my agent and all the models – I had a great meal in my room, albeit cold, while all the other models are eating panini or staying up late with my agent and the playboys in some Italian restaurant somewhere.

Before the age of 30, all models can really eat anything. It is when you get past that big 3 that it gets a lot harder, specially for me who never exercised. I did try exercising once with Radu, the body shaper, but gyms are not my thing. I lasted a month. I prefer dancing ..….that was my exercise.

When I got to New York, I had my nutritionist who prescribed a lot of expensive pills and meal packets that I drank instead of having meals. He offered an injection of Vitamin B12 every session to counter the expected lethargy one gets when one does not eat, but I refused to take it (aversion to needles). Of the pills, I found I was getting a personality change – I got very irritable and my throat was always dry. So I immediately asked my pharmacist to analyze the ingredients of the diet pills and she told me that they were mild forms or weak cousins of amphetamines. Since I never took recreational drugs, I decided to stop taking those diet pills. Anyway, drinking these meal packets did the trick but you really looked like an alien. The weight loss is so drastic that your body shrinks but your head doesn’t. You see this kind of unbalanced weight loss on a lot of women in TV. I call these caricature-like figures, big heads.

I stopped taking those meal packets and would just count calories instead. I even tried eating whole grapefruits before every meal. My stomach would get so acidic that I did not want to eat anything else. So I switched to drinking a whole glass of water before every meal, which was a healthier choice; or simply just drinking lots of water.

Over the years, it is indeed a challenge to keep the weight down. However, I must insist that models should eat. I propose that models make healthy choices. Why? Because Jerry Hall ate, Iman ate, Dalma ate, Cindy Crawford ate. All the great models ate.

Modeling is about making intelligent choices. It is also about learning from your mistakes. The definition of a model in the Webster dictionary that I would like to identify with is – a person or thing considered as a standard of excellence to be imitated.
Being a model means people adore you and young people look up to you. Wouldn’t it be great if you have the word role attached to your being a model? As in…Role Model.

Money or Name

2006-11-12T16:31:00.000-05:00

He is running towards me with that big smile on his face. "I am never late! This is only the second time in 18 years." exclaims Zang Toi, fashion designer/owner of the House of Toi, a very successful design house in New York and owner of several stores and cafes in Malaysia.

We sit down for breakfast and we talk about the TV show I am creating, 'The Next Anna Bayle'. He is all for it and he does agree that there will be so many beautiful young women all over Asia to choose from. He is confident that I can teach them what I know and is really excited for me and my project.

"17 years", Zang says with pride, that he has kept his design house running. He says, he kept it small, despite the fact that he has had offers to be bought by Japanese and Italian companies. He claims that talks were going so well until towards the end, when these companies just wanted too much of his name. He has been reading about the demise of several designers who make deals and sell their names to big companies and he vows that "He must own his name".

I don't blame him. To work so hard, to give blood, sweat and tears - only for conglomerates to buy your name and hack it to pieces.

Trevor Rodriguez, a valued Singaporean friend, whose career in fashion included executive marketing positions in various Parisian design houses (Kenzo, YSL. Romeo Gigli, Marcel Mariongiu) and head buyer for Club 21, a string of 21 boutiques in Singapore, advised me once, when I first arrived in Paris,

"Anna, you may have all the money now, and no name after.
Go for your name first, then you will have all the money after."

Sound advice...as through out my changing careers, I lived by this principle.

I have been offered many jobs when I first started modeling in Paris, like doing the design fairs, however, I turned all those down. Even if I needed the money to survive, I knew that I wanted something more. I wanted to work for all the top designers names and the only way to do that is to be like a racehorse with blinders on the side.

During my modeling career, I would always choose what jobs I wanted to do despite my financial needs. For instance, my agent, Guy Heron of Cosa Nostra (who handled only stars: Jerry Hall, Mounia, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chin) called me to say that the prestigious house of Dior really loved me, and could I please do their cabine. I wanted this opportunity because it would be fabulous to work with the great Marc Bohan. However, I refused, even though Dior was a really big name. I did not want to be a cabine girl because that would mean I could not do all the press shows I wanted to do.

Cabine modeling for big couture houses, is about working for the house, several months before a press show. The collection will be designed and fitted on you; after the press show, you and the other cabine models were to show the collection at the house 2 or 3 times a day for their extremely wealthy clientele. Cabine models are sometimes muses for the designer, like Nicole for Yves Saint Laurent and Marie Selznick for Christian Lacroix.

My agent called again with a healthy increase in the compensation, and I still said no. Finally, he called to tell me that they would pay me 'show rates' every time I showed up and that I would be allowed to work for other design houses. Since they were making an exception in my case, and I was free to do other press shows - this time, I agreed.
Most of the people working in the house of Dior probably did not know it and I know it would not be in the interest of the decision makers to advertise the fact that I was treated specially. For all I know, my agent just made it up to convince me to do this job. Nevertheless, I got paid well and I reported everyday to the house of Dior. I just kept quiet and stayed in my corner, appeased with the thought (fallacy or not) that I am valued in this house.

In New York, I was asked by one of the biggest design houses to work for them exclusively. "The sky is the limit", was the come-on. I was tempted. I told my agent, Ellen Harth of Elite Runway. A resounding "No" was her answer, as she feels it would nix me with all the other big New York designers.

Some people just want to buy you. And I agree that everyone has a price. But for me, it's not the money...it's the name.