Shall We Dance?

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

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

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)

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