The shelf life of a fashion model is four years at best.
Supermodel Carol Alt was able to parlay her “product” ”“ herself ”“ into a career that has spanned three decades using a strong work ethic and fearless business savvy.
“I”™ve been around for 30 years in the modeling industry and have never been without a day of work. And that”™s really a feat in itself if I do say so myself,” Alt told the World of Fashion class at Roy C. Ketcham High School in Wappingers Falls on Nov. 13.
“Some girls came, and some girls went,” she said, but others such as Cheryl Tiegs, Christie Brinkley, Lauren Hutton, Brooke Shields and Elle Macpherson have had staying power.
“We”™ve been around because there”™s something different in the way we think. And the difference is that we think in terms of business.”
Alt told the students of Susanne Shand that “the business of fashion and the business world are really one in the same.”
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Great clothes, great shoes, great fashion and great parties aside, modeling is “the hardest job you”™ll ever love in your life,” Alt said. “If you”™re not 100 percent focused on this business and this career; it”™s not what you want to do. This takes everything you have out of you. It”™s nights, it”™s weekends, it”™s holidays, it”™s birthdays, as my sister can attest to.
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It”™s everything. So once you decide you want to do this, the most important thing is to focus. And that”™s what I was able to do because I came into this business as a 17-year-old kid. I didn”™t know from anything. Alt was waiting on an ROTC scholarship as a high school senior, when she decided to try her hand at modeling. “Always have an alternate plan,” she said. She got the ROTC scholarship, but found modeling more appealing.
Alt told the students ”“ who are studying design as part of the curriculum ”“ there are a number of aspects to the fashion industry in addition to modeling, including agent, photographer, stylist, and studio prop handler. “But behind all of that the real engine that makes this whole thing run is the designer. Without the designer, the model has no job. Nothing to wear. Whoops! Without a designer you don”™t have anyone to print in a magazine ”¦ a photographer doesn”™t have a job.”
Designers never work by themselves, she said.
“There”™s the business mind and the creative mind. Gianfranco Ferre had Dario (Pagliuca). And Valentino had Giancarlo (Giammetti). There”™s always a creative mind and a business mind.”
When Alt faced the end of her lifespan as a model in 1983, she asked, “What do I do now?”
She knew marketing would be the key to her success.
“Marketing is everything. You can have the best product in the world; no marketing? Nobody knows about it. You can have the worst product in the world and the best marketing and you have a hit,” she said.
“My product is me; that”™s all I got. I”™m not creating anything ”¦ other than showing up in a studio and having my picture taken. I made other people”™s creations look great.”
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She considered doing a poster as a means of marketing herself. She took the idea to her agency. “They looked like I was crazy. John Casablancas said no way. I went to my agent and asked how can I do this without John.”
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She did the poster and followed it up with four others, all successful.
But she said it got boring. While living with model Janice Dickinson, Dickinson and her sister, Debbie, landed a calendar assignment for Suntory beer in Japan. So Alt asked why not a calendar for herself? She made the suggestion to her agency and they gave it to another model. “I did my own and had five successful calendars.”
In 1987, Alt was onto exercise videos. Then it was two books on health. And then it was her own skin care line.
Alt told the class that to find something that they each really love and stick with it.
“It”™s a real long (life) to do something you really don”™t love to do.”
Her parting advice to the class was:
“My wish for all of you here is that the decisions you make further what it is you want to do and don”™t hinder it. As you get older and you get out in the business world you”™re gonna see that”™s probably the most difficult thing in the whole world; to do the thing that”™s right to further your career and at the same time make you feel good about what you”™re doing.”
