Indochine's Top Shelf

When Is It Good for a Model to Gain Weight – Or At Least Not Lose Any

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We’ve all seen it before. A popular urban model like Melyssa Ford, who gained her notoriety based on her outrageous voluptuousness, starts to slim down when Hollywood comes calling. But an interesting thing often happens. Thrust into a much more competitive group, this model who used to shine in the urban world, starts to fade into the background. Maybe she makes an appearance on a show like Entourage, or has a small feature in Maxim, and then nothing. What’s worse, because the model is no longer thick, she’s alienated her urban following as well and is stuck in limbo.

There’s no doubt that most smart women generally look at urban modeling as a launching pad to bigger and better things. For many models it’s a necessary evil. If you’re 5’4” and 145lbs., there aren’t too many commercial modeling or acting jobs you will be qualified for. So why not grab yourself a SHOW cover and maybe a couple music videos while you await greener pastures?

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The question becomes, when is the right time to start shedding the pounds that made you a phenom in the urban industry for the bright lights of Hollywood. Obviously, there is no set answer to this, but women often do it too soon in my opinion.

These days, well maintained thickness is a serious asset. fn1. Just ask Amber Rose (fn2) or Kim Kardashian (fn3). They both made millions by standing out due to their curvy figures. And women are going to drastic measures to obtain curves by any means, getting butt implants and even riskier hydrogel injections. So if a woman naturally has a 25” waist and 40” hips, it might be a good thing to hold onto. Certainly, if a model known for her curves is starting to get smaller than Kim Kardashian due to dieting, it's probably cause for concern.

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The thing is, for the most part, no one is going from the cover of SHOW magazine to the pages of Sport’s Illustrated right away, even under the best of circumstances. Even the most seasoned, well-represented models often wait years to get a chance at an SI feature. And I don’t know any urban model that has immediately transitioned to a commercial job of this caliber. In fact, the only urban models who have really made it big in the mainstream did so based on what made them famous in the urban world! For Kim Kardashian it was her larger than average backside; for Karrine Steffans it was trading on her tales of struggles in urban modeling; and for Amber Rose, again, it was based on her curvy, exotic looks.

Svelte Lauren London transferred to the big screen without using her urban appeal as a gimmick, but she was never really a well-known urban model to begin with. I think she had done one urban magazine and a couple music videos before she started doing movies. Vida Guerra successfully straddled the line between urban and commercial, alternating between BlackMen and FHM covers, but Vida started off in the white world with FHM being her first magazine.
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The bottom line is, don’t be so quick to go out and lose weight at the first sniff of success, or you might wind up with no more urban fan base and Hollywood’s doors firmly shut on you as well.
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fn.1 WHY CURVY GIRLS LIKE KIM ARE IN... AND SKINNY KATE'S OUT Scottish Star January 21, 2011
fn. 1 Rose landed a contract with top modeling agency Ford Models in the summer of '09 after posing nude with Kanye West to promote his new sneaker line with Louis Vuitton and Kanye West reportedly signed a multi-million dollar deal to ``silence'' Amber Rose When they separated,
fn. 3 The Hollywood Reporter estimated last month that the curvy Kardashians, who bypassed actual acting careers, earned a whopping $65 million in 2010 with their perfumes, reality TV shows and other products.



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