My first time as a model

By: Thea Neal Posted: 04/24/09 10:24am Comments: 0

I’m short. No, like really short.

I’m 5-foot-1, just like I’ve been since seventh grade. So when my friend Lauren Drapes asked me to model in the Student Apparel Design Association “Lights, Camera, Fashion” show, I was a bit worried.

I spent last summer working with models on a daily basis. The models I met in New York City were the opposite of me. They were gorgeous, skinny, oddly perfect, graceful and (sometimes) pretty cool. I, however, am slightly dorky, built like a typical Latina, the opposite of perfect and clumsy as heck.

I didn’t really think I was model material. But I did it anyway.

I showed up to the Lansing Center with my modelesque best friend, Morgan Wilson. Morgan is 5-foot-11, weighs as much as I do and has legs for miles. When I walk next to her I feel a lot like I did in New York – the assistant next to the gorgeous model. How was I going to walk behind this in a real fashion show?

Let’s just say it required a lot of make-up and a lot of confidence. The “normal me” and the “model me” are much, much different. It’s like Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce . I needed to find my inner Sasha Fierce, and she required big hair and lots of bright yellow eye shadow.

After getting fitted in an alpaca-fur bodice (Lauren based her line off the film Napoleon Dynamite), I pulled on a huge, poufy short green skirt. I looked like a reject from a box of Betsey Johnson leftovers, but I told myself I could make it work.

Wrong – I walked on stage, and I walked too fast. I tried to be confident, but I’m pretty sure I ended up looking at the ground like an idiot. I was a great big ball of struggle.

I’m not sure what made me choke on the runway. You’d think after all the hours I spent watching fashion shows on my computer, I would be able to not suck at walking myself.

So, I developed a theory. Why do they have tall models? Because runways are long. I have to take two steps to cover their one, meaning I have to walk faster to keep up with the music. More or less, I’ve begun making up excuses as to why I sucked.

Well, I must not have sucked that much, since Lauren asked me to do the show again for her next year. In the meantime, hopefully I can freshen up my walk and grow about 9 inches in the process.

I wonder if I still have the phone number of Myf Shepherd anywhere…

My first time in a parade

Posted 03/23 @ 5:07pm (0 comment(s) )

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My first guitar

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My first pro-tennis tournament

Posted 02/13 @ 12:21pm (0 comment(s) )

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My first cage fight

Posted 01/28 @ 1:54pm (1 comment(s) )

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My first outdoors assignment

Posted 01/22 @ 6:38pm (4 comment(s) )

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My first Toronto New Year's Eve

Posted 01/07 @ 6:17pm (2 comment(s) )

At noon on New Year’s Eve, I decided I wanted to spend the night in Toronto.

My first Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert

Posted 01/07 @ 2:35pm (0 comment(s) )

I didn’t want to go.

For my stepmom’s birthday, my dad scooped up some tickets via Craigslist to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in December at The Palace of Auburn Hills. To my dismay, he had four tickets, meaning I’d have to tag along with my little sister and my parents.

My first case of 'word vomit'

Posted 11/25 @ 4:39pm (2 comment(s) )

In the past forever since I’ve updated last, I’ve experienced a few firsts. I cooked Mexican for 11 people (no food poisoning for anyone), I visited the Alumni Chapel, I managed to have a monstrous case of intoxicated word vomit (I’ll explain), and, oh yeah, I voted in my first presidential election.