I have lived and worked for the past four years in different cities. Cities like London, Milan, Paris, Istanbul, Switzerland, and New York. I talked a little bit about it in my previous article called ‘Modelling: the things that happen behind the scenes’.  During my years as a fashion model, I created many memories, had many experiences and I have a lot of fun stories to tell. Today I will share one of those crazy stories with you.  

This story all starts because I was booked for a big and important photoshoot. At this point, I was living in New York City. My manager had called me and asked me to come visit him at the model agency. He told me he had something important to tell me. With a lot of nerves, I entered the agency. You never know if they have good or bad news to tell you. I walked to my agent, and he told me I got booked for a worldwide magazine cover. Wait, what?! I was so excited because I had never done that before. I can tell you, it’s a big deal for a model when you get booked for a magazine cover. Especially when it is for an important magazine. He told me to pack my bags because in a few days I would fly to Jersey Island.  

After a seven-hour flight from New York, I finally arrived in London. The thing with modeling is, the agency never looks at the arrival times and if it’s convenient for the model. Most of the time the agency is looking for the cheapest flights. That means that most of the time I had to fly or arrive in the middle of the night. This time was no different. After four hours of sleep my alarm clock went off and I had to go back to the airport. I met the whole team of the shoot at the airport and after a few hours of waiting, we could board our plane. Let me tell you, I had never seen an airplane so small as the one I was about to enter. I think there was only room for 20 people. Jersey Island airport was also super small. It only has one store, one restaurant, and two employees who take care of everything.  

For those who never heard about Jersey Island before it is an Island located between England and France. It is a part of the Channel Islands. It is beautiful! If you ever look for a holiday destination close to The Netherlands, I would definitely recommend you to go here.

The shoot was planned to be a two-day trip. Luckily, I already knew a part of the crew I was working with. It was the photographer of all the Gucci campaigns and the best stylist and hair and makeup artist from London. They were a lot of fun and we got along really well. After a drive through the amazing Island, we arrived at our hotel. They told me I had a few hours of free time. Later on the day, I had to come back for a fitting to see what outfits they wanted to use for the shoot. 

I decided to take a long walk on the beach and enjoy the 30-degree weather and sunshine. When I arrived back at the hotel and walked into the room where all the clothes were I soon realized it was going to be a winter shoot. The room was filled with sweaters, jackets, and long pants. That was going to be fun in the burning sun!

A new day arrived, and I had to wake up at six o’clock in the morning. I had a full day of shooting ahead of me. In the car, to our first shooting location, I got my hair and make-up done while eating breakfast. I will not describe the whole day in detail, but I will tell you some fun highlights. 

What I already mentioned before, I was shooting the winter collection at that time. Meaning at one point I had to wear 3 coats over each other. I guess that is fashion, right? This wasn’t the only crazy outfit I had to wear. Suddenly, the crew walked up to me with a rubber boat. Someone made a dress out of a rubber boat. Guess who had to wear the rubber boat? Me! They asked me to go in the water with the rubber boat on. As the person I am, I thought it was a fun thing to do so there I was with my boat and winter coat standing in the middle of the water.  

After that, we went to our next location. After a 30-minute drive, we ended up at a place with hills of sand. They told me that I had to climb all the way to the top of the hill and that I had to roll all the way down. This because they had this vision in mind and that I would look cool and artistic. So, there I went, climbed all the way to the top of the hill, and rolled down. I had to do this three times, so we were sure we had the perfect picture. The week after the shoot I still found sand in all my clothes. Another outfit I had to wear that day was a winter coat with a life jacket over it standing in the middle of the water. As well that I had to lay in a pink coat next to a pot of hummus and a bag of chips while pointing at it. I guess when you are a model there is never a dull moment on set. 

We ended the day with another dinner at the beach. We laughed and talked for hours and when it got completely dark we decided to go back to the hotel. The next day, I unfortunately had to fly back to New York and this amazing trip was over. It was a trip to never forget with the most amazing people and the best memories.  

A few months later my magazine cover hung in every big magazine store worldwide. Everyone I worked with after my cover came out was so excited for me. They thought the pictures were amazing and because of the cover, I got booked for many fashion shows and shoots. I hope you guys enjoyed that I took you along on a typical day as a model. As a model, you sometimes have to do some crazy things. You never know where it will take you in the future. As I always say, don’t be afraid to take some risk and do something crazy. Be fearless, it may end up being something incredible.