At the start of the summer, Oriana was asked to model for Zara’s Back to School campaign!
Yep, Zara.
Zara!!! The international fashion retailer with stores in over 96 countries (according to Google, lol).
It goes without saying that this was such an exciting opportunity; for both Oriana as an individual, and for us as a family to see the increase of big brands being inclusive of children with differences and disabilities in their marketing. We travelled to Bristol for the shoot, and Oriana was in her element in front of the camera. And the photos (taken by photographer and artist Martin Parr) could not be any cuter either….
When Oriana’s little face was splashed across the Zara Kids website we had such a lovely reaction from our friends and family, as well as on social media. Everyone was so encouraging and really excited for Ori to have this opportunity. But we also had a lot of questions on how this came about and how Oriana got into modelling, so I thought I would give a little more detail in this post. Working for Zara wasn’t Oriana’s first modelling job either; when she was younger she got the opportunity to model for luxury children’s fashion brand Raspberry Plum, sold in Selfridges. I still love the images from this so much, taken by photographer Sonya Hurtado (see below, & also 2x BTS pics!).
It is maybe useful to state that I have some modelling experience myself, as I did this since my early teens until my late 20s, so I was already quite aware of the type of industry we would be getting involved in and whether Oriana would enjoy it or not. There are some factors you may want to consider before deciding if this is something your child may enjoy:
Travel: Most major agencies are in London or Manchester, and the jobs from these agencies can be anywhere too. The agency we are with for Oriana has a lot of jobs in London, so you will need to consider if you are willing/able to travel, and if this is something that your child will enjoy or if it will make them overwhelmed/stressed/anxious.
Time: When we first signed Oriana up to an agency I worked part time and Oriana wasn’t in pre-school yet, so it was reasonable to fit in modelling jobs and have a quiet day planned the following day to catch up on ourselves. Since then I have increased my hours and Oriana is now in school, meaning that we don’t really have the time or availability to take on many jobs at all.
Lifestyle: A lot of jobs can be quite last minute (by my definition anyway - i.e. just a couple of weeks notice to take time off work, make travel and accommodation arrangements, request authorised leave from school), you may be invited to castings where you don’t place a job afterwards, or you may get pencilled in for jobs which you are later not needed for. Like I say, when Oriana was younger these things were ok for us, but now she is older this is less practical.
Enjoyment: If your child is quite shy, and gets embarrassed or upset with a lot of attention on them… they probably won’t enjoy modelling! Do they cope well with new environments, meeting new people, wearing new clothes/fabrics/textures, or with people touching their hair and skin (particularly something to consider if your child has some sensory challenges with these things)? Castings can be quite fast paced once your slot arrives - try the clothes on, jump in front of the camera, say ‘cheeeeese’…and done! Will the sudden change in pace, staff, and rooms upset your child? On the other hand, photoshoots can be quite long winded for children. Lots of very similar shots taken until the brand are sure they have what they want, waiting in between outfits for lighting to be set up and tested, adjustments to be made, or props to be moved, and waiting for other models to have their images taken if there is a group of you. Some children may hate this and it could end up really feeling like ‘work’ to them instead of something you want them to enjoy.
A thick skin: This one is maybe more for the parents! There will no doubt be occasions you will be pencilled in for jobs or sent to a casting...for it to amount to nothing. You need to be certain you won’t take this personally; it can be as simple as the clothes for that brand not fitting your child as nicely as they did a slightly bigger/smaller built child, or them deciding they want a blonde model instead of a brunette.
How?
So, to get to the point… Oriana was able to be chosen for these amazing photoshoots as she was represented by a modelling agency. This is not the only way to model - some models are self-represented, using social media profiles as their portfolio. However, we decided to go down the more traditional route. The benefits of going with a modelling agency over being self-represented are that they already have contacts and working relationships with brands, they are able to handle the legal side of any work you may get (such as what rights the brand will have with the images they get etc.), they will know what is a standard rate of pay for each job and will ensure that you aren’t paid too little, and their whole job is placing models with brands! They do take a percentage of your pay from each job they book you for though, and may have some requests in their contract that you aren’t represented by anyone else whilst you are with them.
Cost?
Agencies can no longer ask for money up front for representing you (potentially for you to never place a job), which is why they take a percentage of pay from each booked job instead. Your agency may ask that you have professional photographs taken for their website and portfolio, which will cost some money (and may need to be updated relatively often if it is a young child they are representing who changes and grows regularly) although you can still get booked for jobs without this. Some jobs will pay for your travel and accommodation, and some won’t… so it depends how much you want to do this to earn some money for your child, or just to give them an experience they may not otherwise get.
Who?
Oriana is represented by Zebedee - an inclusive talent agency. We ended up choosing Zebedee almost by chance. There was a post put out on social media asking if anyone knew a little girl with Down Syndrome who fitted into clothes size 6-9 months, and for them to submit images to this agency. We responded, and the next thing we knew Oriana had been chosen to model for Raspberry Plum and we were signing a contract with Zebedee! Otherwise, I’m not sure we would have really thought of getting Oriana an agency until much later (when she was old enough to express an interest herself), and it may have just been a typical agency that was more local to us, rather than an inclusive agency with multiple models with DS represented on its books.
As mentioned, now Oriana has started school and I work 5 days a week, this may be her last modelling job for the foreseeable. But what a way to finish! She really enjoyed taking part in this shoot, and as the only child on set (that we were aware of) with a disability she was treated with care and respect throughout. Since having Oriana, it has been great to see the increase in big brands using models with differences and disabilities to demonstrate inclusion and work towards changing the face of beauty. We are thrilled to have been able to be a part of that, and look forward to showing Oriana the images again in years to come, to celebrate what she did.
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