A 20-min interview squeezed into a single post (don't worry, I did not leave out anything important!):
Her beginnings: she was not scouted. She simply decided to become a model and, aged 16, went to "the best agency in the country" in her opinion - Avant. They liked her but told her to lose. She lost weight and a month after signing the contract she left for Milan to do the Fashion Week. She skipped the "working in China" phase that new models usually undergo.
She has worked in maaaany countries since then, says the best money is in the US and Germany. However, she was paid 7000 euros for the Fila campaign in Milan (which was her first campaign ever). 9h work + overtime. Asked what was her favourite job she mentions Fila again. Being her first, she thinks she started from a very high level and had a bit of an unrealistic view of the industry and modelling. She experienced the real "bad side" of being a model much later. She liked working for Sephora too - it was quick and professional. She enjoys editorials because they tell the visual story.
Parents: her mom was very supportive, dad was not, at all. He did not see modelling as a real job until she actually earned real money. Same with Youtube, acting etc. Dads are just pragmatic.
Education: She is still in Uni, studying directing in Moscow part-time. It's hard to squeeze it into her schedule and gain the knowledge in a short period of time but she loves creating. She loves the process of it. This is the motivation behind her modelling too - not necessarily money, but the process itself. She took part in two music videos (one was a spoken role - her first acting experience) for Russian and Ukrainian artists. She enjoyed it even more than photoshoots.
Half of her jobs comes through Instagram. In LA the first question she's asked on castings is: how many followers do you have? At the same time, in LA and US they would NEVER tell you "you need to lose" or "you need to gain". People in the US are very delicate and inclusive in comparison to Europe (from my own experience aka
@FlatWhite 's I 100% agree!), even in the biggest agencies.
The standards in the industry are changing. She thinks 88 hip is MAX for a runway model but she keeps seeing girls that are 90/91/92. Same with height - she sees girls that are less than 178 and do runways. But that's OK, they are really good walkers. She calls herself a clothing rack because she knows she's very skinny - lost 13 kg. Unfortunately, stereotypes are still commonly repeated: models are stupid is the most painful one. In fact, she meets a lot of intelligent and interesting girls in the industry.
Work-wise, she does not mind shooting topless. She likes her body and feels comfortable in front of a camera. She believes in the law of attraction and visualisation and she does a lot of that. Asked about how much money she earns, says:
usually 300 euros/day in Europe, in the US it's 1200 dollars. The max she earned for the campaign was 10 000 euros. Her friend brought 40 000 dollars after a month in China.
Dream jobs: Petra Collins and Tim Walker.
Funny stories: She once shot for a makeup brand (beauty) and they used cosmetics of a different brand to do her makeup, as if they didn't believe in their own product. Also, she once shot a hand jewelry campaign cause they liked her hands. It was very hard. She was not allowed to go o the bathroom or eat and they changed her nail polish like 100 times. It was intense with two people standing next to her, watching the diamond rings on her fingers.
That's that. Hope it helps!
) and the ''sultry eyes, pouty lips'' pose in plain pictures. Don't understand girls who have to have xxxtra long hair when it just turns out to look dead. I mean the least you can do is to take care of it then, at least brush once in a while
Girl isn't that expressive is she
