What Is Editorial Modeling
Love Magazine (issue 17.5) model: Slick Woods, photography: Alasdair McLellan, fashion editing: Katie Grand.
Vogue Australia (October 2017) model: Fei Fei Sun, photography: Robbie Fimmano, styling: Katie Mossman.
Elle Men Hong Kong (2017) model: Rafal Kontny, photography: Lukasz Wolejko-Wolejszo, styling: Fabiana Vardaro.
Editorials are four to ten-page visual stories that showcase fashion, beauty, and lifestyle trends in magazines. Although the models, clothes, and accessories are usually the main focus, creative hairstyles, makeup, and props can also be the feature and add to the theme of the fashion story.
The magazine genre and the theme of the editorial greatly affect the model casting. Fashion magazines, for example, V Man or Harper’s Bazaar, book models that have an edgy or high fashion look. Some lifestyle magazines, like Self and Men’s Health, tend to use models that are more commercial and possibly athletic.
Shape Magazine (April 2013) model: Daria Pilnitskaya, photography: Jamie Nelson, styling: Katie Goldsmith.
Along with physique and features, models require patience. There is a lot of makeup and hair preparation, light set up, and prop placement that is involved. Models should also know how to move and deliver different expressions. Lastly, they must be open-minded; editorials are constantly evolving with new creative concepts.
Editorial poses consist of angular lines and are either static or in movement; including jumping and running. The model’s expression is typically pensive, or a strong reaction to something. However, for a lifestyle magazine, models are more likely to smile while showing off the clothes, product, or even fitness exercise. Nevertheless, models must move with fluidity.
Editorial modeling is not as easy as it looks. Holding your body in uncomfortable positions for hours under hot lights, or wearing inappropriate footwear while traversing mountains is no picnic. Additionally, because editorials promote trends for the upcoming season, a common challenge is modeling summer clothes during winter, and vice versa. Nevertheless, you will most likely end up with beautiful photos that will give your portfolio a boost.
