In honor of New York Fashion Week, which begins today, our new Q&A subject is John Caplan, the president of Ford Models. In the comments section below, feel free to ask him anything you like, except for personal phone numbers. (See here, here, and here for earlier reader-generated Q&A’s.)
Ford is one of the largest modeling agencies in the world, and the only one that includes divisions for men, women, children, plus sizes, fit models, runway, and parts models. Its supermodels include Christie Brinkley, Rachel Hunter, and Elaine Irwin.
Caplan joined Ford in 2002, since which time the company has seen enormous growth, accomplished in part through the development of Ford Media, an online video service that produces Web videos on topics like fashion, beauty, and fitness. It is currently one of the top ten destinations on Youtube. Ford also uses the web to scout models, partnering with MySpace to offer a Supermodel of the World site which lets would-be models apply online for representation by the agency. The site receives more than 1,000 applications a day; so far since its launch, Ford has signed up 47 of the applicants.
Addendum: You can read the answers to these questions here.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
My question:
If the following list was selection criteria for a runway model how would you rank them regardless of designer:
- facial features
- body shape
- poise
- hair
- skin quality
- intelligence
My question:
If the following list was selection criteria for a runway model how would you rank them regardless of designer:
- facial features
- body shape
- poise
- hair
- skin quality
- intelligence
I run retouchpro.com, the largest online community for working and aspiring retouchers. One of my hardest tasks is coming up with rights-cleared and model-released unretouched model images for our aspiring retouchers to learn and practice on. We also have contests, etc., where these would be very useful.
This might be useful for some of your new or aspiring models. They need retouching, we need models to retouch. Is there any way we can get together on this?
I run retouchpro.com, the largest online community for working and aspiring retouchers. One of my hardest tasks is coming up with rights-cleared and model-released unretouched model images for our aspiring retouchers to learn and practice on. We also have contests, etc., where these would be very useful.
This might be useful for some of your new or aspiring models. They need retouching, we need models to retouch. Is there any way we can get together on this?
As a freelance web designer/developer, I’m curious what role personal websites play in the careers of upcoming models and actors. Would you say such sites are necessary for an aspiring/budding model/actor? Do they make things easier for industry professionals such yourself, and how would you advise models asking you about the value of a personal site? And within the industry, are most of these sites created by established and networked agencies, or is there room for the occasional freelancer?
Thanks in advance!
As a freelance web designer/developer, I’m curious what role personal websites play in the careers of upcoming models and actors. Would you say such sites are necessary for an aspiring/budding model/actor? Do they make things easier for industry professionals such yourself, and how would you advise models asking you about the value of a personal site? And within the industry, are most of these sites created by established and networked agencies, or is there room for the occasional freelancer?
Thanks in advance!
Can a moderately fit, six-foot-tall economist with slightly above average looks and slightly above average body hair make it as a model? Just curious.
Can a moderately fit, six-foot-tall economist with slightly above average looks and slightly above average body hair make it as a model? Just curious.