Kid models and their parents learn that child's play can also pay.
In the late 1990s, star-struck Ukrainian parents sought out modeling careers for their children, sometimes even before teaching them to read. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, modeling became a prestigious childhood activity, replacing athletics, music and foreign language study in the lives of many youth.
Modeling studios and schools for kids sprung up like mushrooms.
“People were really obsessed [with having their children model], but the idea has been discredited today,” says Masha Manyuk, director of Linea 12 agency. “The trend peaked three years ago.”
People may now be less hysterical than they were five years ago, but child modeling is not totally out of fashion.
“My 13-year-old niece is the tallest in her class. She was shy, and ashamed of her height,” recalls Olena Chaika. “My sister enrolled her in courses at a modeling school, and within three months, we couldn’t recognize the girl!”
Inspired by her niece, Chaika ordered a portfolio, at $10 per photo, for her 10-year-old Mariyka.“Mariyka spends all her time in front of the mirror trying on clothes,” Chaika says. “She dreams of becoming a model. It’s so natural at that age. All girls in her class dream about it.” Today, Kyiv is home to about 30 modeling schools and courses, taught at modeling agencies, secondary schools and kindergartens. Courses in Kyiv cost between Hr 90 and Hr 250.
The sky’s the limit
Four years ago, Ukraine’s Karin Models opened a children’s division in response to increasing customer demand. Demand for child models was low in comparison to demand for adult models, but it existed, says Halina Kozak, director of the children’s studio at Karin Models.Today, the agency has a database of more than 500 children aged from a few months to 15 years. Children between five and 12 can attend the agency’s modeling school, accompanied by there parents, twice a week, to learn acting techniques, rhythm and motion, speech, and etiquette. Older children learn how to deal with the agency’s clients and how to negotiate and sign contracts. “Students learn discipline, how to behave naturally on the runway, and how to model clothes,” says Kozak. Child models are most frequently used in advertisements, industry sources say. In Ukraine’s nascent children’s clothing business, children are not in high demand on the runway. “Relatively few clients want to work with young models, and there are practically no children’s fashion shows,” said Manyuk. Karin Models children’s school works with Lapin House, Baby Marlen, Daniel and Umo 7…14.In Ukraine, children’s clothing is not a large business that needs promotion, Manyuk explains. Adult clothing brands often have children’s ranges, for much the same reason that modeling agencies have divisions for kids: offering products and services for children in the fashion and modeling industry is more a matter of prestige more than of profit, Manyuk adds.According to industry insiders, being able to offer child models is not a profitable business in its own right, but is vital if an agency is to offer a full range of services to clients.
Never fully dressed without a smile
According to Natalia Sydorenko, director of Karin Models, boys and girls are equally in demand, but customers prefer to work with children aged four to eight who are “lively and active with a bright smile, but disciplined enough to handle a shoot.”The trend in Ukraine is to hire models with Slavic features to advertise products, even foreign-made ones, on the Ukrainian market.“In advertisements for foreign and local consumer goods, the preference in the last few years has been for local faces… even if the product is Japanese,” says Kozak.Manyuk and Natalushko said that child models can earn from $20 to $80 per day for magazine, billboard, and television appearances.Kozak says her agency stresses that modeling should be a way to have fun while developing useful skills. However, some young models and their parents are driven by the idea of money and fame, and take the business very seriously. But not everyone can win all the time, which is why Kozak’s agency teaches young models to deal with disappointment as gracefully as they would a photo shoot. Children not selected as a contest winner or not cast for a part are taught to analyze the situation, identify their weaknesses, and try to improve.Karin Models is a founder of the “Mini-Model of Ukraine” annual televised competition, which is already in its fourth year. Kozak emphasizes that it is not a beauty contest. “Ugly children don’t exist, all children are beautiful,” says Kozak. “It’s not the cutest one who wins: it’s the one who works the most professionally.”
Not for everyone
Not all professionals involved in the modeling industry believe that training children as professional models is necessary or appropriate. “The demand [for child models] is so small that there’s no real need to specially train children for it,” Manyuk says. A child’s sincerity and spontaneity are enough to please a client, she adds. “If a child is naturally artistic and well-bred, he or she will get parts,” Manyuk says. Natalia Natalushko, casting manager at casting agency Pronto Productions, says that modeling makes children less child-like. “Children must have a childhood; going to school to learn to model isn’t what they should be doing,” Natalushko says. Since 1999, Natalushko has been casting actors for commercials, shows and movies. She has worked with professional child models in the past, but generally prefers not to. “It’s hard for child models to work in front of the camera: they are already educated to demonstrate, to show, and their natural grace has been killed.”
