How to become a model in South Africa

Fashion and runway work is the narrowest category: agencies typically look for 173 cm and up for women and 183 cm and up for men, with editorial features and clean proportions. It is also the smallest slice of paid work in South Africa.

Commercial modelling is far bigger and far more open. Brands, retailers and advertising agencies book real-looking people of every height, age and body type for catalogues, packaging, in-store, television and social campaigns. If you do not fit fashion measurements, this is almost certainly where your income will come from.

Fitness modelling covers activewear, supplements, gyms and sports brands, and rewards condition and consistency more than height. Beauty and parts work — faces, hair, skin, hands, feet — is specialised and often surprisingly well paid because clients need very specific features.

Every client asks for the same details before anything else: height, bust or chest, waist, hips, dress or suit size, shoe size, hair colour and eye colour. Measure yourself properly with a tape measure, in centimetres, and write them down.

Never inflate your numbers. A client who books you for a fitting based on wrong measurements will not book you again, and the industry here is small enough that word travels.

You do not need an expensive shoot to start. What clients need to see first are digitals, sometimes called polaroids: natural light, plain background, no makeup, hair down and tied back, in fitted clothing. A head-and-shoulders shot, a three-quarter shot, a full-length front, side and back, and one natural smile.

Shoot them on a recent phone in daylight next to a window or outside in shade. No filters, no heavy editing, no sunglasses, no group photos.

Once you are booking work, add real campaign images. Test shoots with photographers building their own portfolios are a normal way to get quality images early — agree up front in writing who can use the images and where.

South African rates vary enormously by usage. A small e-commerce or catalogue shoot might pay R1,500 to R4,000 for the day. Commercial campaigns with print and digital usage commonly run R5,000 to R15,000 per day. Television commercials and national campaigns with broad usage rights go far higher.

Usage is the part new models get wrong. The day rate pays for your time; usage pays for where and how long the images run. Always ask what the images will be used for, in which media and for how long, and agree it before the shoot.

Agencies are one route and they take a commission, usually 20 percent or more, and they only represent a small number of faces at a time. Many working South African models are freelance and get booked directly by brands, photographers and production companies.

That means being findable. A searchable profile with current photos, accurate stats, your city and your rate is what turns a search into an enquiry. VELA exists for exactly this — brands search by city and category and contact you directly, with no cut taken from your booking fee.

Legitimate work has a brief, a call sheet, a named client and a contract or written confirmation of rate and usage. You should never pay for a guaranteed booking, and no genuine client asks for money to 'reserve' a job.

Take someone with you to a first shoot with a photographer you do not know. Shoots are in studios or on location, not in private homes or hotel rooms. Nudity or lingerie work should be agreed in writing in advance, or not at all.