International contracts for young models
Three young models – Janine Esterhuizen, Mia Coetzee and Louwrens van Zyl – will soon leave Namibia to pursue their careers in the international arena. Esterhuizen and Coetzee have landed contracts with KAD Models, an agency based in India, while Van Zyl will be leaving for Japan where he has landed a contract with World Top Models Japan.All three are from Figures Models Namibia. The agency’s director, Juanita Koen, says it is difficult for models here to achieve such success, as they are rarely used for modelling. "Instead of using Namibian models for advertising work, catwalk work or for photos, everyone uses models from South Africa. This makes it difficult for them to have hope,” she says.
“It would help local models if Namibians would use them for modelling work and if they could be helped to go international.”
A lack of sponsorship is also a major obstacle, Koen said.
“If models have to tour themselves to get the opportunity to perhaps win an international contract, very few people want to help them with cash. This makes it challenging to get Namibia’s name out there, because many don’t have the finances to be able to tour,” she said.
Koen said that many people believe models have to be tall and skinny, but that’s not true. “If I had a dollar for all the people who think that way, I’d be a millionaire,” she joked. She explained that runway models have to be around 1.7m to 1.8m tall and have a small build, but that there are a variety of other types of modelling that prefer different types of beauty.
“Modelling is not just about tall and skinny girls, not at all,” she said. According to Koen, many agents prefer models who look natural. “They don’t want a doll with beautifully curled hair and a beautifully painted face. Then they can’t do anything to you, because you’re perfect. Naturalness is very important to us,” she said. – [email protected]