Online Modeling Different From ‘Regular’ Modeling?

There’s a story in The New York Times suggesting that online modeling is completely different than modeling for catalogs or the runway. We actually think they are pretty similar, but let’s take a look at what they say, shall we?

So what is it exactly that makes web modeling so new and different? Apparently, it’s that models have to make people want to buy clothes they can’t put their hands on.

“Web models need to be attractive, of course, but not intimidatingly so — the better, the thinking goes, to woo shoppers who may be browsing at 3 a.m. in their slippers. Many niche apparel sites direct their models to evoke just-off-the-street charm with a touch of je ne sais quoi — in other words, be “relatable,” but not a bore (as opposed to the unrelentingly cheery models on the Web site of a department store like Macy’s). While Gilt uses models full of don’t-you-want-it attitude to sell their high-end products, Rue La La, Ideeli and Swirl by DailyCandy ask their models to exude friendly warmth, rather than hauteur. Shopbop, meanwhile, uses the same distinctive models in such heavy rotation that shoppers nickname them.”

That bit about Shopbop we must admit is true — who hasn’t heard of the site’s redhead? (Turns out she’s been with the site for six years and her name is actually Elena Greenwell.) But does it really matter that a model is a size four as opposed to a size zero, or that she does her own makeup, or maybe isn’t airbrushed as heavily because she works for a site that doesn’t have the time to make her legs look any longer because they have sales every day?

Models are models are models. Catalogs are catalogs are catalogs. And no matter where they show up, good models and good catalogs are supposed to make us want things that we don’t need.  Happy spending!