A Crime of Fashion Read Online Free PDF Page B

pencil, blush, bronzer, eyebrow gel, and, yes, mascara and lip gloss. Jenny’s dream is to be a make-up artist. She’s always working on different looks, and once she has a new look perfected, of course she wants to try it out on somebody. That somebody is me. I’m her life-sized guinea pig.
    â€œThe only problem is that once we release your hair and you put on your glasses, my work is all covered up. No one can see that you have a lick of anything on,” she’d say, appraising me through narrowed eyes, head tilted to one side.
    Gee, thanks, Jen. It’s nice to know that an hour’s worth of make-up applied to my face doesn’t make a difference.
    Anyway, let me tell you what being in a modelling agency is like: it’s like being on ANOTHER PLANET. A planet of long-legged, flawless-skinned inhabitants sporting abundant hair and practically see-through silhouettes.
    Even the conversation had nothing to do with my world:
    â€œMy mom is at my apartment in New York right now stocking my refrigerator with goodies. I’ll fly out tomorrow. I can’t wait to eat at home – for once!”
    â€œI have to fly to South Africa in two days. Is it, like, summer or winter there right now?”
    â€œCool bag! Balenciaga?”
    â€œI’ve been travelling non-stop for two months. I am so desperate to sleep in my own room for just a few days…”
    â€œYour boots are amazing! Whose are they?”
    â€œThey want me to cut my hair short for the Elle shoot. But, I’m talking like, really short…”
    â€œDid you know you’re on the sides of all the buses in Milan right now?”
    â€œDo you think I can eat this croissant?”
    â€œMy new chihuahua puppy scratched my face this morning and tomorrow I have to shoot beauty for W ! Do you think they can cover it with make-up?”
    I made my way to the room with the so-called “booking table”. Around this table sat the “bookers”, each facing their own computer screen. Each booker is assigned a number of models to look after. Which models they get to handle is dependent on how long they have been on the job and how good they are at “booking” a deal. The better the booker, the higher on the fame scale the models they handle will be.
    I perched myself on a chair in the corner, pulled my notebook out, and listened as the whirlwind of activity grew around me. Since I’d arrived there’d been a gradual crescendo in the amount of telephone-ringing and computer-clicking going on. Like a jet reaching its expected flight altitude it would soon level off, then continue unabated until the end of the day. The bookers sat like air-traffic controllers, earphones on, computers facing them, taking instructions, giving directions:
    â€œMaggie is not available on the 10th – she’s doing Dolce & Gabbana’s ad campaign that week. But I could give you a second option for the 15th.”
    â€œHow late are you? Okay. Okay. Listen, I’ll call the airline then I’ll call you back.”
    â€œNo, no, it’s not that studio – you’re supposed to be at the one further up the street at number 7. Go now, I’ll call to say you’ll be there in a minute.”
    A steady stream of models came in and out, stopping to get appointments or discuss their next career move with their booker. Some had just landed from New York or Tokyo, others were coming in from a nearby casting, small dogs in tow. Several of the models were deeply immersed in updating their “books”.
    A model’s “book” is her portfolio. And the newer the photos in it, the better it is, because it clearly shows you’ve been working recently. The most prestigious photos are those which are known as “tear sheets”. These are pages which are literally torn from magazines. The most in-demand models have the kind of book all new girls dream of: page after page of the