Five minutes until the top of the show!” As makeup artists powder and blend away the contour beneath her cheeks and hair stylists tug to pull her hair in a tight low ponytail, sophomore Abby Bush, dressed in Calvin Klein’s sports collection, shuts her copy of “Jane Eyre” – which she is reading for her English class – and scrambles to get ready to walk New York Fashion Week.
Bush’s modeling career took off last October when she was approached by the director of Wallflower Agency while shopping on Knox Street. A few months later, she was racing around the Dallas area and beyond, modeling for various brands and designers, including Kendra Scott and Calvin Klein. But with all that glitz and glamour, she’s been forced to prioritize school, sports and modeling.
“The coolest shoot I’ve ever done is definitely modeling for the Kendra Scott spring collection for 2016,” Bush said. “It really made me realize how lucky and fortunate I am to do what I do because modeling for my favorite jewelry brand was very surreal.”
Oftentimes, Bush receives a call the night before a shoot or show, and needs to decide in that moment if she will take the job. In her mind, school always comes first. If she has a big test or project due, she will choose not to accept the job. But when she is offered once in a lifetime opportunities like walking New York Fashion Week, Bush is willing to put school on hold.
“Walking for Calvin Klein was super scary but so cool because everything and everyone was so professional, and I loved the clothing and all the models I got to work with. I grew so much as a model from this experience,” Bush said.
However, in order to keep up with school, Bush has learned to multi-task and use all of her free time. This means doing homework or studying en route to jobs, keeping a spare stack of notecards in her suitcase, and downloading the Quizlet app on her phone. She also takes full advantages of Y periods and conferences to ask teacher questions and to get a head start on homework. And although spending more time in New York exploring Fashion Week would have been ideal, Bush completed her trip in less than two days in order to minimize time away from school as much as possible.
But there is more to Bush’s busy schedule: sports. As a member of Hockaday’s junior varsity field hockey team, she has missed multiple games and practices to walk runways or model for photo shoots.
“I made a commitment to my team at the beginning of the year,” Bush said, “So I am there the majority of the time to do anything I can to help out the team.”
And Bush is also not the only Hockaday model that is finding the balance between rocking the runway and keeping up with school and extracurriculars.
Freshman Gabri Kim is also a model for Wallflower Management, and like Bush, her modeling career started unexpectedly. Last summer, Kim was her friend’s plus one at a Wallflower event, and after talking with the directors of the agency, she received her own contract a week later.
Kim, also a member of the junior varsity field hockey team, often goes to downtown Dallas after sports practice to collect digitals. By the time she’s home, she only has a couple of hours to finish all of her homework.
These girls know the importance of school over modeling and, as of right now, pursue modeling as a hobby.
“Even though modeling is so much fun, I would love to do something more substantial when I get older because I have other interests,” Kim said.
For senior Olivia Stern, her career started in the seventh grade at a hair salon when a man sitting a few chairs down gave her his card. She now models for Kim Dawson Agency in Dallas and has experience with big department stores like JCPenny in her resume.
Because she does mostly runway work, Stern’s weekdays schedule is often booked with Dallas lunch or dinner events that require her to miss school. However, she says that if she is honest with her teachers about her whereabouts, they are usually very understanding.
Although Stern no longer plays sports, in her freshman year, she had to race from a big show straight to a lacrosse game, playing the entire game in full runway makeup and hair. Granted, both teams were a little confused, but Stern was there and ready to play.
These Hockaday students are following behind the footsteps of many alumnae models. Olivia Whittaker, for instance, a current freshman at the University of Southern California, often missed conference periods, lunches, Y period and free periods to rush to castings or jobs downtown. Many might recognize Whittaker from billboards, websites or magazines as she served as the face of Cantu Beauty, an ethnic hair care line. Although she gained success with modeling, she always kept school as her number one focus. Like Bush, she learned to do homework in between shots or while she was getting her makeup done, even if it was embarrassing in front of other models.
Whittaker had some advice for girls who work as models during high school.
“Stay focused and keep true to yourself. While modeling can seem cool and glamorous, it’s very temporary, and a great education – like the one you all are receiving at Hockaday – is much more ‘glamorous’ and valuable in the long run,” Whittaker said, “Also, don’t ever compromise yourself or your values. There’s always an opportunity knocking at another door.”
Aurelia Han – Staff Writer
