Clothing Model Portfolios Website

The ClothingModel.net website is closed as of November 2014. Visitors are welcome to visit the ClothingModel.com website for modeling resources, and the description below is kept for historical reference: what the portfolio service was, how its profiles worked, and the careful line it drew between a portfolio service and a modeling agency.

The Apparel Search Company launched the Clothing Model Portfolio website as a service for fashion models to create online profiles: models could upload bios and images, build a modeling portfolio online, and use it to gain employment in the world of fashion modeling. It was a low-cost tool, built to be a model's own place on the web - part comp sheet, part calling card, part resume.

Profiles a Model Could Maintain

Models could create and modify their own modeling profile through a simple administration area, so the portfolio stayed current as their work changed. A profile could carry a professional bio and photos of prior fashion modeling projects; models without prior experience were welcome too - the service was intended for the experienced and the novice alike - and personal photos were permitted where professional ones did not yet exist, with head shots recommended so potential clients could see a clear image of the model's face.

The point of the online form is availability. A model cannot carry a full portfolio everywhere, but a casting agent met in a restaurant, a bar or even a library can be given a web page address and view the profile later. A maintained online profile turns a chance meeting into a second look, which is the first step to an assignment.

Anonymous First Contact

In an effort to assist models who wished to remain anonymous during initial contact, the service included a method for anonymous communication: a potential employer could contact a model without seeing the model's full contact details. Only after the model received the first correspondence and chose to respond would the employer learn the model's contact information.

That design, and the service's own caution, belong together. Modeling mixes beauty, money and fame, and the company's advice to aspiring models was to proceed cautiously, research carefully, and treat an online portfolio as one tool among several. All communication, modeling engagements, price negotiations and payments were strictly between the model and the employer of the modeling services; the service provided the meeting ground, not the deal.

Not a Modeling Agency

The service stated it plainly: it was not a modeling agency. An online modeling portfolio is a model's own comp sheet - bio, calling card, resume and portfolio in one address - while modeling agents provide far greater service: connections with fashion designers, fashion magazines and clothing companies, and the experience to navigate the modeling world. A serious model was advised to seek representation from a professional agency, and to research carefully, because the right agency makes a world of difference and the wrong one is a fast track to disaster.

The two work best together. An online profile can catch an agency's attention in the first place; not all agencies require exclusivity; and a model with both an agency and a personal profile may gain assignments without sharing the fee. Models with their own portfolio websites could also list those sites on their profiles for additional traffic. The portfolio service closed in November 2014, but the directory side of the family's modeling work continues at ClothingModel.com, kept in the references below.

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