Hold the Glamour

Last Monday morning I woke at 3.45am only to discover once I got to La Guardia airport that my flight to Texas had been delayed by TWO HOURS (the crew couldn’t get to our flight on time)… Great!

I slept for most of the journey to Texas with air plugs and eye mask ready, which was almost four hours long. Thankfully, I can sleep on airplanes. When we landed, I grabbed my Starbucks Grande Americano coffee and my driver Sam was waiting for me. He took me straight to the studio where the hair and make-up artist was ready to give me my ‘make-over’.

Lunch was served at 12.30pm. As soon as we ate, it was a quick five-minute touch-up before dressing in my first outfit to start shooting the clothes on the rack for the day. I dressed, was looked over by the stylist to ensure the clothes were looking fabulous for the camera and then when all was good to go, we shot about 50 frames on the front of the garment and approximately 50 frames on the back for all our shots. Most of the shots were head-to-toe whilst the others were thigh/waist-up or waist down (showing no face at all).

My work day ended about 5pm Texas time (6pm NY time). Sam drove me to Whole Foods for a quick shop (an organic/natural supermarket in the U.S. that I love) so I could buy my dinner, breakfast and snacks for the next few days. We also stopped by Walgreen’s so I could buy my many bottles of water for the duration of my stay… I have to stay hydrated and I love to drink water!

I checked-in to my hotel room which was quiet, clean and fitted-out with a small refrigerator and microwave. I basically bunkered down in my room after work. I make an effort to go to the gym or for a swim in the pool if the weather is warm enough, other than that, I stay in my room and make calls, return emails and take care of ‘business’. I don’t watch a lot of TV when at home so it’s a real novelty for me to be able to have it on when away on trips. I also try to get to bed early where possible. At home, I have many distractions to keep me from going to bed early, especially since I’m a night owl and I love the quiet and solitude of night.

The next day, I woke at 7am and had fruit and yoghurt in my room before being picked up at 8am. I bought my coffee on route to the studio every morning… It’s important to me to have a good cup of coffee at some stage of the morning or afternoon. At home, I make Turkish/Yugoslav/Greek coffee – whatever you want to call it. It’s all the same! When I’m away, I don’t have the luxury of making my own so it’s Starbucks.

This routine goes on for the next two days. I manage to catch an earlier flight home on the third day so I get a chance to see Mila & Levi for 45 minutes and read them a story before bedtime. It’s always a special treat for me to see my children after I’ve been away…  I cannot wait to see their little faces filled with joy and excitement. My heart starts racing.

Job number two for the week is in New York – The fitting was scheduled for an hour and I was there for almost four. I sat around on a couch in the studio for most of it. I was shooting a print campaign with seven other models (all straight-sized) the following day and we came in at different times of the day to try on a bunch of clothes to see what was going to fit and look good on us individually and then in a group shot. The stylist didn’t bring enough options and choices for me in my size. The client wanted more than one solid option.

The day of the shoot, I was up at 6am as my call time was 8am. I was asked to bring some tops and jeans from home and the stylist brought a few more clothes from her second trip to Bloomingdale’s. We go with my own clothes which is not typical on a shoot. I ended up sitting around for most of the morning, chatting to the other girls and patiently waiting for my time to hop in the hair & make-up chair. Four of the girls were shot in the morning, the rest of us in the afternoon with group shots taken just before finishing. Our day ended at 6pm with my feet hurting and throbbing from wearing four-inch YSL black Barbie heels for most of the afternoon. Ouch!

It was a good week.