|
Push your boundaries
♦
ften in life, you will be asked to do things that aren’t very
comfortable. For instance, public speaking. This is an area that
terrifies many and is fairly common. You may have to get up and do
introductions for a meeting, pitch to a client, or convince a bunch of
investors that what you are trying to do is really worthwhile.
I’ve always been confident when giving talks; that’s not a problem.
In the nutrition world, I am very comfortable with my nutrition
knowledge as I continue to study, taking seventy-five one-hour
exams every five years to retain my accreditation and reading up on
new research work every day.
In the modeling world, as a commercial model—which means I
model for catalogs, airlines, hotels, teeth, hair, makeup—I’m very
comfortable.
• • •
Now for the uncomfortable situations:
As someone new in a city, it’s always uncomfortable to walk into a
roomful of strangers. I’ve already addressed that.
Then there’s the uncomfortable situations that have happened in
my modeling career since I turned sixty: posing nude twice! When I
was asked to model naked for Time magazine, I said, “No. I don’t do
naked.”
They continued to pressure me to do the shoot. I called Kimbal
and Tosca to tell them about the opportunity.
Tosca said, “You don’t do naked.”
Kimbal said, “Mom, it’s Time magazine. It’s going to be just fine.”
He was right. It ended up being just fine.
When you are asked to do something outside of your comfort zone,
it is okay to say no. I said no to nude shoots for fifty years. But I
figured, Time magazine is a safe place to try it once. The
photographer was well-known and did beautiful work, so that’s why
it was worth it.
• • •
I wasn’t sure how comfortable I would be with the preparation, but
they had me in a room with two women who helped me get ready
with natural nails, hair, and makeup. Totally fine.
They sat me on the floor with a mirror in front of me, so I could
see exactly what the photo would look like.
Then the photographer came in, a male photographer, and he took
the photos and left. So that was fine, too.
They were tastefully done and were beautiful photos. In the end,
they moved the photo to the cover of the Health segment inside
instead of as the cover of Time. My agent was not happy, and she
said the photographer wasn’t either, because that wasn’t what they
booked us for.
I wasn’t very upset about not having my naked photo on all the
newsstands. So that was fine for me!
• • •
New York magazine called my New Jersey agent, and they also
wanted me to do a nude shoot. This time, they said they wanted to do
the Demi Moore pose. This time, I would appear to be pregnant.
I was with Tosca, and I said, “You can’t believe this—they want me
to do the Demi Moore pose.”
This time, she said, “Do it!”
I said, “Why would I do it?”
She said, “It’s iconic!”
I didn’t want to do it, but she changed my mind.
They wanted a natural look, with harsh lighting, because they
wanted me to look seventy. I was only sixty-two at the time, and they
wanted me to look much older than I was, and I didn’t mind. I had
often done that.
I wore nude underwear and pasties, but I still felt pretty naked.
They brought a pregnant woman to the shoot; she was having her
baby that week. She’d forgotten she had a tattoo under her belly, so
they had to photoshop that out. We were both photographed, and
then they photoshopped her belly onto me, for the pregnant effect.
The picture was shown across the world, on TV shows and in
newspapers, with the cover line “Is She Just Too Old for This? New
Parents over 50—Child Rearing’s Final Frontier.”
Funny enough, months after that, I was on a photoshoot, and
people were happy I’d lost my baby weight. I told them I wasn’t
pregnant and I’m sixty-two!
Afterward, everybody said, “Did it make you feel free to do nude
shoots?”
No! It was highly uncomfortable, and I felt quite awkward about it.
If I didn’t show it, it was because I’m a model and I’m a professional.
If I did it, it’s because I trusted both magazines. Now that I know
what it feels like, it’s not necessary for me to try it again.
• • •
There are many times when stepping outside my comfort zone has
been a great opportunity. When I had to dance as Martha Graham
for a photo shoot, that was way out of my league. I watched a video,
as I am not a great dancer. I just copied the videos. Some of the shots
were with the lead dancer of a ballet company. He said I should just
fall into his arms. I did, and it felt wonderful. He was so strong. The
photos were fantastic. I looked like a professional dancer. The
problem is that since then, everyone wants me to dance in photo
shoots!
When I did CoverGirl, they wanted me to dance on a rooftop, in
heels. I said to them that I couldn’t dance, but they didn’t believe me
because of the Martha Graham story. I had to convince them to bring
me a choreographer. They did. She danced behind the camera, and I
just copied her. Since then, many of my shoots have me dancing.
Who knew?
When I did an editorial for Hypebeast, wearing hip-hop street
styles to appeal to another demographic, the millennials, I showed
that grandmothers could model streetwear brands and look stylish. I
actually had to try to remember how the stars on the TV series
Empire danced. I wish I had paid more attention; however, people
loved the shoot. That ended up being quite fun and opened up a
whole new fashion arena for me. Because of that shoot, we got to
show that fashion has no age limit.
• • •
What I have learned is that sometimes you could be uncomfortable
with your style, but give it a try, and don’t let anything like age limit
you.
I’
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
