Curve Culture Model Call

Heeeeeeyyy #KoKoPuffs! Missed you ladies! Hoping that you are staying beautiful, blessed and highly favored by the Man up above. Thank you again so much for subscribing to my blog, it means the world to know that you like to hear my perspective on the plus size fashion industry.

Soooooo, I did my first model call about three weeks ago. YAY ME! lol. I want to share my experience with you all in hopes that will not only inspire confidence but also to give you the inside scoop on my different endeavors as a plus size fashion blogger. Now, let me start off by saying, I am NOT a plus size fashion model, I've never done prints ads or anything of the sort. I'm just a full figured woman from Chicago who loves every aspect of fashion. However, about two years ago I was tagged in a a post for the Miss. Plus Size Illinois Pageant by a childhood friend who said "I bet you would kill this". So I put on my black leather sleeveless peplum dress, with my jaguar print silk long sleeve colar shirt, fishnets, black furry Bear Paw boots, lashes and lip gloss (at the time I wasn't wearing make up) and decided to give the pageant world a try. I actually did really well. I felt as if I was well spoken and fit exactly the personality they were looking for in a pageant queen. The judges even complimented my entire outfit. To my surprise I was asked to be a contestant. Unfortunately, pageant registration is extremely expensive, and the pageant practice time frame did not fit well with my masters program schedule. For those reasons, I ultimately had to decline my participation. However, I never forgot the rush of adrenaline I felt when I was asked to be a contestant. An entirely different wave of confidence came over me that I had never experienced before, and I never forgot that. Right after that, I received a DM from an ex-boyfriend with the Ashley Stewart Model search info, with a message that said" your so beautiful, I saw this and thought of you instantly"(blushing). Even though he was a day to late telling me, because the call was the day prior, it still was a beautiful gesture. One that made me think, AM I MISSING SOMETHING? Should I be giving this modeling idea more energy? Fast forward to 2016, I decided to give the fashion plus size fashion world another shot through modeling when a friend tagged me to an Atlanta based plus size fashion designers modeling call. I entered The Diva Curves Collection Plus Size calendar model search. It took about two months before I actually began to hear anything from the competition committee(talk about being on egg shells), but when I did, I was told I made the Top 30. That was exciting! Unfortunately I did not make the final cut, but to be considered out of about 300+ women to be in the Top 30 felt amazing! Now we are here, 2017, while in preparation to launch my website, my BFF tagged me to the Curve Culture Model call and I was like yaaaaaaaas! I'm there. I love their clothes and everything Curve Culture represents for the plus size woman in Chicago.

Lets rewind. Curve Culture Boutique is a plus size, THE ONLY ALL PLUS SIZE boutique based in Chicago, Illinois dedicated solely to curvy women. They have two locations in Chicago. One on the south side of the city and one near South Loop (I will post there ordering website and addresses). They sell everything from work attire (dress shirts, shirts) to night on the town apparel( gowns, pants suits, etc) to club outfits( body suits, bodycon dresses, short sets, etc.) and beautiful accessories. Their clothing can be a bit expensive at times depending on what you are looking for, but the quality is AMAZING, long lasting and TRUE TO SIZE (which is hard to say about a lot of plus size clothing(to be discussed in a future blog)). The employees are friendly and you can tell that they want to make sure you look and feel amazing in their apparel. They will definitely be on my upcoming Sites to Shop Plus list coming soon.

Back to the subject at hand, LOL, the Curve Culture Boutique Model Call. The experience was extremely exciting for me, someone with no runway experience. I didn't even have a walk! I had to simply channel my confidence and walk with pride, so that's what I did. When I arrived (the call took place at their West Loop location), I was signed in, and instructed to complete an application, then directed to take a head shot. Everything went VERY FAST. I did have time to take a picture with the Curve Culture models though, so that was cool. Before I knew it it was my turn to walk. I went to the judges, shook their hands an introduced myself, then stood at the beginning of the walking path and posed as if I was about to break out into a flag performance.LOL! Toes pointed in my heels and hands on hips with a big smile. SUCH A ROOKIE! LOL! As Ciara and Nicki Minaj's Im Out blared through the speakers, I took off down the cat walk. Being one of the women who got there during the later half of the second/last say of auditions, I didn't know I was only supposed to walk back and forth once, so I walked twice, an even hit them with a confident hair flip like I KNEW I killed it. Then I was stopped by one of the judges, who then reiterated for everyone who arrived after the instructions were given, how many times to walk the catwalk. HOW EMBARRASSING! After that I was done, I watched a few other women walked. Then I left, and that was the end. Altogether I may have been there 20 minutes. I thought, wow, do calls always go this fast? To which my sister told me yes, they generally do. About two weeks later they posted to their Instagram page that all the women who were picked would be contacted by that Tuesday. Tuesday came and went with no call or email, so I knew I wasn't chosen. Even though I wasn't chosen, I still fill confident, excited and courageous that I even decided to attend the call at all, and you better believe, IT WONT BE MY LAST!

There were a few aspects of my attempt however, that I wish I could have changed. For starters, I would have worn a different outfit. I think that because the call attire was so straight forward (black pants, black tops) I became slightly over anxious about what to wear. In the end I was cute, but I should have SLAYED! I knew better. Second, I didn't smile at all during my head shot, although, I'm not exactly sure why. Last, I would not have smiled as hard as I did when I hit the catwalk. I feel like I should have took more like a angry diva and less like a high-school freshman the first day of class. All in all, great experience, great people, fun time. Later #KoKoPuffs !

Curve Culture South Loop Address: 614 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL 60607 Phone: (312) 265-0200 curveculture.com

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