Casting Professional Models for the Festival Mode & Design

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The Festival Mode & Design (FMD) kicks off its outdoor activities of their 15 edition on August 19 with four days of fashion related events, such as shows, pop-up boutiques and more free activities in the Quartier des Spectacles for a second time.

Geneviève Borne, the spokesperson of FMD, sat down with us and explained how they selected the models for the fashion shows.

NY (Nicole Yeba): How does the selection work?

GB (Genevieve Borne): Every year, we have the big casting at the Festival Mode & Design (FMD) where we look for a hundred of models to be on the catwalk for the shows. Model agencies send us their available models. We are a jury and we look for specific things. There are many beautiful people who audition but we choose models that have presence, know how to walk and also have charisma. Since the festival is outdoors in front of thousands of people, we don’t need people who look at the floor or who don’t smile, we need people who aren’t afraid of interacting with the crowd.

 

NB: Are there more diverse shaped models?

GB: Throughout the years, there has been fashion shows known as body diversity where all body shapes are shown. However for most fashion shows, models have to fit in sample sizes. We sometimes have the chance to present models with different body shapes and that’s important.

 

NY: What’s special about the FMD?

GB: It’s a festival with more magnitude and opens more to the public. There’s an association with Piknic Électronik where we will create one on the FMD site.

I love that it’s a festival close to the people and gives them the choice to be not only spectators but also participants. Bloggers will have their own fashion shows where they will select their own models and looks. Of course, it is also very precise with speakers who are big fashion influencers and specialists, such as Stephen Jones, a great hat creator who worked with Vivienne Westwood and many big high fashion houses.

Photos by Jennifer Guillet.