The morning rush hour in Beijing on weekdays is like a ferocious wave that hits the coast on time, and the Ukrainian girl Nora is tightly pinching the time for fear of not arriving on time, and on the other hand, she is glad that this time on the road can make her sleep easily.
Today will be a very busy day, models fish through the central booth, while designers sit on both sides to choose their own brands, fashion week interview is her most important job opportunity since coming to China.
Nora interviews the scene of China Fashion Week (Image source: China Fashion Week)
For days after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, no one knew how these models from Ukraine were feeling to walk through this short runway in a foreign country, except for themselves.
"North Drift" that crosses the ocean to work hard
Nora, 22, has a sharply contoured face, high brow bones, a slightly humped nose, and a side look clear and firm.
Nora used to be a nurse, and she didn't think she'd become a model until she was handed her business card by a modeling agency scout. Although in Ukraine, there are many girls who are born with enough conditions to embark on the road of modeling.
"I was still far from the model's figure at the time, and of course I wondered if the guy who called himself a scout was a liar."
Nora went to the scout's address with her friends after a lot of psychological struggles, until after more than a year of modeling, she recalled her first interview and would still say: "I never felt that time was so long, no one in the past would point out so many shortcomings in you in person, and no one ever described me as 'overweight'." ”
"But they also say I'm only two sizes away from success."
She knew that her height of 178 cm was an important factor in the eyes of the scouts, and Nora finally decided to consume these two sizes and try again;
She exceeded this target, plummeted more than a dozen pounds in a very short period of time, and gained love in the gym.
Nora, who has successfully lost weight, has officially begun her full-time modeling career. Nora's agency is the parent company of these models, which is responsible for building the foundation and using their photographs as a bridge to find job opportunities around the world.
Nora sent hard photos from her parent company to modeling companies in various countries, that is, she went to the world to clear customs documents, and she also came to China to start round after round of job interviews.
Nora's photographs of the work, jewelry because it has not yet been publicly released for coding processing
The Internet is often filled with model stories about Ukrainian models "forced to leave their homes": in the story, some people interview dozens of times a day and can't get a job, and many people are crowded in the same narrow room waiting for an opportunity, looking gloomy and low. Or come to China and find that people have a lot of stupid money, and they can get rich in a few months.
But if you learn about the real life of Nora, you will find that neither of these extremes is accurate;
First of all, foreign models who can get a normal work visa have a stable living guarantee.
Nora and her 3 roommates live in a house with three bedrooms and one hall in the fourth ring road of Beijing, and Jessica, a model agent who works in China, told us that in line with the domestic rental regulations, such a house will live for about 4-5 people, and each model will also have a living expenses every week, and the common area will be cleaned by her aunt every day.
"Have you ever come across the type that is more difficult to deal with when you are not satisfied with housing?"
"Oh my God, of course there is! Some foreign models from abroad feel that the room is too small, the conditions are too bad, they have become accustomed to living in an independent single apartment abroad, but please, Beijing is a place with little land, and it is still in this area. Sometimes when we meet a couple model who wants to live in the same room, we will also coordinate and do our best to meet the requirements of the model, but it is really unlikely that a single apartment. ”
In the final analysis, foreign models to make money in China is only a career choice, Jessica clearly told the girls: the living environment of North Drift is like this, I am North Drift, you are also flying over the coast to China to work and receive hourly wages in North Drift, everyone is hard, accept, face, and start working. I will try to take care of you, but you have to learn to grow.
At the same time, Jessica also stressed to us that not no interview and work means that the model has no source of livelihood, with a normal work visa to Chinese foreign models, basically the parent company requires a deposit to arrange for the model to work in China, the best margin conditions can be as high as 5,000 US dollars a month.
Especially since the epidemic, all Ukrainian models who have come to China during this period are basically good enough to deserve a margin.
In other words, even if there is not a successful interview and a job during the period in China, the model can take the deposit when she leaves, but the more opportunities the model earns, the more she earns.
"Business has losses and gains, models who make money will definitely have models who lose money, we will find a balance in the middle, and take the corresponding risks."
China is the outer model
A "transit station" to the world
There always seems to be a labeled stereotype of the group of "Ukrainian models", and before contacting Nora, we all thought we would hear a story of "having to come out to make a living because of the country's economic downturn".
After talking to them, you can clearly see that these girls have a very clear career plan for this industry.
Jessica also does not shy away from showing us the current situation of foreign models in the industry:
Every once in a while, the agent will handle a large number of information sent by the parent company, the model's appearance, age, height, three dimensions, the size of the shoes, the inference of her proficiency through the model's hard photo pose, and even the distance ticket price of the model to China, which will become an important factor in whether the company will sign the model. Among them, Eastern European countries are indeed more cost-effective because they are closer to China.
"Of course, each model is beautiful, but it is not enough to be simple and beautiful, to put it more bluntly, we only care about how much economic value a model can create, but any industry is like this, just like you are hired by the company to look at the ability to work, which is also your economic value." 」
The selected models will be sent to China by the company to obtain work visas, air tickets and residences for them, and after the epidemic, they will be quarantined for 14 days. Especially at the peak of e-commerce activities, these models will start their migratory bird-like work cycle, work hard for 3 or 4 months and then fly to the next place of work.
Interviewing models is also a double-selection process, with agencies demanding external models with strict criteria, and these models also have the freedom to decide whether to work in China or not, depending on whether working in China in their minds is in line with their career plans, Jessica joked several times that "Beijing is like a boot camp for newcomers." ”
Every year, some models who are not very skilled in business come to China to make "clothes racks" for Taobao e-commerce, accumulate work history through high-frequency interviews, and then fly to the next place to add weight to their careers. Their next stop may be Japan and South Korea, and more importantly, the traditional European fashion capitals of Milan and Paris.
For example, Laura, a model from Ukraine, chose to fly to Beijing out of her own pocket, not seeking to make money, but hoping to appear in a fashion magazine to provide a chip for her to move to the European runway again.
After arriving in China, foreign models will devote themselves to the grand stream of regional aesthetics, external models with fresh shapes will flow to the south, models who can afford to support large women's clothing will fly to Beijing, and the dark skin that is mainly exported to foreign markets will be more popular in Guangzhou;
Models with lively and healthy appearance and obvious muscle lines are more suitable for sports brands, "senior face" models are more in line with jewelry, soft sister types go to shoot good wedding styles, and underwear models are one of the best.
Many large groups are volumetric, and this kind of work is basically stable and guaranteed.
However, after the epidemic, due to the inconvenience of international transportation, the price of the medium model has risen, and it is now slightly higher than the outer model.
Contrary to the malicious speculation on the Internet, many model agents are quite protective of external models.
At the beginning of contacting Jessica, she said: If you want to ask about messy things, then slow down and don't send them.
Jessica says that every once in a while "some sort of person" comes in from all walks of life and makes confusing demands, and she gets a little excited when she mentions it: They really send messages asking for prices! Wretched!
Jessica has repeatedly stressed not to confuse professional Ukrainian models with foreign models in some of the photos circulating online. Coming to China through an agency relies on a model visa given by the embassy, while many people who work in night shows or entertainers are entertainer visas.
"I think the model's job is to show beauty, not to satisfy the ugly suspicions."
"I can only wait and pray to God"
On February 24, 2022, news of the Russian offensive was abruptly delivered to Nora's phone during a break in the jewelry shoot.
The news of "traffic jams," "nowhere to hide," and "we can hear the sirens" made Nora anxious and powerless, and her hands trembled, and fear and anxiety washed over her body over her senses—her hometown and family were going through one of the most difficult times.
Nora found that people in an extreme state and emotions could not cry.
The staff suggested that she take a break, which everyone present understood, and after a brief mood swing Nora took a deep breath and said: We can start working.
Nora's shooting on the 24th went smoothly, with a slightly sad and determined look in her eyes
On February 25, her hometown of Lviv, 300 kilometers from Kiev, in the western Ukrainian town, sounded an air defense siren.
Nora sent a chat message to a Chinese friend
The mayor asked the citizens to immediately go to the shelter for refuge, and Nora's youngest sister and teammates went to the capital Kiev for a basketball game at this time, and on the way back heard an explosion; her best friend was also fleeing the capital.
"I just wait, pray to God and hope."
Written by Liu Yiran
*All characters in this article are pseudonyms