Has High School Taught Me How to Model?

I remember in high school (which was literally six months ago) when a new student would enter into one of my classes halfway through a semester. It was always so awkward for me because I could feel their awkwardness beaming off of them. I could never imagine that new school year butterflies halfway through a school year. Everyone's already got their cliques and half of the material has already been learned. But before you know it, that new student is just another student in high school. They catch up to the material, find what group they fit in and start living out their high school career. Madison, why the hell are you talking about high school and the newbies? Well harshly critical readers, I just started my modeling career and I literally feel like a newbie in high school. A week ago I had my first casting and it was as if you threw me into the Artic Ocean completely naked. It was a cold day to be traveling, but I had no idea what I was doing or how to survive this casting. I tried to play it smart by asking around to other model friends about what to wear, what to do for hair and makeup and what clients look for. The collective pool told me it's kind of like a job interview. If you're going to the U.N. for a job interview, you're not going to wear overalls and a t-shirt, right? Same with clients, you want to embody what the client wants. You also don't want to lather on the makeup either. Go natural so they can see what they can build on. One girl came for an open call for an agency and she was wearing makeup so bad to the point were I wanted to scrap some off. We both went in and both got rejected, but the agents didn't even take digitals of her...awkward. So going into the casting, I thought what I was wearing was a good idea. I came to my casting ten minutes early with my temporary comp card and with minimal makeup, clean hair, skin and a hair tie. ALWAYS bring a hair tie. I went in, tried on shoes and was told my feet were too big for the shoes. After that I left. It's that quick. After my first casting, I left reviewing every thing that happened. Kind of like the first test you take in class and you review and review to check and see how you can improve for the next. I realized coming early wasn't so bad, but I needed to improve on my personal style, my confidence level and even my skin. I've been on a ton of other castings since then, but from every one, I take away something new each time. Yesterday, I met up with a friend and she gave me some advice on personal style. Think of it like this blog. Through my writing, the things I talk about and the design of my blog, people can get a sense of my personal style. Same with castings and life really, how do you want people to view you? Casual, girly, fancy? In an industry that has a LOT of the same looking girls, how can I individualize myself to stand out enough? It's a tough question to answer and I'm still doing my research, but it makes me think about my life in that sense. How can I individualize myself among billions of other people to stand out and make a statement. From coming from these castings, I can say that in life you literally only have three minutes to really get someone's attention. How can you do this? I know I have to start being more bold and carefree. Having confidence goes a long way and your style including your clothes, hair and how you live your life is so important to who you are. Be like that newbie in high school who comes in one day looking normal and then pops in the next class looking like a member from Korn. Startling, but individual.