‘Instagram Models’ Now Need At Least 10,000 Followers to Land Legit Modeling Gigs

Being a successful female fashion model is no longer based purely on looks, according to some Australian modeling agencies. It’s also about being “insta-famous,” or having a strong social media presence on Instagram.

Many fashion companies are now looking for “it girls” of the moment, so model agents are looking to Instagram to find the next Gigi Hadid or Mimi Elashiry. These girls are often expected to bring along thousands of social media followers with them, guaranteeing that a model who gets hired comes with a built-in fan base.

Joseph Tenni of Chadwick Models told the Daily Mail:

“It’s not unusual for a client to ask ‘how many followers does she have?’ before they ask what they look like.”

Models that know how to self-promote on social media in order to grow their popularity and the popularity of the brands they rep are the ones that have the edge these days — that’s how Cara Delevingne became successful seemingly overnight.

While this is a trend happening mostly in Australia, other countries have followed suit. Already, fashion powerhouse Marc Jacobs has used Instagram for casting purposes. One Management in New York City started a board called “One.1K” where model comp cards include how many followers the model has not just on Instagram but also on Twitter and Facebook.

One agent, Catherine McGill of Vivien’s Models in Australia, says her company has just launched an “influencers” section to their modeling portfolios in order to let clients know how popular the models are. It’s only when models get the right amount of followers that they’ll be added to that page. McGill explained to the Daily Mail:

“Our bookers were giving me feedback that clients wanted models who might be blonde, beachy and had a high social media following. Now when we’re booking talent, in negotiation process, we talk about the girls numbers.”

And what are those numbers again?

“It’s not a hard and fast number, but 10,000 is the minimum number clients are asking for,” McGill said.

Sometimes, clients may even ask for upwards of 300,000 followers.

Lesson learned. If you want to become a model, you have to have the right size ﬁgures. And we’re not talking about those figures!

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