For models, Fashion Week is one big tryout

updated 6:45 p.m. ET Feb. 1, 2006

NEW YORK - Who'll be the next Cindy, Naomi or Kate? Will there ever be another Cindy, Naomi or Kate — all supermodels simply known by their first names? (Crawford, Campbell and Moss, for those with short memories.)

Young catwalkers with dreams of being the next big thing begin an eight-day audition Friday at New York Fashion Week.

The industry is ripe for a sensation because it's been five years — a lifetime in the fashion world — since the last household name: Gisele (Bundchen).

But even if a model breaks away from the tall, leggy pack in New York, she still has to impress in Paris and Milan, Italy. Then she has to score some choice magazine spreads and ad campaigns — something that's become increasingly difficult to do as actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Teri Hatcher consistently grace the covers of glossy magazines and hawk the fashion and beauty products that used to be models' bread and butter.

In September 2004, Vogue — the fashion industry's bible — put nine familiar-but-not-famous models on its cover and heralded the return of the fashion model.

Unfortunately, says Kate Armenta, the magazine's sittings editor, the theory didn't prove true.

"The tide is really toward the celebrity culture right now. Models have taken on a different role. ... Gisele is well known but she's known more for Victoria's Secret or dating Leonardo DiCaprio, not by what ad campaigns she's been in," she says.

Nian Fish, creative director and senior vice president at KCD, which produces shows for top fashion houses, says that's kept new talent from being developed into the next generation of fashion stars.

"It's like how reality television takes away from actors, celebrities take away from models," she says.

Runway regulars Caroline Trentini and Jessica Stam are pretty successful by industry standards but most average Joes would never recognize them on the street.

What it takes
Contrary to popular belief, not all models are carted around in limos while wearing chic dresses and high heels. Outside the Bryant Park tents where many of Fashion Week's runway shows are held, it's a common sight to see pretty young things smoking cigarettes in jeans and sneakers looking remarkably unremarkable as they try to hail a cab to beat the audience to the next show.

To achieve top-tier status — the ones who are chauffeured from show to show while carrying handbags that cost more than startup models' monthly rent — you need more than a pretty face.

Fish ticks off what matters more:

• Bone structure.
• Shape of head in proportion to body. (The classic fashion illustration of a small head and long body is indeed what the industry looks for.)
• How she looks in clothes.
• Her "hunger."

"There's definitely work to this," Fish says. "Maybe you're not building a log cabin, but there's a lot of psychological wear and tear. They'll hear, `You lost weight,' or `You gained weight.' And you can't read the stares (of) the casting directors. All that, coupled with the tremendously long hours, which can be 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. if she's one of the working girls of the season."