TALKING ISSUES –

I sat with Angella Phillips, a professional fashion and commercial model signed with Beth Model Management Africa. She has been in the business for half a decade and she has a lot to say on the state of modeling in Nigeria:

‘Modeling in Nigeria has improved since the last 5 years I’ve been in the industry. Nigerian models are signed all over the world now. Things are fast progressing in the industry. As an upcoming model, you may not get financial returns in your first year. But as a professional model it pays more. Though it’s been a major issue in the industry for a long time now where designers use models to sell their ridiculously expensive clothes and don’t pay the models. And yes, the financial return is good enough if you have a great manager and choose specific jobs to do.’
On some of the setbacks in the industry:

 

‘For me, I feel there are too many models for a limited amount of jobs, and worse, lately more and more companies prefer to use celebrities like actors as the faces for their brands instead of models. Other limitations in the career is that some models would do jobs for free or much less than what agencies charge which makes it so hard to have a modeling career in Nigeria.
Commercial modeling pays more in Nigeria. Then again there are few commercial jobs for models since most companies will prefer to use celebrities as the faces for their brands’

 

On what she thinks of the industry in the next five years:

‘In the next five years there will be more jobs for models because the top models at the moment are being exported to other countries. As for my expectations, I would love to see Nigerian models being recognized and paid per hour in the next five years’.

Culled from Mystreetz Magazine

Story by Sesan Adeniji