have a nice trip

This is Fashion Week in New York City and today, the media featured news about models falling on the runway at one of the fashion shows.

Lately, catching models in the act of falling on the runway has become big sport with videos of the falls showing up on the Internet for all to enjoy. It seems that some people find it very amusing to see a highly-paid model fall flat on his/her face.

I don't find it amusing and I sympathize with the models. Both times I modeled, I was very concerned about not falling because of (1) the high heels I wore and (2) the terrain I had to traverse.

Modeling at Fantasia Fair back in October was a real trip! My heels were high, especially when I modeled evening wear, and the terrain was hazardous because I had to descend stairs to get from the stage to the runway and there was no railing to assist in my descent. The accompanying photo shows me gingerly descending the stairs while modeling day wear at the fashion show (click on the image to magnify it).

When I descend stairs, I usually hold onto the railing especially when I wear heels. Without a railing, I fear that my descent may result in a crash because a few years ago, I actually did fall wearing heels while descending a railingless stairway. Luckily, I was one step from the bottom of that stairway, so I did not fall far and only bruised a knee.

So before you find amusement when a model crashes on the runway, consider walking in her shoes and you may be more sympathetic.