A model shares the dirty and unglamorous side of modeling: ‘You had to put the exact same thong as another model had on’
A lot of dirt can hide behind the glitter.
Yente Reitsma (@yentereitsma), a model, spoke on TikTok about an overlooked side of her profession. Behind the glittering magazine covers and show-stopping runways, Reitsma talked about how modeling can be unhygienic.
“Unhygienic things in modeling. Buckle up,” Reitsma warned her viewers on TikTok. She alleged that makeup artists often use the same brushes on multiple models in a shoot without disinfecting them or using disposables.
“You’re being lined up before you go on that runway, and they’re like, ‘Final touches!’ That’s when you know you gotta run,” she said. She alleged that makeup artists would touch up models, using the same lip brushes and products on one model after another. She continued, “I only had one time, which was in Japan.” Reitsma explained that in this exception, the makeup artists in Japan had buckets of makeup brushes for different models. These buckets also had a face of the model the brushes were used on, which avoided confusion.
“They always had the same brush for the same model. Japan, I love you. But everywhere else? You’re cooked,” Reitsma claimed. The alleged unsanitary practices didn’t end with just makeup. Reitsma then discussed castings and the clothes models had to wear.
Being a model is secretly gritty work
“I’ve had a casting one time. This only happened one time,” she clarified. In that casting in Milan, Italy, they were looking for a model to wear a bikini. She arrived late, and she was one of the last girls to audition for the role. The staffers instructed her to wear the bikini, and she agreed.
“First of all, if I have a casting and I have to wear a bikini or underwear, I always keep my underwear,” Reitsma said. Even when she was told to remove it, she insisted on keeping it on for hygiene reasons. Reitsma grabbed the bottoms at the Milan casting and was appalled.
“I’m not even gonna say what I saw. You can imagine it yourself. Hundreds of models have been wearing that exact same, one single thong, and you could see it,” she alleged. Although she didn’t go into detail, she went momentarily speechless at the memory. In the end, Reitsma refused to wear the bikini bottom and did the casting only with the top on.
At another runway event, she also alleged that she and other models were only given small cloth cover-ups to avoid exposing themselves on the runway while modeling lace lingerie. Backstage, the designers were allegedly asking models to exchange lingerie sets.
“And you had to put the exact same thong on as another model had on. It’s not it,” Reitsma claimed.
The amenities aren’t that great either
“Don’t get me started on model apartments,” Reitsma said. Although she believes she’s lucky with her lodgings, she’s also seen other model apartments that made her skin crawl.
“Those are so disgusting,” she said of male model apartments she’s seen. She continued, “There’s hair, mold—everything is f****** everywhere.” Reitsma’s clip went viral on TikTok, with social media users weighing in.
Another model shared that her eye allegedly got swollen shut after back-to-back modeling gigs, likely from the health hazards on the job. Meanwhile, one commenter wrote, “You probably deinfluenced so many people with this video omg.” Another social media user commended Reitsma for refusing to wear the thong in the Milan shoot.
It’s not an easy job, and not every model is lucky to have a sanitary set. And while this other model didn’t face hygiene issues on her shoot, her client allegedly slashed her pay and almost left her stranded in a foreign country afterward.
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