59 S+M Profiles: Bernard Smith’s MODELLOUNGE
Here are some facts about Bernard Smith: he racked up six years of boarding school, played ice hockey, has a background in marketing and used to date a model who had a bunch of model friends. During the days of this aforementioned relationship, Smith worked in NoHo. While at his office, his model girlfriend would pop in to escape from promoters and other people on the street who seemingly hounded her based on her good looks. After a few of sessions of her and friends ranting to Smith about how they get treated in the streets, he had a lightbulb moment of sorts. If the models standing in front of him were having these issues, he was certain many more were in the same boat! And thus Modellounge was born.
Bernard Smith at Modellounge
Smith decided to fill a void in the industry by creating a destination where female models can go in between castings and appointments. Smith says that he thought about charging a fee to the agencies or models but went a different route and began partnering with various brands to help provide the necessities to help Modellounge stay successful. While models live the glamorous life in the pages of magazines, it is much different in real life. That’s another reason why Smith has kept things at no-cost for the girls that come to Modellounge.
When girls come to Modellounge, which is housed in The Coffee Shop in Union Square, they can use computers provided by Sony Vaio, watch a big screen television, have complimentary snacks, etc. There’s also the Modellounge All Access Privilege Card which gives discounts at retailers like Zadig & Voltaire. In addition to that, Smith hooks the models up with other perks like fashion week prep where industry professionals, casting directors and runway coaches come in to help prepare the models for what to expect. The biggest perk might have to be the New York Fashion Week transportation provided by Porsche.
Baller.
Click after the jump to read what might have turned people off to Modellounge and what Bernard thinks is a good quality every model should have. Oh, and you get to see more of him, too. Win-win. (more…)
