My day starts off as it always does, with a cup of tea and a fashion mag. I sigh as I read the articles, it's totally unfair knowing that I could write a way better article than any of the featured writers, if only a magazine would give me a chance. I finish my tea and put the magazine down, I've got a commercial shoot at 10 and I need to get ready. Choosing an outfit takes ages as always, so many options!
I end up going with a knee length dark-green skirt, long sleeved black crop top, black tights, 4-inch black heels (can't leave the house without heels) and silver hoop earrings. As I check myself out in the mirror I feel a rush of confidence, I feel great and, more importantly, I look great! My 5ft1 figure (5ft5 in the heels) and slim frame looks perfect, my figure framed by long, wavy brown hair reaching down to my waist.
I leave my flat around nine and get on the tube not long after. I arrive at the shoot with five minutes to spare. The shoot is for an accounting firm, they want a few office shots for their advertising. All goes well and I'm finished by 11:30. Perfect, plenty of time to buy myself a new outfit for my next blog post.
I head into the nearest department store and find myself immersed in the clothing section as I check out dresses, skirts and lingerie. After an hour of browsing I settled on a black leather waist length pleat skirt, a set of black lace lingerie, grey thigh-high boots, and a black lace choker. It's not a complete outfit but I have some bits in the flat which I can pair with what I've bought. I head straight home eager to start working on my blog.
I end up pairing the leather skirt with a black, low-cut t-shirt, the boots I pair with a grey zip-up jacket. Looking in the mirror I find myself to be super happy with the outfit, it's perfect for the autumn season, the heels of the boots bring me up to 5ft6, I might be able to reach the top shelf of the fridge wearing these.
In the shared living room of my flat I set my camera up, instructing it to take a shot every ten seconds. I must have spent at least half an hour posing in the outfit, getting a wide variety of shots to use in my blog post. When I look back through them I end up choosing a few dozen to keep, I decide to use the one of me with my legs crossed at the knees leaning back on the sofa as the opening shot for the post.
After a couple of hours, a small lunch, and lots of tea, my weekly blog post is complete. I sent it out, hoping for maybe a thousand views by the end of the week. I don't look at the post until tea time, deciding to have a quick look whilst I wait for the pasta to finish cooking. The numbers on the screen almost cause me to drop my phone in surprise, my blog post has ten thousand views!
Just then my flatmate returns home for the day, I'm not ready to share my success yet so I pocket my phone. "Hey Isobel, how was your research?" I ask politely, she's working on writing a book, not that she'll tell me what it's about, she's a very secretive person.
"It was alright." She answers back, "what's for dinner?"
"Pasta" I told her.
She groans, "not again."
I apologise to her, "it's the only thing I know how to cook."
We sit and eat in near silence. "So," I say as we finish our food, "I wrote another blog post today."
Isobel sighs, "I still think you need to focus more on your actual job rather than that silly blog.
I let her comment slide, smirking as I show her the numbers on my phone.
"Okay, I'll admit that's pretty good, but it's just a one off, I don't mean to be a downer but you're struggling to pay rent as it is without spending money on new outfits to write about."
"Whatever" I say annoyed, going off to my room.
Lying on my bed I start scrolling through comments, usually I only get one or two but on this post there are over twenty. Most of the comments are cute little compliments about myself or my outfit, the last one however is a man requesting me to message him privately. At first I thought it was probably just some pervert, but then again it could be someone from a magazine wanting to offer me a job, if it was a pervert I could just block him anyway. I sent a simple message, 'Hi, you wanted to speak to me?' Not expecting a reply straight away.
To my surprise the reply comes within minutes. The man introduces himself as Joseph Hornwood, a talent scout for a modelling agency based in London. He tells me that he wants to take me on and that I should meet him tomorrow to build up a modelling portfolio and to see if we would be a good match.
He sends me the address and it's not too far away.
The next day I wait until Isobel has gone to work before I get ready to meet the scout, I decide not to tell her about the meeting, wanting to surprise her when I have my portfolio made and prove that she was wrong about my blog.
I get changed into the outfit I wore for the blog as that is what Mr Hornwood wanted me to wear. I get a lot of lustful looks on the tube, which is no surprise as guys seem to love heels, leather and petite girls. Fortunately the tube journey is pretty uneventful and before long I find myself staring up at the building where Mr Hornwood lives, it's one of the largest skyscrapers in the city, I type in Mr Hornwood's flat number on a keypad built into the wall next to the door. It begins to ring and moments later a male voice answers.
"Ah Evie, please come up." He says cheerfully, recognising me through the camera set up above the door.
The door buzzes and opens and I step inside. The building's lobby is quite fancy, far too fancy for the flat of a modelling talent scout I think to myself, suddenly a little anxious.