175 cm is 5’9” so assuming you’re a girl that’s not too short. it’s sort of considered on the shorter side for runway but it’s still within the ideal height range

17 is definitely not too old. Don’t let Ondria Hardin and her Prada campaign at 13 fool you!

NY: Proenza Schouler, Oscar de la Renta, Marc by Marc Jacobs
London: Tom Ford
Milan: Prada
Paris: Gareth Pugh, Miu Miu, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Céline 

I’m a junior model agent/booker

Does this look like somebody who doesn’t want to be photographed to you?

I love Anna Dello Russo, mostly because she is such an anomaly and I actually think she genuinely enjoys dressing like her wardrobe has thrown up all over her… BUT she is also totally aware of the street style photographers and unashamedly craves their attention.

Speaking broadly on the topic of fashion personalities, I think most are somewhere in between authentic and contrived with some tipping way over into the contrived area. At shows it’s painfully obvious and embarrassing when somebody is there for the sole purpose of getting photographed.
I think at the moment editors, models, bloggers, etc are making a more conscious effort to be the best dressed/craziest dressed because of the role social media is playing in fashion and the way brands are advertising. People are almost more interested in what Anna Dello Russo or Miroslava Duma or Natalie Joos are wearing around the Tuileries than what is being put down the runway/

First of all, thank you!! I feel like most of my responses are just me rambling about nothing so I’m always surprised when people say I write well.

To answer your question, I feel that from a young age I was always very interested in fashion. I would say it started from birth, or just after. I was always ahead of the curve and much more stylish than my peers.

For example:

Left: Me, Autumn/Winter 1992. Right: Marc Jacobs Autumn/Winter 2011

Left: Me, Spring/Summer 1996. Right: Junya Watanabe, Spring/Summer 2011

Left: Me, Autumn/Winter 1998. Right: Rick Owens, Autumn/Winter 2007

See what I mean?

In all seriousness though, I wasn’t interested in fashion at all until I was about 14/15. You have to understand that growing up where I lived the most common outfit was probaaaably: jandals (potentially with socks), rugby shorts, and a kathmandu jacket - even in Summer, even in the clubs (I still cannot deal with these jackets to this day because of it). I used to wear ugg boots and thought they were stylish (is this blog-suicide admitting this?? oh well)
Anyway, I don’t really remember how I came across real~ fashion but it started with McQueen and Galliano. I was really drawn by the theatrical elements of those 2 designers specifically.. which is something that makes me sad about today’s fashion. The drama and emotion doesn’t really exist anymore, you know?
Also this whole world really fascinated me, I had no idea that fashion was this big industry worth billions of dollars. That made me really interested - and still interests me to this day. I used to look at Vogue Italia editorials online (because we only had British, American and Australian Vogue and I wasn’t rich enough to buy magazines online at that point) and look at the collections on style.com during class in high school. 
That’s the story I guess… I just became really obsessed and thought I would get over it eventually but I didn’t and then I decided I wanted to work in fashion so I did. The end. 

It’s not exactly “hard” but if you don’t work in fashion or have connections or some kind of relevance/importance** then you won’t get invited, same as NYFW. Your options in either case are to land a job where your attendance at shows is needed/wanted, become famous or date someone famous, or become a really good client of a designer. You could also also start blogging but you have to have a decent-sized audience and something interesting to say because the blogosphere is over-saturated with “FASHION” blogs and people literally don’t care now (IMO). The industry, and the internet for that matter, does not need any more “”“personal style “”“” blogs with descriptions like “♥A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous!♥♥ -Coco Chanel“ and endless pictures of macaroons, Cara Delevingne, thigh gaps and girls wearing indian headresses. 
As much as everyone who loooooooooooooooves fashion would like to go to shows and see all the nice clothes what you have to realise is that the shows are for media and buyers to preview the next season - they are there to do their job. The exclusivity may seem pretentious (and let’s be honest, the industry thrives off this lol) but there’s a reason for it. 
That all being said, you don’t need to be invited to go to the show. You could always try sneaking in (this is how Suzy Menkes started off after all) or volunteer.

**I use these terms loosely 

Alexander Wang’s debut reminded me of Dior S/S 12 RTW. Not that the 2 collections are alike at all in terms of aesthetic or vision but they both played it safe, going back into the archives and resting on the roots of the respective houses.

Of course, the difference is that Dior at that point had not yet made an announcement on the new creative director and it was Bill Gaytten, Susanna Venegas and co. who were at the helm following a not so well received Fall 2011 couture collection. Wang’s appointment was made public in November and there has been hype building around his debut since but what was presented at Balenciaga Fall 2013 honestly felt like it was produced by a house with no creative director, as Dior experienced. Very safe, very referential, nothing bad per se, but boring. Commercial even. And empty of any emotion or passion. 

Balenciaga has long been at the forefront of continuous innovation. Even when Ghesquiere was not at his best, and even at the very beginning of his tenure, he was still presenting new ideas that stayed true to the history of the house. I’m not going to write Wang off completely yet (I did want to like this) but I don’t think that this collection was as great, or solid, as critics and fans are claiming.