Back in Front of the Camera...

Ashlynn’s first shoot was with Anna Linetskaya at a garden in Fort Mason wearing designer clothes.

It’s always a surprise to see a test shoot image featuring a smile.

Ashlynn especially enjoyed the more casual shoot wearing her own clothes in Golden Gate Park with Nikki Gerdes. 

She had planned to use some of these photos to update her portfolio in hopes of possibly doing some modelling in the UK when she returned to Glasgow, but the IMG London office dropped the ball in helping her find representation in Scotland. Eventually she reached out to the IMG Paris office and they decided with Ashlynn that it was time for IMG to release her from her contract so that she can branch out on her own. She had contemplated this option for the last two years, so it didn’t come as a shock, but it was still a bittersweet decision to walk away from IMG who had helped her go to Tokyo, Paris, Athens, Seoul and Sydney, for which she and I will always be grateful. 
 

Sustainable Fashion Week...

Ashlynn’s final modeling job in 2019 was a fashion show on October 3 for stylist Tommy Driessen as part of Amsterdam’s Sustainable Fashion Week. 

Apparently all of the outfits were secondhand clothes that had been redesigned. Once again, Ashlynn was dressed in trousers.

The show took place at the NH Krasnapolsky Hotel and was not open to the public.

Many of the other models were also from her Dutch agency: It’s Me Model Management. Ironically, later that month It’s Me contacted Ashlynn to say that she was being considered for jobs with Bijenkorf, the Netherlands’ most upscale department store, and Hema, the Netherlands’ least upscale department store. While it was flattering to be considered, she didn’t get either job.

Back on the Runway...

For the first time in 2.5 years, Ashlynn was back on the runway in Amsterdam. In an unusual twist, she was the only professional model out of around 80 participants in the Lichting show, which featured 14 of the best design academy graduates around the country.

Designer Manou van den Berg (in the black trousers) had worked with Ashlynn for one of her school projects back in 2017 and was happy that Ashlynn was available to walk in her show.

The setting for the show was quite incredible: the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), built in 1408. 

While tickets weren’t available for the public, we were thrilled that the show was live streamed and not only could we watch it, but lots of our friends and family were able to watch it as well.

It was quite an entertaining show since some of the clothes were really wild. Manou’s clothes were the most mainstream of all the designers with Ashlynn’s outfit the best of the bunch and one of the best of the show (of course, I’m not partial).

Not being surrounded by other models, but rather friends of the designers made for a very different experience and Ashlynn said it was one of her favorite shows she’d ever done.

Off to China...

On June 17, Ashlynn flew to Shenzhen, China, where she was supposed to model for at least two months. While I had been very hesitant to send her there, the Vice President of IMG called me to stress how positive they were that this was a good idea. Sadly, things did not go well and the Chinese agency had Ashlynn in tears within days, saying that her thighs were too big, her hair was too blonde, and she was too tall. This was quite surprising since they had been sent recent measurements, photos and videos. They panicked when they realized she was discussing her frustrations with IMG and sent her home just two weeks after she arrived. After so many great experiences over the past year of modeling, it was very disappointing that the year came to an early close on such a sour note.

It was always interesting to see which photos the different agencies chose to feature on Ashlynn’s comp cards, her calling cards that are left behind at castings. I was surprised by this choice by the Chinese agency as the coloring was so yellow.

Here’s the back of the card, which used photos taken within the past six months: two from Australia, one from Seoul and one from Athens. The top middle photo was taken in 2016, just before Ashlynn’s 16th birthday. Considering how many photos were taken of her in the past year, many of which I managed to track down and send to IMG, I have no idea why IMG sent them such an old one to choose from. 

The Chinese agency was not alone in using old photos. I was completely baffled why IMG Sydney chose an even older photo for the front of her card—this was taken when she was just 14 years old. It seems like false advertising to present such an old photo.

At least the back was taken just two months before she arrived in Sydney. 

In late October 2018, Ace Models in Athens did the same thing with this photo of 14-year-old Ashlynn...

...plus three others from that same year. Only the top right photo was taken just one month before arriving in Athens with her new blonder hair. 

Also guilty was IMG Paris, which used two photos from when she was 14 for her comp cards during Paris Fashion Week. Granted, there likely wasn’t time to get cards printed after they arranged for her hair to be lightened, but surely they could have used some more recent photos.

Final Aussie Shoot...

Ashlynn’s last shoot was just two days before flying to China for her next on-stay. It was her first beach shoot at sunset—a test shoot for a stylist she had worked with on an editorial in Seoul. Once again, these photos were never published, so these are merely behind-the-scenes shots posted by the crew.

It was her fourth shoot with the same photographer, so again a sign that there is loyalty within the industry if you can just manage to stay in town long enough.

Overall, Ashlynn had an incredible time over her three-month stay in Australia. Little did we know when she first planned her trip that it would be a life-altering experience as she has since pushed off university for yet another year in order to go back to Northern Australia to work in the hospitality industry. More on that later...

Final Days in Sydney...

When Ashlynn found out that her roommates were moving on earlier than expected, she was very lucky because Riahn offered her a free place to stay.

Riahn and her family made Ashlynn feel right at home. Ashlynn was especially excited that she, Soso and Riahn could go on a girls’ camping trip.

She was also thrilled to have one more chance to do a shoot with Riahn.

These few shots were screen grabs from the crew. I never could find the final photos; presumably this test shoot must not have been published.

Final Paid Sydney Shoot...

Ashlynn’s final paid shoot while in Sydney was for a new women’s clothing rental company called High Street Hire. Apparently the client initially thought Ashlynn looked too “high fashion” for their “commercial” shoot, but she had worked several times with the photographer and he knew that Ashlynn could pull off looking like the girl next door.

It’s now six months later and the company has just launched a website, which Ashlynn appears on, and switched their Instagram account to public, so here’s a video from the shoot.

She was thrilled to be shooting on the beach again. While all of the above photos were behind-the-scenes shots, here’s a few official ones from the website.

A Second Shoot for Ozwear UGG...

The folks at Ozwear UGG clearly liked the results of Ashlynn’s first shoot as they hired her a second time (and wanted her a third, but the shoot was planned for after she would be leaving Australia).

As is typical, these photos weren’t sent to Ashlynn, but I managed to find them,

Although the setting in a fancy villa was quite nice, Ashlynn said it was very cold inside so she didn’t really enjoy the shoot. Luckily that didn’t stop her from getting great results.

Hard to believe that several of these photos were still featured as late as early December on UGG’s website.