Girl in Pink...

Each girl was assigned a color of the rainbow. Ashlynn already had a lovely pink dress that we’d bought in Aix-en-Provence last year, so we just needed to get shoes and some accessories. She looked amazingly professional and confident walking down the runway.

I was happy to see that her hair and make-up weren’t wild.

In fact, her group was assigned the hairstyle, which I really liked.

Before and After...

On Monday afternoon, the girls put on a fashion show for the parents. After the fiasco of getting there on Friday, I arrived an hour early on Monday. My timing was perfect as I saw Ashlynn practicing walking down the catwalk.

To be honest, I recognized the dress before I recognized my own beautiful daughter.

Model Camp Photo Shoots...

Ashlynn really enjoyed the variety of activities and lectures at Model Camp, including an intense boot camp workout and a lecture by a nutritionist. The girls also had to photograph each other. Each group of girls was assigned an emotion; Ashlynn’s group had dreamy. Ironically, the name Ashlynn means dream.

The girls also had a photo shoot with a professional photographer. This lovely photo was taken by Mauro da Silva, co-owner of Fresh. The girls also went to a casting at the camp. I assumed it was just for practice, but apparently it was for real as I later got a call that a model scout from Women Management in Milan was interested in Ashlynn. It was flattering, but as we were already in talks with IMG Paris, we didn’t pursue it.

Dutch Immersion Camp?

We couldn’t travel over summer half term in early June because Veronica had to study for her IB mock exams. If I had suggested to Ashlynn that she use the break to attend a Dutch language camp, she would have laughed. Ironic that she ended up learning Dutch at a three-night modeling camp.

Despite being turned away from Fresh Model Management, she applied to attend Fresh’s Model Camp 2014 and was accepted. The camp took place at a group accommodation site outside of Utrecht. After encountering detours and making many wrong turns in a Greenwheels car from the closest train station, I finally managed to get her to the camp almost 30 minutes late. We dropped her stuff in her room with three sets of bunk beds, and she went to meet the other 39 girls.

She met a few of the girls online before the camp and was happy to meet them in person. Everyone was quite accepting of her despite her poor Dutch language skills. Some of the girls played translator, but she found that she understood more and more over the three days.

A Beer with an Old Friend...

Jimmy made a trip down to Brussels on a Sunday in early June so he could meet up with John (aka Deep Throat) about the plans for the Red Dress Hash as a pre-lube for Brussels Beer Odyssey in July. As an attendee at the first Red Dress Hash in San Diego in 1988, John was in charge of coordinating the run and had recruited Jimmy to help co-hare. As it turned out, their planning session involved mostly drinking beer while John shared tales of hiking the Camino de Santiago and getting engaged.

Photo Shoot in The Hague...

With all of the excitement of catching the eye of an international model scout, Veronica was even more determined to take photos of her sister. One Sunday in June, the girls ventured into The Hague to go to a movie. The Plein was covered in orange in honor of the Dutch playing in the World Cup, which made a great backdrop for some shots. I especially love the reflection in the puddle.

Apparently the girls caught this drunk woman’s attention as she thought they were doing a real model shoot.

A Future Model?

On September 26, 2014, Ashlynn signed a contract with IMG Models. We’re all very excited, but have to keep reminding ourselves that this doesn’t actually mean she’ll ever work as a paid model. It means that she’s currently in development to possibly become a fashion model.

Backing up a bit, after being told by multiple people (namely her grandmother and one of my friends) that she should consider modeling, Ashlynn contacted a few Dutch agencies. In October 2013, she and I had a meeting with Fresh Model Management, a small boutique agency. Although they opted not to represent Ashlynn, I thought it was fascinating talking about the industry with the founder, who was a successful Dutch model.

Fast forward to May 2014 and Ashlynn was scouted by several model scouts and photographers through her Instagram account. After doing some due diligence, I was shocked that she’d been scouted by Jeni Rose, Vice President of Development at IMG Models Paris, one of the world’s premier agencies. I contacted Jeni and we discussed the possibility of Ashlynn becoming an IMG Girl. Of course, I was curious how Jeni came across Ashlynn’s Instagram account; turns out that model scouts now use this social media site to search for potential models. Jeni actually maintains the IMG Instagram feed primarily so she can search through the teens that follow her, including Ashlynn.

Jeni asked for some current photos, so Veronica took these in the field near our house. Jeni must have liked what she saw because she asked us to meet her in Rotterdam in June to discuss things further. It’ll be interesting to see where this leads. In the meantime, Ashlynn has chosen not to tell her friends since it’s all make-believe right now.