Books delve into world of modeling

book review

By Emili Vesilind
Los Angeles Times

Posted: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008

More Information

Sex, Love
and Fashion
Bruce Hulse, Harmony Books, $23.95
The hype: Tell-all memoir from one of the “top 10 male models of all time.”
The reality: Exhaustively detailed chronicle (it has an index!) of a relative unknown.
The scribe: An '80s model more famous for bedding supermodels – Andie MacDowell, Paulina Porizkova, Elle Macpherson, Tatjana Patitz – than gracing the cover of GQ.
Literary prowess: Cliche central. “I let the sea wash over me like a baptism.”
Bottom line: Twice as long as it needs to be, but the gossip factor – Naomi Campbell was once sweet and innocent? – will keep fashion fiends turning pages.
Where he is now: Living in Southern California with a wife and two kids, modeling occasionally, working as a photographer and fitness consultant.
This Year's Model
Carol Alt, Avon A, $13.95
The hype: Fictional roman a clef for teens and twentysomethings about breaking into the rough-and-tumble modeling world.
The reality: True to billing. Follows the lightning-fast ascent of a teen discovered by a photographer at her waitressing job.
The scribe: Cat-eyed '80s supermodel-turned-raw food fanatic most famous for gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated's 1982 Swimsuit Issue.
Literary prowess: Acceptable, despite irritating inner-dialogue (“Who knew designers were doing vodka now?”)
Bottom line: “The Devil Wears Prada” of the modeling industry – a quick, guilty-pleasure read bound to score big with the “America's Next Top Model” crowd.
Where she is now: On Donald Trump's “The Celebrity Apprentice,” and in a relationship with a Russian ice hockey player 13 years her junior.
Model
Cheryl Diamond, Simon Pulse, $23.95
The hype: The “triumphant rise, disastrous fall and phoenix-like comeback” of a teen model.
The reality: Job-by-job story of a street-savvy young woman navigating New York's cutthroat modeling world.
The scribe: One of a million worker-bee models earning her keep working hair trade shows, catalog jobs and small-time advertising gigs.
Literary prowess: Written for teens with language as basic as a tank top, with none of the juicy stuff about modeling's real pitfalls.
Bottom line: A decent read if you're curious about life as a model when you're not Gisele Bundchen.
Where she is now: Pounding New York pavement in stilettos as a working model.

Fashion models aren't prized for their braininess – or their literary pursuits. But that hasn't stopped this genetically blessed crowd from expanding its brand with tell-alls, novels and self-help books. Iman and Cindy Crawford have makeup guides, Christy Turlington put out a book on yoga, and reality TV queen Janice Dickenson has spilled three tomes on her sordid, affair-strewn life.

Now three more models – two marquee names from the '80s and one modern-day ingenue – are promising juicy tales of triumph and humiliation inside the chaotic modeling industry. Here's how they measure up.

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