Fargo Fashion | Modeling in the Midwest

NATALIE SPARROW | PHOTO COURTESY
Ultimate Image models work on their skills in front of the camera.

You might not associate the images you see in glossy magazines with Fargo, North Dakota, but some talented locals are working to change that.

Natalie Sparrow, a North Dakota State alumna, runs Ultimate Image, a model and talent management company in Fargo. For aspiring models and actors in the area, the experience they need to book jobs and make it further in the industry is hard to come by.

“I do whatever I can to help create the experience if I can’t find it in the community,” Sparrow said. She produces runway shows, photo tests, mock auditions and places her talent in commercials or print ads.

You have probably seen Ultimate Image models around the city without even knowing it. They have recently worked on local ads for the NDDOT, Parents Lead, ShareHouse, Allstate Bank and Lakeshirts.

Models need professional photos to show casting directors and clients. Sparrow has photographers come in to do test shoots, which generate photos they use when trying to get booked for jobs. She also offers photo and runway workshops every month and often brings in acting coaches and photographers from which the models learn.

They get to experience the industry outside the Fargo area by touring bigger cities like Los Angeles and Chicago while meeting agents from around the world.

As expected, the market for models in and around Fargo is different from those in bigger cities. It is much more informal, as people looking for models or actors here tend to choose friends or acquaintances to be in their ads. When they do use professionals, clients will sometimes hire talent based solely on what Sparrow advises as opposed to a competitive audition.

Ultimate Image represents models placed all over the United States, from Minneapolis to Miami to New York City. One of Sparrows’ most successful models has lived in Italy and New York, booking jobs and doing test shoots. While there, she appeared in the magazines HUF and American Salon. She has also walked in New York Fashion Week.

The modeling industry has changed significantly in the past few years.

Supermodels are prominent public figures, thanks to social media and multi-hyphenate models that do everything from coding apps, charity work and acting in movies and music videos. Today’s models need to be more than a pretty face, and Sparrow is trying to push that with her talent. They are encouraged to differentiate themselves and look into multiple options.

She teaches her models how to create a positive social media presence, emphasizing that branding yourself online has become extremely important in the past year.

Many of today’s up-and-coming models represent different body types, ethnicities and looks that the fashion industry has ignored in the past. Although the fashion world still seems to favor tall, thin white models, they are representing the reality of our diverse backgrounds better than before. Sparrow said they are now looking for models that stand out from the norm or are ethnically ambiguous.

“If you have any type of ethnic diversity in you, you’ll get booked way before anyone (else),” she said.

While Sparrow encourages all her models, she is realistic about what it takes to make it in this industry.

“I don’t know why anybody thinks that they can model at the height of 5’5” or anything below that,” she said. “And if they’re a girl-next-door kind of look, they’re not going to be noticed in the fashion industry. You have to be a little bit awkward looking … You have to be different.”

When girls don’t meet the fashion industry’s typical height minimum of 5’8”, she encourages them to try TV commercials or commercial print modeling (modeling for non-fashion ads).

The industry in general is hiring models with a more diverse body types, but Sparrow noted the change is happening slowly.

“We’re so used to seeing those tinier girls that it’s just habit to look at the thinner model that’s being pictured, which is sad,” she said. “I love the Midwest because they take any girl zero to size eight … for catalog.”

There is a growing demand for curve (also known as plus-size) models, but they also have to meet certain requirements. One of Sparrow’s models in New York was a size zero but couldn’t get work because her curvier body type didn’t fit with what agencies wanted.

Instead of trying to lose weight in an unhealthy way, she chose to instead gain weight. Sparrow said she is now a size 8 to 10 and is looking great, but still has to put on more weight to make it as a curve model.

There are no true overnight successes in the modeling world.

Making it big requires time, money and years of hard work. Sparrow compares the modeling industry to sports, specifically NDSU’s football players.

“Those aren’t the guys who just sat on the bench and wished they were playing,” she said. “Those are the guys who were in the gym, probably year round … working on their skills. … They get there for a reason.

“And then you get to the NFL for a reason. … The ones who work hard are the ones who get there. And that’s not any different in this industry.”