Nina Blanchard Takes 2nd ‘Look’ at Modeling
Anyone could see that she’d grow up to be beautiful, the kind of beauty nature stumbles upon once every few million tries.
--Nina Blanchard,
“The Look”
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Cheryl Tiegs had it. So did Cristina Ferrare. And when Rene Russo came to her modeling agency, Nina Blanchard saw she had it too, The Look.
In the 1960s, when Blanchard opened what would become a world-famous modeling agency in Los Angeles, The Look was about being blond, “the girl next door.”
Today, it is more about being brunet, Blanchard said at a luncheon last week for members of Round Table West at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
The Look changes constantly, she said last week. Blond and demure or dark and exotic--it is dictated by fashion designers, magazine editors, photographers, makeup artists and hairstylists.
“In the fashion business, The Look has to change,” said the flame-haired Blanchard, who wore a navy blue dress adorned with a ‘40s-era pin. “Otherwise, you’d be wearing the same clothes you wore last year.”
But no matter what the fashion gurus dictate, a model can’t be said to have The Look unless she is blessed with the basics: height, high cheekbones, long neck, full lips, wide-set eyes and good skin.
And a beautifully shaped head, said Blanchard, who has written a novel, “The Look” (Dutton), based on her knowledge of the modeling industry. “It is the skull shape that determines whether or not someone is photogenic,” she said.
“If you look back on the leading men of the ‘40s, for example--Tyrone Power, Robert Taylor--you see they had planes on their face that caught the light.
“A girl can’t buy a skull shape. The only thing that can make a girl a supermodel is her mother and father, her genetics.”
She can’t buy a long neck, either. And she sure can’t fake one. Why is it so important? “Think of a flower on a stem,” said Blanchard in her trademark deep voice. “The long neck gives a woman the look of ‘to a manor born.’
“You always think ‘aristocratic’ when you see a woman with a long neck.”
Blanchard credits her years as head of NBC’s makeup department for her success as a beauty broker. “I was the first makeup artist to get television screen credit,” she said. “I spent so much time in control rooms looking at faces under the lights that I knew what worked and what didn’t.
“Beauty is rare. One in 10,000 women is truly beautiful. And one in a few million is extraordinarily beautiful.”
For those who fall short of being drop-dead gorgeous, Blanchard has encouraging words: “Personality can make a woman appear to be more beautiful than she is. There are women who are very beautiful, but have no personality. They are pretty to look at, but that’s all.”
Being around beautiful girls--”models begin when they’re 13 or 14,” she said--became tiring. “One of the problems of being in my business is the girls kept getting younger and I kept getting older,” said Blanchard, who sold her business last year to the New York-based Ford Agency.
“It became very unpleasant. I got tired of them coming in in their little tights. It was offensive!” She laughs. “I’m glad to be out of the business.”
She wrote the first version of her novel about the head of a modeling agency in 1979. It was rejected a few times, so she set it aside until recently, when a friend encouraged her to give it another try.
“The book is nastier than the original version, because the business is nastier,” Blanchard said. “You have all of this glitz and glamour on the outside, but it’s gotten dirty underneath, in some ways. Anything becomes dirty when there’s a lot of money involved.”
“Think about it,” she told the few hundred luncheon guests, mostly women. “You have a young girl who is suddenly on the cover of a magazine.
“The paparazzi and every rock star wants to meet her. She was working at a hamburger joint after school and now she’s making $1 [million] or $2 million a year.”
Blanchard also spoke about the perils of cosmetic surgery.
Early last year, she had her eyes “done,” she said. The surgeon--”one of the country’s top four”--removed too much skin from her lower lids.
“I was not able to close my eyes properly and developed corneal ulcers,” she said.
Later, Blanchard had reconstructive surgery. A doctor who specializes in such procedures grafted skin from the roof of her mouth onto her lower lids. “Now my eyes appear to be half the size they were,” she said. “If you decide to have work done on your eyes, don’t let anybody touch them but an ophthalmic plastic surgeon.
“There is great danger in plastic surgery. A lot of the models have problems with their breast implants. I don’t know of one model who doesn’t regret having it done. Not one.”
Finally, Blanchard had this to say about creating a Look: “You can’t have a look unless it relates to you. Don’t try to follow, or copy.
“The most attractive women are those--fat, short, young or old--who fit well in their own skin, are comfortable with themselves. That has more appeal than anything.”
