Brest Woman Flew to China So Her Three-Year-Old Daughter Could Work as a Model
Viewers can touch the clothes on the child to understand the quality. If they like everything, they order it immediately.
Vitalina and Aglaya. Screenshot from an Instagram video
Vitalina from Brest danced in various groups. She hadn't thought about sending her three-year-old daughter Aglaya (her mother affectionately calls her Glasha) to a modeling school, but one day another Belarusian woman, who used to take her daughters to Vitalina for dance classes, wrote to her. She had moved to China and now helps Chinese agencies find children in Europe.
The idea seemed interesting to the mother, and she decided to try it — she signed a three-month contract for three-year-old Glasha and flew to Hangzhou with her daughter.
The agency pays for visas, flights, an apartment (Vitalina and Glasha were settled in a three-room apartment with another mother and her four-year-old child), taxi to and from the shooting location, and flights within China. The mother, however, had to pay for utilities and food herself.
Vitalina was surprised by how children's fashion shows are held in China — everything is completely different from Europe. There are many runways along which children are led by special assistants or parents — at different speeds, however they can. Children are allowed to have toys or even phones, and eat sweets — the main thing is that they don't cry.
Spectators in the hall sit with tablets. They can touch the clothes on the child to understand the quality. If they like everything, they order online immediately.
Vitalina says that the audience has snacks: they eat, drink, and throw garbage on the floor — and this is considered normal.
Unpleasant situations also happened: during one of the shows, Glasha got tired because she had woken up at seven in the morning and worked for many hours — changing clothes again and again and walking the runway. The girl simply sat on the floor to rest for five minutes — and one of the women started photographing the tired child. This is done to show the agent that the girl is supposedly refusing to work.
By the way, naps are planned only for children shorter than 100 centimeters. The fact that Glasha also needed one surprised the shoot organizers.
It was not very pleasant for the mother to receive messages that Glasha needed to lose weight because she had started to look plumper than when she arrived in China. Vitalina was advised to give her daughter less sugar and juices, and offer vegetables more often.
The longest shoots lasted 8.5 hours — the working time begins from the moment the model sits down to have her makeup done.
In their free time, the mother and daughter actively explored China — they went, for example, to feed giraffes and pet elephants.
In a month, they spent a thousand dollars. Vitalina does not disclose Aglaya's fee, but admits that they still earned more than they spent. The mother writes that they went for the experience, not to earn money.