Ivy Matheson

November 8, 2021

It's starting to feel like winter in Seoul! The temperature has begun to drop and I've been wearing my winter coat and scarf everyday. I've never experienced Asia in the wintertime, so I'm used to going to castings in airy dresses and light tee shirts in the warm effortless weather. Now I actually find myself struggling with what to wear to castings. It's hard to dress in formfitting, flattering clothing while also trying to keep warm!

I can no longer say that I've never done an editorial! I had my first one last week for a Korean magazine and then I had another just a few days ago. Editorials are completely different from anything that I've ever done. Both shooting days began at nice Korean salons, where I had my hair and make-up done. From that point, my booker, the clients and myself made our way to the studio to begin shooting. The first editorial was a “holiday” theme for the magazines December issue. It was a fun, corky concept. I was looking into the camera as though it was a mirror, wearing lots of fancy dresses and bold flashy jewelry. My eyes and eyebrows were covered in sparkles… I suppose that I kind of looked like a Christmas tree! We only shot for a couple of hours and with a few different outfits. This is a complete contrast from the 8-hour, 100 outfits catalogues that I am so used to doing. Work here sometimes feels like a complete royal treatment to be honest. So many clients here offer you Americanos, cappuccinos… it's these small things that truly do make a big difference in how you feel about working in certain markets. In fact, at a casting for a bedding catalogue last week the client brought all the models lattes and then gave us free cute little hand towels! It was totally unnecessary, but also greatly appreciated by everyone. My second editorial was for a wedding magazine. It was my first time ever wearing a wedding dress, so I was kind of “curious”. The dresses were everything I expected them to be: big, fluffy, sparkly, a little heavy and one dress was even bubblegum pink. The shooting was so relaxed and the client wanted this “dreamy, hazy” type of feel, which was a really nice change. However, for some reason at the studios I shoot in they never seem to turn on the heat. Everyone wears his or her sweaters and coats inside instead. Every time the dresser at the wedding shoot would touch my skin she would shriek because my skin was so cold. At one point they used a hair dryer to try and warm me up, which was sort of funny. They also gave me a glass bottle of warm soymilk to hold in order to warm up my hands between looks, which were even funnier!

I guess that I've just got to bring out every ounce of Canadian blood in me and brave the cold!

Ivy

Ivy Matheson is an Images model, with View in Seoul.