Reality in China

She was scouted by a professional from the fashion industry. Took up the challenge and has been a model ever since. After 4 years in the industry she does not regret her decision.
Daniela Sulzbacher, a Brazilian model whom has already been to more than 10 countries, let’s talk about the fashion business in China.

As a model you are traveling a lot I presume!
Yes, I’ve been actively modeling full time since I started 4 years ago. I have been travelling all over the world, from Europe to Asia, America to Africa. I`ve worked in more than 10 countries. Right now I`m back to China which I find pretty crazy.


How would you describe the fashion market over there? 
Chinese market is I would say "very different" . It’s a special place where you need to prepare yourself for before jumping -in. They have all kinds of jobs, catalogues, magazines, fashion shows. Jobs are usually paid by hours so the client always wants you to hurry up and do your job as fast as possible, even if you have 1000 outfits they want you to put on in 3 hours. Chinese culture is very different from ours. Here you will see so many things that you never saw before, some really disturbing things that you wish never to see or experience again. I was in China 3 years ago and now I noticed a big difference, especially in jobs. The clients couldn't speak English before and now most of them do. It is really helpful.

So China is changing for better? It’s really nice to hear that actually. Myself I remember China as a place where you are fighting with yourself everyday. It was hard to handle people in the job and agency. Did you have similar experience?
Yes, it is still really hard to work here dealing with non-professional people all the time but things are better now. At least the agency is professional, any problem you have they will help you right away.

What about the culture? When I met people who were traveling there as tourists I realized they had a completely different view about this country from mine. What's your experience in this matter!?
When you travel as a tourist it is completely different than as a model. As tourist you can plan your trip, see places, have fun and use your time in whichever way you want. As a model in turn you don't have much free time for those things. You basically work from monday to monday non-stop .


What about the job in China? Why most of models usually complain about working there?
The problem with China is that nobody really cares about you. You are on your own there. Some clients expect you to work 10 hours with 1000 clothes and they don't give you food nor water. Models are not robots!! Models complain about spending all day inside a car going to castings but this is how we get the jobs. If you wanna work you have to take it I’m afraid..

Great Wall

I know that in China you can have different types of contracts: guarantee or salary, or sometimes you can be there without any...
There are basically 3 types of contracts: guarantee, salary or normal(you get as much as you work). On the guarantee one they offer you an amount of money for the period you are staying but you have to either work the full amount or get the number of jobs stipulated in the contract within 2-3 weeks, which is really hard in some cases. Even if you manage to work all the amount to cover it they discount all your expenses you and they had. They do advance payments for such things like flight ticket, apartment, compcards or other utilities but it is all discounted from your contract amount to you end-up with less money than you expected. On the salary one they give you exactly how much they offered when you signed the contract, or even more if you make more money on the go. On the normal contract which is the most common one you get as much as you work but they discount the expenses and the commission for agency and for mother-agency. What is left is yours.


In your agency girls with salary contracts have different types of compcard than girls with a guarantee contract! It is something unusual even in China... 
Yes, girls on a salary contract have different compcard, it’s bigger and with more pics in it. They do it to show the client that you are a model with experience and the price gets a bit higher than in case of other girls. I don’t think it’s right. It’s inconvenient for both parties. Everybody wants to have salary contract because it guarantees that in any case you are gonna leave the country with money in your pocket and for that you need strong book and a good mother agency to arrange everything.

Does that mean that in fashion business there is a sick competition between models?

It isn't true. When you are travelling you are alone, you live with different people all the time, away from friends and spending all day with others models. You get close to them and they become your family while you are away from your country. In these years of modeling I met so many people I will carry in my heart forever even if I never see them again, truly friends.

China/ after castings

Birthday dinner in Seoul/ Korean barbecue.

China

Can you tell me some story from China? I know it is less smooth than elsewhere as almost every week something is happening, which is unusual for people from Europe.
I almost got arrested by police in china a few weeks ago. I was coming back home by taxi and I asked the driver to stop a couple blocks away from my apartment. I gave him the cash and he didn’t accept it while it was the only one bill i had on me. I couldn’t understand what was going on. He went out of the car and tried to change that bill but nobody wanted to. I realized what was going on and I tried to explain to him to drop me at my apartment so I could pay him with another bill that I had at home. The problem is that the Chinese don’t speak English. He locked me inside the car and called somebody. I couldn’t understand, I thought this someone was for help in translation. We waited a few minutes and police came. I was so scared. They asked for my passport which I didn’t have on me, asked what I was doing in china and why I was using fake money around... I tried to explain them everything and after 2 hours of talking they eventually decided not to take me to the police station. They just took the money. I went back to my apartment and paid the driver.

Rock&Roll :)

What's your plan for future? Which country will be your next destination?

I’m planning to move somewhere and stay there for a while, maybe start university and do modeling at the same time, but I`m not sure, still got a lot of time for that. I have no idea where I`m going. Future is only tomorrow and now I`m living day by day. Let’s see what life brings!

Thank you very much for taking part in this interview. Hopefully when you will come to Germany for Christmas time you will visit also Poland.

For sure! Still have 2 months to learn some Polish, Brodka is helping me a lot with that 

In such case we need to meet in Poznan at Brodka's concert! See you soon and good luck!:)

                                              Kasia