How to Take Proper Measurements for Your Modeling Profile
Filling out your profile and statistics can be a little daunting, especially when it comes to measurements. Fear not! We have an easy-to-follow guide to help you out.
Why You Need Accurate Measurements
There are a few reasons why accurate measurements are so important. When casting directors are looking at submissions, they are often going through hundreds of applicants. If your measurements are left blank they will likely pass over you completely. If your measurements are listed but not accurate, it could mean showing up for a shoot only to get sent home when the clothes don’t fit.
In addition to casting directors, other members often search the Model Mayhem community by using the Browse feature. This allows them to find members with very specific measurements and if yours are not accurate you won’t show up in the search results and will miss out on potential job opportunities. By the way, this is also the case with age. If you’re not 100 years old and yet still want to show up in search results, you should enter your true age.
Getting Started
To get set up, grab a measuring tape and a friend. For accuracy, we recommend recording your measurements in swimwear or very fitted clothing. Unless otherwise noted, measurements will be most accurate if taken standing straight up with arms relaxed to your side. When you measure, you want the tape to lay flat across your skin, but not gap, pull or pinch.
How to Take Your Measurements
Height: While this one is rather straightforward, there are a couple things to remember. Height, in this case, refers to your height barefoot. Measure yourself against a wall with no shoes on.
Weight: This should be less of a problem. Step on a scale and voila! You have your weight!
Here is where things get a little tricky!
Female Models
Bust: The trick here is that in modeling, your bust measurement is not always the same as the number on your bra. You want to measure at the fullest part of your bust. For example, you may be a 32C but have closer to a 35-inch bust.
Cup: Use the cup size you use to buy your bras.
Waist: When most people think of waist, they think of the size on jeans or where their pants sit. For modeling measurements, you want to measure around the smallest part of your waist. For you, this might mean at your belly button or an inch or two above it. Just look in the mirror, see where your stomach goes in most, and measure there.*
Hips: While the name may be deceiving, for your modeling measurements you do not want to measure around your hip bone. Instead, measure around the largest part of your hips and bottom.
Inseam: Measure the inside of your leg from just below your crotch to your ankle.
Male Models
Neck: Measure around your neck, starting about an inch above where your neck connects to your shoulders, right around the Adam’s apple. Rather than taking the tight-to-skin measurement, place an index finger inside the tape, loosening it slightly, and record that number.
Waist and Hips: Follow the instructions given for women.
Chest: Measure just under your armpits around the fullest part of your chest.
Sleeve: For the sleeve measurement, start in the middle of your lower neck between your shoulders. With your hand placed on your hip, extend the tape over your shoulder and then over your elbow to your wrist.
Inseam: Wearing only briefs, measure the inside of your leg from just below your crotch to your ankle.
Note
*If you are submitting for a jean designer, they may want to know your low waist size as well. For this measurement, let the measuring tape rest flat in the area just below your belly button and just above the start of your hipbones.
August 28, 2019 at 6:19 pm, Star said:
Thanks for the info 🤩
December 14, 2015 at 2:27 pm, Gary Seewald said:
We are looking for new and existing models for print and general advertising photo-shoot projects ..models should be 18 years or older to apply contact me [email protected]
December 06, 2015 at 10:07 am, el said:
if you measure your waist, do you have to relax your whole body, or make your belly a bit flat (if you know what i mean)?
November 25, 2014 at 12:30 am, Jackie Burke said:
Wow, I’m really glad I read this… I thought hip measurement was literally around my hip bones. I kept wondering why my measurements read as if my bust and hips were so much smaller than girls who looked proportional to me. Now I know! Going to change that ASAP!
March 26, 2014 at 1:35 pm, Rosie Rose said:
Good tips- I would add, you should wear a supportive, unpadded bra while you take your measurements. Bra-less you may measure an inch or two smaller, than with a bra, because your boobs are naturally hanging and flattening out a little. Also don’t smoosh your boobs with the measuring tape. I’m a clothing designer and have had a few times that women under-measured for something— always wear the undergarment you will wear with the clothing if possible, while measuring for it.
March 23, 2014 at 2:57 pm, Lew Vividere said:
I would go so far as to say 90+% of the female models on here list their bra size, not their bust size. Bra size is their “rib” size, the distance around their chest under their breasts. As you said, their bust size is what is asked for, not their bra size. Venus de Milo was 36-24-36 but would have been 33C-24-36 which just doesn’t sound right.
I worked with a guy who sold very high end lingerie such as corsets. For the look he wanted the models needed to have a minimum of 12″ difference between their bust and waist. When searching through models to potentially hire most models took themselves out of consideration by improperly listing their rib/bra size instead of their bust.
The one other suggestion for women is to measure their bust with their breasts “up”. If they are going to be measured with a bra on, it should be what is called a shelf bra, one that is like what it sounds like, as if their breasts were on a shelf. If a model is going to have her bust measured while topless, then she should hold her breasts up on the bottom to give them the maximum distance around. A model with an A cup is going to be the same around either way, but as their breasts get larger, they will droop more giving them a larger than bra size measurement, but not a measurement that truly depicts their bust size.
It isn’t an issue with male models although measured the same way, i.e. around their chest. They measure their chest, if 40″ then they get a 40″ suit, simple.
Sometimes the waist value is given wrong as well. Since they don’t really know their waist size, they will look at their jeans and see what they say, but the jeans are rarely worn at waist height, so the measurement on their jeans is the distance around their upper hips, giving them a bigger than proper waist size.
It is quite simple to get a cloth measuring tape and follow your great instructions and take proper measurements.
March 22, 2014 at 7:31 pm, Ed Devereaux said:
Great article.
March 21, 2014 at 6:05 am, Mark Huttner said:
Thanks so much for putting this article out there. This has been and continues to be an issue with profiles. Totally inaccurate numbers that do not remotely correspond with dress size…you always know one or both are not correct. Thanks again!