Melbourne runs a real modelling market with its own character. It is retail and commercial heavy, it has a genuine fashion culture of its own, and for a new face it is often a less crowded room than Sydney.
This guide is written from the agency side. Our instructors at Online Model Academy are working casting directors, agents and producers, and this is what they would tell you before you sent a single submission.
How the Melbourne Market Differs
Melbourne's client base leans commercial: national retail, department stores, lifestyle brands, catalogue and campaign work. That shapes what agencies sign for. A look that is too editorial for Melbourne's commercial clients may be exactly right in Sydney, and the reverse happens just as often.
It also means the commercial board is where most of the earning happens. If you are relatable, castable and can take direction, you can build a working career here without ever being 178cm.
The Boards
Fashion
Women generally from around 175cm, men from around 183cm. Feeds editorial, designer campaigns and runway including Melbourne Fashion Week and Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Commercial
The largest and busiest board. Retail, advertising, lifestyle. Height is largely irrelevant; being convincing as a real person is not.
Curve and plus
Driven by Australian retail brands expanding size ranges. Growing, and worth approaching directly.
Kids and youth
Melbourne has an active children's market. If you are a parent looking into this, read our parent's guide to child modelling and our guide to child modelling agencies before you contact anyone, because this is the corner of the industry with the most predatory operators.
Classic and talent
Models over roughly 35, plus actors and presenters. Consistently in demand and consistently under-supplied.
Agencies That Operate in Melbourne
Established agencies with a Melbourne presence. Treat this as a research list rather than a ranking, and confirm current boards and submission requirements on each agency's own site.
- Chadwick Models — national agency with a Melbourne office, fashion and commercial.
- Viviens Model Management — long-established, multiple Australian cities.
- Kult Australia — fashion-led with a Melbourne presence.
- Pride Models — Melbourne agency with fashion, commercial and youth boards.
- Scene Model Management — represents across fashion and commercial.
- London Management Group — Melbourne-based talent and model representation.
- FRM Model Management — Melbourne agency with fashion and commercial boards.
- Giant Management — Melbourne agency representing models and talent.
Open Calls and How They Actually Work
Many Australian agencies run an open call, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes only by appointment. It is the lowest-friction way into a room with a booker, and almost nobody uses it properly.
What to expect: it is short. You will likely be measured, photographed against a wall, asked a few questions, and told they will be in touch. That is not a brush-off, that is the format. Arrive with clean hair, minimal makeup, fitted plain clothes, and heels if you have them. Bring your digitals printed or on your phone.
What decides it is rarely the conversation. It is whether your look fills a gap on their board right now. A "no" often means "not this season", which is why models who get signed frequently got a no from the same agency a year earlier.
How to Submit to an Agency Properly
Most rejected submissions are not rejected on looks. They are rejected because they arrived in the wrong format, in the wrong place, or with the wrong information missing. Agents open dozens of these a day. Make yours easy.
What to send
- Digitals. Four to six photos, taken on a phone, in daylight, against a plain wall. Front, side, back, one smiling, one straight-faced. No makeup, no filters, no retouching. Hair down and natural.
- Full-length and close-up. Agents need to see your face clearly and your proportions honestly. One without the other is an incomplete submission.
- Your stats. Height, bust or chest, waist, hips, dress or suit size, shoe size, hair colour, eye colour, and your age. In centimetres for Australian agencies.
- Your location and availability. Whether you can get to castings in that city on short notice matters more than most applicants realise.
Send exactly what the agency's submission page asks for and nothing else. No cover letter essay, no professional shoot, no heavily edited Instagram grid. Our guide to building a modelling portfolio covers what comes after you are signed, and it is deliberately not what you send first.
What never to send money for
A legitimate agency earns a commission on work you book. That is the entire business model. If an agency, a scout or a "talent manager" asks you to pay for representation, a mandatory photoshoot with their photographer, a portfolio package, or a place on a website, that is not an agency in the sense you want. We break the economics down in what it actually costs to become a model.
Red Flags, Specifically in the Australian Market
- Upfront fees of any kind. Australian agencies deduct commission from what you earn. They do not invoice you to join.
- A compulsory in-house photographer. Being told you must shoot with one specific photographer, at your cost, before anything happens is the oldest pattern in the industry.
- Scouted by DM only. Real scouts exist and do approach people. Verify every approach through the agency's official website or phone number before you send anything or go anywhere.
- "Guaranteed" work. Nobody can guarantee bookings. Any agency implying they can is selling you something other than representation.
- Vague client lists. A working agency can point to campaigns, brands and shows. If nobody on the board seems to work, ask why.
- Pressure to sign on the spot. Take the contract home. Read it. Our guide to choosing an agency covers the clauses that matter.
Australian consumer law gives you real protection here, and reputable agencies have no problem with you taking your time.
What to Do This Week
Shoot your digitals properly, write down your measurements in centimetres, shortlist three or four Melbourne agencies whose boards you actually fit, and submit exactly what each one asks for. Then learn what happens in the casting room, because that is where signed models either get rebooked or quietly disappear. Our free runway module covers it, taught by the producer who casts Australian Fashion Week.
