The stretch between fashion weeks during which shoots and campaigns for the current collection run. There are two: spring-summer and autumn-winter.
Why the work does not follow the calendar
Collections are shown six months before they reach shops, so the industry permanently lives in the future tense: summer clothes are shot in winter and padded coats in August. You get used to it at once, along with the need to be cold in silk outdoors in November.
How the load is distributed
Unevenly. The peaks are the fashion weeks and the shoots that follow them — January, February, June, September. Between them comes a lull with almost no castings, and that is the normal shape of a year, not a sign that a career has ended.
Practical consequence: income is counted by the year, not by the month, and the money from a peak month is spread across the quiet ones.
What to do in the lull
Update digitals and the book, shoot tests, sort out paperwork and invoices, get back into shape. It is the only time there are hours for any of it — in season there are none.
How not to drop out of the profession in that period — «Creative Droughts: Staying in the Game When Nothing Inspires».
Resort and other exceptions
Parts of the market run on their own grid: swimwear is shot in winter for spring selling, Christmas campaigns in September, school uniform catalogues in May. Knowing those shifts lets you put yourself forward on time rather than a month after the line-up was set.
