Nodel (not a model)

A “nodel” is someone who is “not a professional model,” but models anyway. A nodel might be a friend or family member of a designer, a local celebrity, a person of certain selected characteristics (a black fireman in New York City, for example), or anyone who does not normally model. “Did you know: models call people who aren’t models nodels. right” was cited on Twitter on October 30, 2008.
 
“Episode 5: Nodels (Not Models) | MODEL FILES” was published on YouTube on June 20, 2012. The term “nodel” became popular during New York Fashion Week in September 2015.
 
   
Twitter
Michael Bhaskar
‏@michaelbhaskar
did you know: models call people who aren’t models nodels. right.
9:05 AM - 30 Oct 2008
 
dis magazine
Nodel: Not a Model
February 4th, 2011 by David Toro
   
Model Mayhem
Not Models? How offensive!
ECSW
Mar 23 11 03:30 pm
Anyone can be a model, and anyone can be a nodel. I think the real secret lies in the incredible notographers.
 
YouTube
Episode 5: Nodels (Not Models) | MODEL FILES
VFILES
Published on Jun 20, 2012
Street casted for a North Korean denim campaign that mimics the CK1 / CKbe ads, Preston is disappointed by his lack of camera time and the absence of Vita Coco on set.
Watch More MODEL FILES: http://bit.ly/MODELFILES
 
Twitter
churl
‏@cherylannec
“Nodels, is an industry term, for, not models.”
12:52 AM - 7 Nov 2012
 
The New Yorker
MAY 30, 2013
A Model Funeral
BY ALEXANDRA SCHWARTZ
(...)
Parodies of the fashion world are hardly a novelty, but “Model Files” has the distinction of being an inside job. The series was created last year by VFiles, a social network for fashion aficionados, and developed a following thanks in large part to (Preston—ed.) Chaunsumlit, thirty-three, who plays a charmingly hapless version of himself, an amiable dolphin swimming with the sharks of haute couture. In short, zippy episodes, Chaunsumlit runs after young mothers in SoHo, soliciting their children to model an Opening Ceremony baby line, and shoots a campaign for North Korean denim. He speaks breezily of “nodels” (not models) and “maiters” (model waiters), and instructs the men and women he hires for ad campaigns in the ways of the business (“Can you look more like a real person?”).
 
Urban Dictionary
nodel
Nodel is fashion industry slang for a person who is not a model.
What is this ? All these people are just nodels
by DashingDoyle June 19, 2013
   
A Models Life
03 November 2013
Models vs Nodels
(...)
Nod*el [nod-l] Noun,verb; nod*el*ing (nodeling)
 
1. Someone who wants to be a model but is not, a wannabe model, a self proclaimed model, someone who is not agency represented nor has ever been
 
2. The act of nodeling, fake modeling, pretend photo shoots, pretend runway shows, fake bookings.
 
a term coined by Alexandria Serafini herself; Nodels have become as common as replica Louis Vuitton bags. For in this age of social media, everyone who wants to say they are a model can and will do so.
     
Vogue
How Eckhaus Latta Selected New York Fashion Week’s Coolest Cast
SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 12:29 AM
by JANELLE OKWODU
(...)
We caught up with the designers—who cast the show themselves—to hear a bit about their casting process, as well as the benefits to filling their runway with friends, family, and other “nodels,” their term for those they have coaxed onto the catwalk.
 
What was the mood you were trying to create with this casting?
MIKE ECKHAUS: It’s always this kind of community that we like to build on—whether it’s really close friends, people we admire, or people who are doing work that we appreciate—that always helps to determine the casting structure. We’ve always liked the combination of working with industry models and “nodels”—friends and peers. I think it creates a more dynamic texture and quality to the clothing.
   
The Guardian
Meet the nodels: fashion beyond skinny models
The new trend in catwalk casting proves that people matter more than clothes
Jess Cartner-Morley
Monday 21 September 2015 11.57 EDT
(...)
Because, after the supermodel and the size-zero debate, we are entering a new era: the age of the “nodel”. Nodel – or non-model – is the breakout buzzword from New York fashion week, where designer Mike Eckhaus of Eckhaus Latta told Vogue that their diverse casting was about a “combination of working with models and ‘nodels’ – friends and peers. I think it creates a more dynamic texture and quality to the clothing.”
   
West (Welfare Society Territory)
Who are the ‘nodels’ stealing the limelight on the catwalks?
by Mariangela Celiberti - 2015.09.29
After the era of the thin, immaculate supermodel, we are officially entering the era of the ‘nodel’ or the ‘non-model’. A few extra pounds and disabilities are no longer taboo on the catwalk. Of course, Adriana Lima and her friends haven’t retired quite yet and they turn men’s heads as much as ever. But alongside them, in the big fashion shows in London and New York in recent weeks, there are ordinary, girl-next-door models. They don’t stand out, as in the past, solely because of a perfect physique and tiny waist.