Shanghai is rapidly establishing itself as one of the world's fashion capitals and that is great news for an expat model citizen whose job includes trying to discover the best modeling talent China has to offer, writes Jenny Hammond.
If there is one thing for which Shanghai is growing more and more famous, it's glitz and glamor. The fashion industry is going from strength to strength and with it has come an influx of foreign models and "beautiful people."
Radek Kantor came to the city for this very reason more than four years ago and has become firmly established as an international model scout. His job also involves bringing the most beautiful models from all over the world to Shanghai.
"My life here is crazily busy. It's running around with my small suitcase, hotels, airports and also finding time to be a model and actor myself," says Kantor, from Esee Model Management.
Having been involved in the fashion industry for most of his working life and having worked in all of the major world fashion capitals, the Czech expat has established himself as both a successful model and now an expert at finding new faces in the Asian fashion scene.
"What appealed to me about modeling from the start was the opportunity to travel, being exposed to different languages and of course the fashion itself," he says.
Kantor grew up in the mountains of the Czech Republic in Moravia but got kick-started in the fashion industry when a former girlfriend sent pictures of him to a modeling agency in Prague.
At 18, he began studying law at university but left after two semesters to complete a compulsory year with the army.
"It seemed like such a waste of a year of my life at the time but actually taught me a lot about myself. I became more confident, independent and organized - three important qualities for models."
After leaving the army, he moved to Prague and returned to modeling. While working on his portfolio, he landed a job as a store manager with Fromin Centrotex, a high fashion company which kept him going while he attended castings and fashion shows.
From the age of 21, Kantor's career began to flourish, becoming the face of O.P. Prostejov, a major fashion brand in Prague.
Unlike women whose modeling careers peek between 15 and 18 years, Kantor says men get more work as they "grow up" becoming more useful for business, cars, cigar and alcohol brands, he says.
In Europe, model agents say that if you want to be a model you must go to Italy, Paris, Greece or Asia to shoot great pictures and build a portfolio and a professional modeling career.
Kantor took the advice and after visiting Taiwan went to Bangkok, Hong Kong, and places in South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
Finally in 2003 he decided to settle in Shanghai. "I loved Shanghai from the beginning and you cannot be a model forever," he says.
"I love being in the fashion industry with its fabulous parties, beautiful girls, nice clothes, great designers and famous people."
As a model scout, Kantor says he travels the world, looking at agency Websites and searching for models with a good look for Asia.
The look that works well in Asia is different for men and women, he says. "Men should be sweet-looking but also in a business way as everything in Asia is about business. They should be between 184 and 186 centimeters tall, with a good body and a strong portfolio."
Women, on the other hand, fall in to two categories.
"Those good for the catalogue season should be 170 to 175 centimeters with a more commercial look and the fashion models for the catwalk should be 175 to 179 centimeters and more editorial."
The Shanghai fashion industry is growing very fast, he says.
"Big companies like C&A, Mango, Zara and H&M are coming here which is changing the market. And although compared to the West fashion is a little slower, Shanghai has still become the fifth fashion city of the world."
(Shanghai Daily March 18, 2008)