Model CV Examples & Guide for 2026

A model does not get booked on a CV alone. Agencies book on your digitals, your measurements, and how you take direction on the day, so the CV has one job, to prove you are reliable, castable, and easy to work with before anyone has met you.

Most first CVs miss that entirely. They open with school subjects and a list of hobbies, then bury the one shoot or catwalk show that matters three lines down. A model CV that gets a reply reads like a booking record, your look and stats up top, real set experience next, and nothing a booker cannot use.

Writing a model CV with no experience

Almost every model starts here. Agencies scout new faces and develop them, so a first CV is expected to be light on paid bookings and heavy on potential.

That changes what leads. Use a skills-led structure, so your category, stats, and digitals come first, and keep any formal work history short and near the bottom.

Mine your life for real, castable evidence. It is usually there:

• Student or charity fashion shows, end-of-year college catwalks, and local designer showcases.
• Time-for-print (TFP) shoots with photographers building their own portfolios, which cost you nothing and give you images.
• Promotional, brand ambassador, or exhibition work, where you represented a product in public.
• Dance, drama, cheerleading, or competitive sport, which show posture, stamina, and taking direction.
• Hand, hair, or fit modelling for a course, a friend's brand, or a small business.

Write those in booking language. "Walked in the Leeds College of Art end-of-year show, 12 looks" is a runway credit. "TFP editorial shoot with a studio photographer, London" is a portfolio credit, dated like a job.

Unpaid shoots and promotional shifts still count, so treat them like volunteering on a CV and give each a dated entry with what you did.

One line moves a new-face CV up the pile: note that you have current digitals available, or that you are registered with or scouted by an agency. It tells a booker you are ready to be seen.

If your section headings still feel thin, add one for interests only where it earns its place. A dance class, a fitness routine, or a sport tells a booker about your movement and stamina, which are directly relevant, so name the specific activity rather than listing generic hobbies.

You do not need paid bookings to look castable. You need to look reliable, easy to direct, and clear about your category. Build the CV around that, and see how to write a CV if you want the fundamentals first.

What the UK modelling industry looks like

Knowing how the work is booked shapes what belongs on the CV. Here is how the UK market actually hires.

Two things follow from that. Because the work is freelance and location-led, put your base and how far you will travel in the header, and note if you can work in London.

And because a booker screens on your look before your words, the CV supports your digitals rather than replacing them. Treat it as the paperwork that proves you are professional and easy to book.

It also helps to know how broad the paid work is. Beyond runway, the everyday bookings are commercial and lifestyle campaigns, catalogue and e-commerce shoots, fitness and swimwear, promotional and exhibition days, and specialist work like fit, hand, and hair modelling. Most working models earn across several of these rather than one, so a CV that shows range across a few categories reads as more bookable than one chasing high fashion alone.

Formatting your model CV and comp card

Keep a model CV to one page. It is a short document by nature, and a booker skims it in seconds between castings. There is no reward for a second page, so keep to a tight CV length.

Get the header right first. Name, base location and how far you travel, a reliable phone number and email, and your agency if you are signed. Add the handles a booker will actually check, an Instagram and a portfolio link, and leave off a home address, a date of birth, and a National Insurance number.

Put a stats block near the top: height, bust or chest, waist, and hips, plus dress or suit size, shoe size, hair colour, and eye colour. Use UK sizing and keep it current.

This is one of the few CVs where a photo is expected, so include a clean headshot and keep the layout simple, so the images do the talking. Send it as a PDF so nothing shifts, and add a link to your portfolio, comp card, Instagram, or agency profile.

A comp card, or composite card, is a different thing. It is a single card with your best five or six images and your stats, handed out at castings. The CV lists your credits and history, the comp card sells your look. Build both from a tested layout rather than a blank page, and Enhancv's CV templates export to a clean one-page PDF.

Building your modelling portfolio

Your portfolio is the real proof. It is the book of images a booker looks at once your digitals earn a second glance.

Aim for range, not volume: a clean beauty shot, a full-length, an editorial story, and a commercial or lifestyle look. Ten strong images beat thirty average ones.

Build it ethically with TFP shoots, where you and a photographer collaborate and both keep the images, and with any real bookings. For commercial and influencer work, a well-kept Instagram doubles as a live portfolio.

Keep it current. Update your digitals whenever your look changes, a new haircut, a colour, weight, or a fresh tan line, because a booker who sees one thing on the card and another at the casting stops trusting the card. Re-shoot every few months while you are building.

On the CV, do not paste the whole book in. Add one link to a hosted portfolio or your agency profile, and let the images live there. If you are building your first CV around this, Enhancv's CV builder keeps the link, your stats, and your credits in one clean layout that gets you in front of agencies faster.

Writing your model personal statement

Two or three lines at the top: your category and look, your headline stats, any real set experience, and what you are after, whether that is agency representation or direct bookings.

Skip the adjective soup. "Passionate, photogenic, and hardworking" tells a booker nothing they can check or cast from.

Tailor it to who is reading. An agency wants to see a castable look, clean stats, and that you will show up and take direction. A direct client wants to know you have done their kind of shoot before. Adjust the emphasis for each, and keep the stats line the same throughout.

Lead with something concrete instead:

Compare that with the version most new models send: "18-year-old aspiring model, passionate about fashion and photography, looking for an amazing opportunity to grow." It names no category, no stats, and nothing a booker can act on.

See more personal statement examples if the opening line is the hard part.

Writing your model experience section

Whether it is paid, TFP, or a student show, write every credit the same way: a dated heading with the client or shoot type and location, then a short line or two on what it was.

Lead each line with an action verb, not a feeling. Bookers scan for the type of work, the client, and whether you have been repeat-booked, so name those, and see work experience on a CV for the mechanics.

Modelling is more measurable than it feels. Number of looks, days on set, repeat bookings, and named clients or brands are your achievements. Tailor each application: mirror the CV keywords a casting brief uses and pull the exact category and client type from it where they are true of you.

Stats and skills agencies look for

Your stats are not skills, but they are the first filter, so keep them accurate and current. Height and measurements decide which castings you even fit.

Beyond the numbers, agencies book on craft. Movement, posing range, and working to a brief are the hard skills that show on set, and the soft skills that matter, reliability and stamina through a long day, are just as checkable. Evidence each in a credit rather than claiming it.

Category honesty helps you more than ambition here. Commercial, editorial, fitness, fit, plus, petite, and hand or hair modelling all book differently, and a booker would rather see a clear fit than a name that stretches for every job. Say which one you are, and the castings you are sent will match.

List only what you can stand behind. If you have runway experience, say so. If you are strongest on commercial and lifestyle, lead with that instead of pretending to be high fashion.

Training, agencies, and staying safe

You do not need a qualification to model, which is why the new-face route works. What helps is anything that makes you better on set.

Useful and honest: dance or movement classes, acting for camera, a runway workshop, or development offered by a reputable agency. List these briefly in an education section or a training block if you have them.

Here is the part no glossy course will tell you. A legitimate agency makes its money from a commission on the bookings it gets you, not from fees it charges you upfront.

Conclusion

Lead with your look and your stats, log every real credit as experience, and keep the CV to one honest page that points to your digitals.

Pair it with a short cover letter that says why you and why this agency, and a new-face CV stops reading like a hobby list. It starts reading like someone a booker can put in front of a client.