We decided to sign Gillian

It’s really important for a model to have a strong sense of style because it really translates into the way they wear the clothes, and contributes to their ultimate brand. When you think about the models who’ve really made it in the business—Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Agyness Deyn…—they’re not just clothes hangers. They’re the ones that have that extra thing going on; and part of that extra thing comes from understanding what they’re wearing. When you know what you’re wearing, you know how to wear it to convey a feeling or mood people can connect with.

It comes down to exposure. On Scouted, there are the girls who walk in wearing the new J Brand Jeans and a cool ripped tee, and it’s like ‘Oh, you read NYLON.’ And there are also the girls from really small towns where they don’t have the exposure to fashion that people in New York and the bigger more cosmopolitan cities have. It’s important for those girls to check out the blogs and keep up with what’s going on.

Listen, they’re models so they basically all look amazing in a paper bag. My job is to impress upon them the difference between looking pretty, and being a model.

[photo courtesy of AOL TV]

Even though I’ve done NYLON TV and other on-camera work, my new show Scouted is going to be eight episodes, on a nationally syndicated cable news network–there are going to be a lot of eyes on it! As a fashion consultant/stylist, a lot of my work is done primarily behind the scenes so this will definitely be an exercise in believing in myself and feeling confident!

Seeing myself on film versus a still photograph definitely has me inspecting myself a lot more. I’m used to looking at pictures of myself; I think we’re all used to seeing images of ourselves, but we don’t really see ourselves interacting. I saw a clip of myself recently in an E! News segment and, how do I look? I could take myself apart, but I look like me–I wanna get it through my head that that’s fine.

Besides, no one’s looking that closely anyway; no one sees the tiny things you see. We’re all our own worst critics.

With the show coming out, I’ve been watching a decent amount of television and I never look at anyone and think ‘Oh, look at the way her forehead wrinkles,’ or ‘Her nose looks fat at that angle.’ You just watch it for the bigger picture. It’s all been an exercise in not getting caught up in over-analyzing myself–and just enjoying this really exciting time in my career and life.