Runway Walk – How To Walk Like Iconic Supermodels?

To walk the walk on a runway show is not as easy as one might think. The shoes are almost always very high heels, and you need to be in perfect shape and have a confident posture. As a matter of fact, it can take hours of practice before being able to walk on a runaway of a big fashion show. However, if you want to try it out for yourself, don’t worry, there are some tricks to get a least a good basic understanding of how to walk the walk like a professional pageant. Continue below to know more.

Ramp Walk Vs Cat Walk – What’s the difference?

First and foremost, it is important to separate these two. A pageant will most of the time have strict rules to follow. One of the main rules of a pageant walk is whether is a certain freedom of movement during the runway walk or if it is more of a conservative walk.

In other words, a ramp walk show will allow their models to walk more freely and to sway as they show their curves in a seductive kind of way. On the contrary, the more Westernized runway shows will present what we call a catwalk, where the models need to stay rigid and light with small movements.

How to walk on a runway professionally?

Here are the best tricks we gathered on this page for you to be able to learn quickly how to walk like a pro pageant:

Work on your mind, confidence comes from inside.

For a typical catwalk show, it is important to lean your back slightly so your legs are going in front of you first and not your upper body. You have to see this almost as a mind game with your body because naturally, we are often used to walking with the upper body parts leaning forward. This is something that will take time to adjust to but it will greatly push your confidence once it is mastered.

Prepare your facial expression

Yes, it is obvious that the star of the show is not only the model but also the clothes that the latter is wearing. That being said, one major mistake that many beginner models do is the facial expression during the runway walk. It’s normal, because the nerve will most likely take over, and keeping a straight face and staying calm is not easy for everybody.

A good trick to avoid such a situation is to practice in front of friends or of a small public. It will give you a little taste of what’s to come. Moreover, the eyes need to stay hydrated but not too much, since it could damage the makeup during or before the walk.

Perfecting your walk and posture

For our third tip, perfecting the way you are going to walk requires you to think about everything, which is a common mistake that many models do at the beginning of their career.

For starters, your arms should move and swing naturally with your body. You are not supposed to move willingly your arms, nor are you supposed to make any hand gesture. In fact, the only time you will have to do a hand gesture during a catwalk is if the showrunner is asking you something specific to present the clothes or something along those lines.

Furthermore, from the shoulder and all the way down, everything should look relaxed and comfortable, so the eyes of the crowd are focussing on what the model is wearing.

Finally, the arms and hands need to be kept on the sides as close as possible to the body during the walk. Even during a turn or a full turn, unless it has been specifically mentioned to you, the arms should stay close to your body at all times.

Practicing turn and full turn

A full turn has been the source of fear for many models for fashion shows and pageant contests. As you are walking the walk, you need to do a full 360 in order to perform a full turn, which can make you lose balance. This is due to the fact that the runway material is often slippery, especially with high heel shoes.

The 3 key points to remember here are the following:

Don’t look at your feet while walking or doing a turn or a full turn! That’s very important because most models lose balance because of this, and also it is recommended to always look forward during the walk to keep a confident posture.

The head has to stay up at all times. This is also an important tip to remember, as your head needs to stay straight, almost like if you were holding a plate on your head. You don’t want the plate to fall, do you?

If a full turn makes you uncomfortable or that you are stressing out at the idea of performing that trick, you can try to do a simple turn, or two consecutive simple turns in a row, which is much easier.

The pose moment

The moment where the pageant or model will pose at the end of the runway depends on the type of show, and also on the shape of the runway itself. If the latter is in a standard T shape, for example, the model will usually pose on the right end side of the T and then, will go on and alternate with another pose on the left end side of the T. Finally, they will stand in the middle one last time before walking back to the runway start to make a place for another model.

A Final Word

All in all, confidence comes with time and dedication. A final bonus trick to help make your runway walk more fun and natural is to follow the beat of the music as much as possible. This trick will make your walk seem like a natural part of the show, rather than just a model walking by with the music in the background. On that note, we hope you enjoy these catwalk pro tips and that you’ll make good use of them.