Models are born, not made, to tweak Simone de Beauvoir's famous saying. Every once in a blue moon, a human being arrives on Earth as a freak accident of genetic alchemy, gifted with bone structure, height, and the uncanny positioning of features that registers to other humans as beauty. When they grow up (some barely), models have to be distinctive enough to be recognizable but bland enough to be chameleonic, a canvas for constant reinvention. They should look assertive in images but be compliant in the studio. They cannot overshadow the clothes, or the designers, or the photographers. The idea that a normal person could work to transform themselves into a model is preposterous, like spinning straw into gold. But, for much of the 2000s, reality television insisted that this was possible, never with more fervor, ruthlessness, and capitalist commitment than on America's Next Top Model. Because why not' Reality television was still in its infancy in 2003, when the show first started...
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