Skip to Main Content

About The Book

Welcome to the model dorm, where you're not mad that your roommate, Christiane, is hooking up with a Brazilian male model on your bunk, but that she's wearing your Dior heels while doing it; where the alcoholic Kylie leaves stains from her Metamucil martinis on the carpet; and where you help Svetlana, the Ukrainian cokehead, clean up after her very public nosebleed. You're all beautiful girls, dropped in the middle of the most exciting city in the world, crammed together in a ten-by-twelve bedroom, and you've made the dorm your home -- for better or for worse.

Eighteen-year-old Heather Johnston knows she has been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when she is signed by a premiere New York modeling agency. She leaves her small Virginia hometown dreaming of Vogue spreads and a luxurious loft with a glorious view. Arriving in Manhattan, she is instead given the key to a one-bedroom apartment furnished with bunk beds and IKEA floor samples. Her roommates are girls who are new to modeling, new to the country, or who just aren't making enough money to pay rent anywhere else. Despite their humble quarters, they form an unlikely family. By day they shuttle between castings and shoots. At night they really come to life in the VIP rooms of New York's hottest clubs.

While this world is fast-paced and fun, Heather questions whether modeling is the fairy-tale she imagined it to be. When she gets a part-time job at a prestigious gallery and discovers a passion for art, she starts to reconsider her future. Is she ready to say good-bye to her dreams of wealth and celebrity and follow a different path?

Fun, campy, and ultimately full of heart, Secrets of the Model Dorm takes you behind the scenes of the world's most glamorous industry and exposes all its dirty little secrets: backseat blow jobs, nasty drug habits, thousand-dollar bottles of champagne, wealthy club managers from France, backstabbing roommates, haute couture, and all.

About The Authors

Photo Credit:

Amanda Kerlin first signed to a top international modeling agency at the age of fourteen, and spent most of her teenage years in Paris, Milan, Cape Town, and New York. She has appeared in magazines such as Elle, Glamour, Teen Vogue, and Marie Claire; been featured in advertisements for Abercrombie & Fitch and Naturalizer Shoes; and modeled for John Galliano and DKNY. She is now an art history major and lives with non-model roommates in Manhattan.

Photo Credit:

Phil Oh graduated from New York University with a degree in history. He now runs a global street fashion website called Street Peeper, occasionally DJs, and spends his time traveling to far-off lands. He met Amanda when he was a guest in the model dorm and now resides in Brooklyn.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books (January 2, 2007)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416548423

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

"Kerlin and Oh treat readers to plenty of sex, drugs, and stilettos in their splashy debut....Juicy fun."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"A breezy, beach-ready read that reveals what it's really like to be piss poor, underworked, and gorgeous."

-- The Village Voice

"Riotously entertaining."

-- Nylon magazine

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images