[ALL THINGS] TRAVEL

by KARIM

IMM Model, Karim Francis made the decision to move to a different country for 3 months. The next step for any rising model is to be placed at different agencies around the world and build an international portfolio of work. For Karim, that journey began in South Africa in the beautiful city called Cape Town. Read on to hear about his time in the sun and living his best life.   

Okay okay, there are a lot of places to eat in Cape Town and for CHEAP! Like a meal will cost you about £10 MAX. The old Biscuit Mill on a Saturday in the morning has to be done. NU bar in Greenpoint gives models 50% off. It’s all healthy meals and a meal will come to about a fiver, MAD! To be honest, anywhere in Cape Town has good food. I like to stay healthy so NU bar and Woolworths health section were my spots! Woolworths is basically like our version of M&S in the UK.

Nightlife is mad out here. Long Street is like a strip. There’s every bar and club on that road. Clubs like Saint, CoCo, Goldbar, The Address, Fiction and Arcade were all dope! Drinks are very cheap and half of the time you won’t pay for drinks at all! I’m a rum drinker and SA doesn’t really have any type of rum apart from some dark rums. However, they still have a lot of other drinks that you can have. Fat Cactus and Yours Truly on Kloof street are dope to just start the night off. The vibe is very correct.

As you know when you work as a model you don’t really know when your down time will be. Nevertheless, you can do so many things in your down time and for cheap. If you like being active you can climb/hike Tase Mountain, Lions Head and Devils peak. You can go to sea point and use the outdoor gym on pull up bars. There’s obviously loads of history in SA, so Robben Island, Museums, art galleries. There’s a lot of places to watch the sunset from but one of the best places besides front he mountain is Signal Hill. Boulders beach is on the other side of Cape Town and has penguins roaming the beach. Beaches are to surreal here, Clifton 4th beach is my favourite.

Castings are very different to London. A request casting in London would normally have max 10 people and you’d have an allocated time of when you’d be casting. A request casting in CT is whoever that brand requests; it could be 200 models or 20. In one casting they had over 300 models casting at the same time so you are given a number and you can either wait or id either go gym or go eat. Cape Town moves at a slower pace so if you cast for something in week 1 you probably won’t shoot until week 2/3 or 4.

There is a lot more TVC and commercial jobs out here that are from international clients that are very well paid. Was pretty anxious coming here because i wanted to do well and be working. In my first 2 weeks i managed to book 2 fashion Campaigns which were both on location in amazing areas. Anytime that you work everyone is friendly and I feel with your British accent you are loved everywhere lol. I have 2 favourite jobs. The first was a campaign was with Truworths when I first got to SA in a Mansion just outside of CT in an area called Constantia. Summer campaigns during what would be cold winter at home seems odd but it’s too lit! Dope people and location with some cool looks. Another good job came towards the end of my stay. I shot my last campaign for a clothing brand called Zando (sister to Zolando) with a New Year’s 1920’s theme which was fun!

Cape Town isn’t the place where you’re going to make A LOT of money but you will still do well. For me it was more of a place to get away from London for a little while, expand the look of my book and experience a different part of the world. You come to appreciate a lot of things we take for granted back home. All in all, my days would consist of waking up at like 10:00am,  going gym,  eating out,  going to the beach, hiking and then going out in the evenings - so I’d definitely say it’s not a hard life and its 100% a fun place to live.

IMM TEAM

oxo