Feature: Ambellina

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	Chest	Waist	Corset	Hips	Height	Weight
Imperial	33"	24"	19"	34"	5"4'	126lb
Metric	83cm	61cm	48cm	86cm	163cm	57kg

GGothW: What influences your Gothic style?
Ambellina: I often find a lot of photos on art sites such as Deviantart, that I end up saving to my computer and then looking through them and mixing different styles together. I think I first liked a lot of the 'classic' goth styles with a lot of the lace and velvet because I thought those types of clothes just looked more beautiful than some of the stuff that was in high street shops. Often though I like taking ideas from catwalks and designers with regards to how I actually put outfits together - Alexander McQueen's outfits always appealed to me with how creepy some of his models looked on the catwalk - they stood out and that's how I wanted to be.

GGothW: Where do you like to go to buy your favorite clothes?
Ambellina: To be honest, my FAVOURITE clothes are often from online. I love shopping on etsy.com because a lot of the stuff is one of a kind. Otherwise I'll go to shops just on the highstreet and customize clothing so that I know it's something I won't see anyone else wearing. When I travel to buy clothes I love going to London and places like Camden just to go explore the markets and independent shops - there's always some really nice pieces that I would never have thought of.

GGothW: For those not familiar with the term what is highstreet?
Ambellina: Highstreet's the sort of shops where 90% of people my age buy ALL their clothes from - it's really hard to buy things from independent designers or shops now, because it's chain stores like Primark, Topshop etc. that make up most of the shops on the main shopping street in a city. It's a shame because some of the nicest things in my wardrobe are one offs from local designers, and often if I do find something in a highstreet shop I'll end up customizing it in some way.

GGothW: Who have you shot with?
Ambellina: I tend to work with a lot of local photographers so I can fit it round my a-level work, but one of my favourite experiences so far was with Ben of Gallerino Studio in Bridlington, who has also worked with the likes of Ulorin Vex (one of the models who I think has a gorgeous look). There's a lot of people studying photography at university I have worked with which I always find nice, because I find they have some really fresh ideas.

GGothW: When your not modeling what do you do?
Ambellina: I'm currently studying for my A-levels, doing Biology, Chemistry, Physics and maths up to AS. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do in the future, but hopefully something in biosciences. (Complete geek at heart) Hobby-wise I've played classical piano since I was fairly young which I enjoy. I've sometimes composed my own pieces, although they often end up unfinished somewhere! For many years I did ballroom and latin dancing which I hope to go back to when the school workload eases off. I'm technically a semi-professional dancer - it's a way for me to relax and it goes well with my love of music.

GGothW: Again this is strictly a British term, what are A-Levels?
Ambellina: A-Levels are like the big exams you do before you go to university, I think it would be a bit like an American Advanced Placement maybe. Sometimes you can get onto university / college courses without them, but most of the time if you want to study something like science, maths, english etc, you need them. It's split up into two years, in the first (AS) people usually take 4 subjects, then drop one and carry on 3 in further detail for the second (A2).

GGothW: Will you continue to model as your studies go forward?
Ambellina: Definitely! I think modeling gave me a lot of confidence when like a lot of younger girls I didn't have much body confidence. It also gave me a platform to work with different stylists, makeup artists and designers who often come up with ideas that you'd just never think of otherwise. I think I'll always have time for modeling because it's a hobby for me, and because I have a career separate from it, I'm not under the same pressure that a lot of models are, and I think that's definitely been a bonus, because I can just relax and enjoy it.

GGothW: What tips can you share with new models?
Ambellina: The best tip I can give models is to just be confident. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, but I've found in photos, you need to just try new things in terms of posing, facial expressions, and it pays off! I've started really enjoying trying different poses and drawing inspiration from other photos I see, and I think the photos end up looking better - after all, there's only so much you can do with modelling with just your hands on your hips.. The second tip I think was one of the best I picked up was to do with how your face looks on camera. I'll be the first to admit I have a 'photo pout', but if I want to soften up my lips and subtly change my face shape without looking uncomfortable, someone once told me to look in the mirror and quietly say the vowels out loud. You'll see the shapes your features naturally fall in differ slightly in a,e,i,o,u. There we go, top 2 tips!

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