Believe it or not, modelling agents use to try to recruit me when I was a preteen. Yup, there was high hopes for me back in the '80s. Blondes with big cakeholes were are all the rage in the fashion industry. And I more than fit the bill.

Sadly though, at the matronly age of 18, I maxed out at five-foot-five. It was a fait accompli. Never would I get the chance to strut down a Paris runway, sign a dodgy modelling contract in Japan or even grace the pages of a Sears catalogue.

So when I recently got the chance to spend the day in the life of an up-and-coming model, as she prepares for Vancouver Fashion Week, I was all over it. I even fasted for half a day - just for the occasion!

I met 17-year-old Chloe Babcook at VFW headquarters - that's where designers were casting the right girls for the right outfits. I instantly fell in love with the lovely and wispy Charles Stuart model - you can't not. She's just as sweet as can be. But make no mistake, this PYT knows her stuff. Babcook can vogue, strut, smolder, make love to the lens and all the rest of it at the snap of a finger. And the designers know it. She's in pretty high demand these days.

In fact, she got all four gigs she fitted for. She could have done more, but VFW mostly falls on school nights. Like I said - nice girl.

Other girls weren't so lucky, however. Right next to the inner sanctum room - where stylists were trying to find outfits small enough for Babcook's delicate frame (which is tiny even by modelling standards) - there was a large holding pen for stiletto-clad beauties waiting to get called up.

Like me, some of these hungry hopefuls never got the chance (at least not while I was there).To kill time, they practiced their strut every now and then. I even crashed the party and made a mad, clumsy dash down the makeshift runway - the expression "bull in a china shop" comes to mind.

Finally, I was ready for a private lesson from Babcook, We headed to Wear Else in Oakridge mall, where she tried to show me how to rock designer dresses for both the camera and catwalk. Judging from the look of horror her face, I can stop blaming my height for not reaching super-model status. Modelling, it turns out, is not my forte. Just as well - I can't imagine a life without pulled-pork sandwiches and chocolate.