Walking Like a Model

As anyone who's in the fashion world knows, good clothes look even better when you're moving.

Jessica Stam, a popular runway model who has walked hundreds of shows for designers from Chanel to Versace, knows the allure of a confident, comfortable walk. "First impressions are a big deal, whether you're walking up to the podium to give a presentation or into a restaurant for a blind date," the 21-year-old says.

On the runway, she concentrates on pulling her shoulders down and keeping her head high and straight, for better posture. For balance, she focuses on a point in the distance. And she takes very large strides, to show off movement in the clothes. Large strides give the impression of "a certain amount of confidence," she says.

Some models push their pelvises slightly forward to create the illusion that they are leaning back a little, rather than hunching forward. But Ms. Stam believes such tricks aren't necessary.

In general, she notes, the runway strut today isn't as flamboyant as it was in the late '80s and early '90s, when Naomi Campbell and other supermodels would lean way back or add an exaggerated swing of the hips. More recently, Gisele Bündchen pioneered the "horse walk" -- a stomping movement created when a model picks her knees up high and kicks her feet out in front.

Today, most designers want a natural stroll, and some even post signs backstage saying, "Please, walk naturally."

Ms. Stam -- who was the inspiration for the Marc Jacobs Stam bag -- says she thinks about good posture even when she isn't working. "When a woman walks more confidently, it can really affect the way other people see her -- and the way she feels about herself," she says.

One dilemma she often faces is what to do with her hands when she walks. Generally, she lets her arms fall to her sides, where she gently moves them back and forth, while brushing her thighs with her fingertips. If a dress has pockets, she puts her hands inside. "It gives you something to do and prompts you to take it easy," she says.

When she has a purse on the runway, she holds the arm carrying it straight down. She avoids heavy bags that might pull her over on one side -- though she admits she sometimes lugs around 10 pounds of stuff.

Wearing high heels is fine -- as long as they are comfortable and fit. Ms. Stam often walks on the runway in heels as high as seven inches. She tries shoes on a day or two before a show, "so if I have any insecurities, I have time to practice," she says.

But even Ms. Stam -- one of the world's top-paid models -- has fallen flat on her face. She took a dramatic spill at the Chloé fall 2006 show in Paris, while wearing "ridiculously high patent-leather pumps" that got caught on each other as her feet crossed on the runway. "I fell and got back up," she says. "I kept walking. It happens, and it's no big deal."

When she gets nervous, Ms. Stam imagines people aren't actually focused on her. "I think about how they are probably concentrating on the clothes -- or on themselves," she says.