Rachel Pizzolato was standing in a casting line outside the Pariso show in Miami when the condensation from the heat fogged up her camera lens and the queue still had not moved. It was 1:00 p.m., she had been there since 12:30, and the end of the line was still a three-minute walk behind her. For working models, Miami Swim Week is not a glamorous blur of bikinis and ocean air. It is a logistics problem that has to be solved in real time, with fittings, spray tans, and casting calls stacked so tightly that lunch has to be Ubered in from a juice bar mid-queue. This was day two, and Rachel was already running.
Two and a half hours in the sun for one casting that almost did not happen
The morning started with a casting at Next Miami, where Rachel and her close friend Madison filled out intake forms listing height, date of birth, face measurements, Instagram handle, and email before changing into bikinis for digitals. Rachel had already come through the agency with her booker Christine from Premiere, which gave her a head start, and the casting moved quickly. The Pariso casting was the opposite. The line outside the Plymouth Hotel stretched so far that the two of them estimated they were walking for three full minutes before they even saw the back of it. Madison went to Joe & the Juice to pick up sandwiches rather than let them both stand hungry, and they ate in the queue while the line barely moved.
With fittings locked in at 3:30 and a spray tan appointment at 7:00 p.m., the clock was working against them. Then, at the two-and-a-half-hour mark, they were pulled from the Pariso line before reaching the casting room and redirected to a separate casting for Megan Thee Stallion’s swimwear brand Hot Girl Summer. Rachel walked the room four or five times. She felt certain they had the job. She was right. The confirmation email arrived that evening.
The fitting, the spray tan, and a hot plate of mac and cheese at 8:37
They made the 3:30 fittings with eight minutes to spare. Rachel tried on pieces including a collection from Smart Swimwear and fell hard for a deep-back design she immediately flagged for the after-party. She also learned she would be casting her own girls for the first time, a responsibility she had never been given before, and they locked in four that day.
By 6:52, two confirmations had landed: the Megan Thee Stallion show, not on day three but the day after, and acceptance from Next Miami. At 7:33, she had never washed her hair and showered so fast in her life. Spray tan technician Nia came up to the room, and by 8:37 the tan was done. A small water spill happened. It was blended in. Madison had ordered a hot plate in the meantime, and as Rachel put it: ‘We had mac and cheese, zucchini, chicken, and meatballs with this really delicious sauce. And I finished ALL OF IT.’
The tan had to stay on until 11:00 or midnight before washing off, which meant an evening of waiting. Madison got a booking of her own that day too, landing Emma Saval. The two of them, both near six feet tall and booked on the same shows, described themselves without irony as a package deal.
The hot plate sitting on the nightstand at 8:37 p.m.
The empty plate of mac and cheese, zucchini, chicken, and meatballs sat on a surface in the hotel room while a fresh spray tan dried and the clock ticked toward midnight.
Day three of Miami Swim Week was starting at 8:00 a.m., with a 10:00 a.m. fitting for the Megan Thee Stallion show and a schedule that was already looking just as packed as the one that came before it.
