As last week’s episode of Model.Live wrapped up, Cato had walked a slew of shows in Milan while Madeline and Austria struggled to even catch a glimpse of a runway. It was all very disheartening for them, while for Cato it marked the pinnacle of her career thus far as a model. With no shows booked, Madeline and Austria find Milan’s most picturesque cobbled streets all too depressing so the two checkout early of their rather humbling Milano sojourn to get a head start in Paris castings.

Between Madeline and Austria, the former makes more of an assured bounce back from the Milan and lands in Paris packing an arsenal of confidence, yet she’s greeted with big fat, ego-piercing “NOs from Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood and oddly, Fatima Lopes.

Austria’s young age is glaringly obvious in this episode as she laughs off the fact she couldn’t make all her castings and it’s quite evident she seems overwhelmed with the demands of being a model. The pep talk IMG gives Austria proves ineffective and the team rally behind the plan that Austria sits out a season or two. Cato is in agreement with the idea commenting that modelling at such an impressionable age cuts into the carefree enjoyment of adolescence by thrusting you into a situation where you literally become a “grown up overnight.

Cato’s comments come as a bit of surprise because when she was Austria’s age, she was doing the very same thing, although Cato’s parents reined her in from the nastiness the industry has to offer. Evidently, Cato’s baby−steps into the modelling paid dividends in her approach to the profession; so rather than sit Austria out for two seasons, we suggest that IMG reunite mother and daughter. Maybe this could be the answer to the Austria’s pickle as opposed to shipping the young Dominican home. We hope so…