00:00Yes, I have held an apple before. Plenty of coffees. Phones, makeup, lipstick, lots
00:06of nail polish. For the past decade, hand modeling has been my full-time job. It
00:12really is funny work. I'm Adele Udo and I am a parts model. Parts modeling is short
00:20for body parts modeling, so I mainly do hands, but I've done lips, legs, feet,
00:25eyes, chest, even earlobes. I am generally known as a high-end hand, Dior and Christian
00:32Louboutin. Most parts models have a side gig. There's just a handful of us, so to
00:38speak, that do it full-time. It's sort of a, you know, underground-ish subculture of
00:45modeling. It's something that I sort of fell into. I certainly didn't plan for a
00:52career in parts. I had been told a few times, mainly by my grandmother, that I
00:59had nice hands, so I went on a casting once and ended up booking this big job and
01:05thought, hmm, you know, maybe my grandmother's on to something. What they
01:10typically look for is like the shape of the hand, long fingers, thin wrists, great
01:17skin tone is crucial. If you look good cropped, you've got a career. I love parts
01:24modeling in that I can be like viewed by millions of people and still remain
01:28private and anonymous. For many years I felt almost ashamed to be a parts model
01:37and I think it was ultimately because I was raised by this hippie feminist mother
01:41and her friends. I felt like I was somehow betraying them by becoming this
01:49objectified body parts model. There was this girly part of me that just wanted to
01:54express myself and wear lipstick and somehow I felt guilty when I did that. I
01:59really love what I do and I'm grateful for what I've been able to do. Sometimes I
02:04judge myself for it not being deep enough, you know, I've wanted to contribute more to
02:09society than nice nail beds. I'm not too precious with my parts. I have learned to
02:17take pride in my work and to take it more seriously than I used to, but I also want
02:23to have a life and use my hands. I garden, I hike, I swim, I dance. I would say that
02:33when your body becomes sort of an object, it's harder in some ways to inhabit it.
02:38Because my body parts are literally under a microscope, a macro lens, and everything
02:45shows, I think I scrutinize myself more than actually I have felt scrutinized by the industry.
02:53I admit to obsessively moisturizing. Probably five-ish to 15 times-ish a day. So every year I'm going through
03:04at least a gallon of lotion.
03:06I created a lotion, actually, Essentiel by Adele.
03:13Sort of out of necessity because I had to keep my skin in shape for these macro close-up photographs
03:20where it's literally down to the cuticle.
03:23So I ultimately wanted, like, a premium face lotion I could afford to put all over my body.
03:30I don't believe you need a bazillion bottles in your bathroom. I believe it can be a lot more simple
03:35and more effective.
03:36It's not that difficult. It ultimately comes down to ingredients.
03:41I don't really consider myself a great cook, but I can cook a good lotion.
03:48I don't think you can really miss that there's sort of an inherent absurdity to what I do.
03:54I'm always surprised at how natural the hands look when I'm hand-doubling for someone.
04:01Because it's such an unnatural process, I'm, you know, underneath someone's armpit, like, trying to gracefully put my hand on
04:10the side of their face.
04:14Parts of my life is what I do. It's not really who I am. It's part of who I am,
04:19and I've learned to appreciate it.
04:20But, yeah, I don't take it all so seriously.
04:27Now I realize we can be many things, many parts.
04:32We can have even conflicting parts of ourselves. I can be superficial and deep.
04:37You know, it's not an either-or.
04:50So, again, my life vertical sounds great.
04:51I'm shaking up the head over this line.
04:51It's too easy.
04:51Keep going up, and I'm shaking up.
04:51So, too, this key to the downside.
04:51Once you're making this noise I'm working.
04:51And it's somewhat significantly
