The definitions of the various types of modeling and the terms used to describe them vary greatly. This glossary is neither exhaustive nor necessarily accurate to everybody's understanding.

For all types of modeling, unless something different is asked for, you should have a healthy, fit, well-toned, well looked after body, perfect skin, and healthy hair and nails.

• Corporate A specific type of stock work featuring people in suits and other business attire.
  
• Fashion Pictures where the clothes are the main focus, not the model. Made popular by supermodels.
  
• Lifestyle Pictures of people doing everyday things-playing sports, watching television, going on vacation, etc.
  
• Stock Stock photographs are used by magazines, advertising agencies, and graphic artists to enhance their work. Stock photography can range from specific body parts to full body shots.
  
• Swimsuit Basic one or two piece, non-sheer swimsuit modeling.
  
• Lingerie Modeling bras, panties, stockings, teddies, etc. Similar to Victoria's Secret catalogs.
  
• Sheer Usually in fabric drapings or lingerie, wearing sheer or transparent fabric.
  
• Glamour Lingerie and semi-nude/topless work, similar to pictures seen in Playboy magazine.
  
• Figure Artistic work, nude. Figure models work with artists for photography, painting, or sculpture.
  
• Erotic Usually non artistic graphic depictions of nudity and/or sex, often involving partners or toys similar to pictures seen in Husler magazine.
  
• Fetish Fetish photography is adult in nature but not always sexually explicit. It tends to be photographed in harsh light and extreme settings.

The "state of dress" by the model can be broken into the following categories:

• Casual (t-shirt & jeans types of clothing)
• Evening wear (gowns and tuxes)
• Business (suits, skirts, and conservative dresses)
• Beachwear/Swimsuit (swimsuits, bikinis, thongs, cover-ups, etc.)
• Lingerie (all types, whether sheer or not; after all a large share of lingerie is sheer to begin with)
• Glamour (partial clothing, generally topless)
• Nude Glamour (bare backside, or top without bottoms, or completely nude -- but with "props")
• Nude Art (no clothing, although model may be allowed to cover up parts with fabric materials)
• Erotica Art (genitals exposed -- perhaps more than one model in the pose)
• Erotic Glamour (genitals exposed -- models smiling directly at camera)
• Hardcore (sex and penetration)

Then there is an entirely other realm called "style" which has more to do with the techniques of taking the photo (lens selection, lighting used, compositional features, etc.). Here, it's best to "name names" and show samples of specific types of work from photographers such as Helmut Newton.

Editorial fashion photography (the layouts you see in the back of the big's (Elle, Bazaar, Vogue & W) is about selling the mood, atmosphere, environment of the current fashion season. They take clothes from different designers and try to fashion them into a cohesive message about today's BIG idea. The editors, like the designers, are not setting the mood, they are trying to interpret and mirror back what is already growing in the street, the mirror then acts as an amplifier and drives a successful fashion season.

Commercial fashion is about selling clothes. And it relies on the editorial environment to do this, which is why really good commercial fashion photography has an editorial feel to it, just smoother.

So when you talk fashion photography and modeling, remember there is a huge difference between editorial (reflecting and amplifying mood) and commercial (selling the clothes), even though they may look similar in the end. This also explains why the magazines are always looking for hot new editorial shooters, they are closer to the street.

Check this link for more styles and variations on modeling