Unpaid shoots can signal potential, but high-fashion goals demand a curated pivot

I’m an aspiring model with less than a year of experience and recently signed with a mother agency.

Before signing, I used some of my professional relationships to land two unpaid collaborations with consumer brands. One of those campaigns ended up being used on Nordstrom.com. The photos from those shoots actually helped my MA see my potential, although she ultimately sees me as more high-fashion/editorial than commercial.

My MA is now developing me with paid test shoots, with the goal of eventually placing me with a top agency. She’s mentioned that she also thinks I could book a lot of commercial work.

I asked whether it might make sense for 1 of my next 3 shoots to be another brand collaboration. I have an opportunity with a small brand where the resulting campaign imagery would likely appear on Target and Nordstrom. It would again be unpaid because it’s relationship-driven and the brand is small.

My MA doesn’t seem enthusiastic about the idea. Her perspective seems to be that:

Bigger agencies could potentially view continued unpaid brand work as a red flag.

At this stage, it may be better to deliberately develop my book through strong test shoots.

Bigger agencies sometimes prefer newer talent who they can develop rather than someone who has already done a lot and potentially become overexposed.
I understand her reasoning, and ultimately I’m inclined to trust her development strategy. But I’m curious about this from an agency/casting perspective.

My instinct was that modeling is extremely competitive, so having legitimate campaign/retail credits like Nordstrom and Target — even if the actual client is a smaller brand whose products are sold through those retailers — would make me more marketable, not less. I also assumed the fact that the work was unpaid wouldn’t necessarily matter unless I disclosed it.

For agents, bookers, or experienced models: At the development/new-face stage, can recognizable retail placements actually hurt or complicate positioning? Is a carefully curated test book more valuable to a top agency than additional real-world brand experience? And would you turn down otherwise legitimate brand collaborations while preparing for agency placement?