THERE are rather a lot of misconceptions about models: they're dumb… they don't eat… they survive on fags and champagne… they won't get out of bed for less than £10,000. Of course, the reality of life working as a model is rather different, and for the hundreds of models currently walking the runways at London Fashion Week, it's probably a little irritating that many people think their lives are all parties and bumper pay-cheques.
• Eunice Olumide – sporting a mohawk styled by her mother – tries on a variety of styles which help display her wit and personality during London Fashion Week. Picture: Graham Jepson
Edinburgh model Eunice Olumide laughs when I put this to her. The 22-year-old, who is signed to Glasgow's The Look agency, has agreed to let me shadow her at London Fashion Week to give me an idea of what life for a model is like under all that make-up and styling. Her response suggests that the reality is a little less glamorous than it's perceived to be by the non-beautiful people.
We meet backstage at her first gig of the week, The Button Club's Lingerie Collective, where six lingerie designers (including Edinburgh's own Bebaroque) are showcasing their wares with six separate shows, every hour, on the hour. It's going to be a long night for Olumide – who is modelling in five shows – but she's in good spirits as she shows me her signature pose.
She bends her right leg around the back of her left, resting the front of her foot against her calf. Right hand on hip, she uses her left hand to tug at the neck of her T-shirt. It's eye-opening in that it looks natural and spontaneous, but has been carefully thought out and executed.
Backstage is, in a word, chaos, which is pretty much standard issue for a fashion show. It's not unusual for models to go missing (or not turn up at all) and for drastic changes to be made at the very last minute, be it altering the make-up to suit the lighting, or scoring the soles of shoes so the models don't take a tumble on the catwalk.
Today, we're in a grand room piled high with hatboxes and chiffon, where dozens of models are being primped, preened, dressed and prodded. A desperate-looking man grabs my arms and frantically asks me: "Is anyone in here doing hair?" I accidentally stand on an upturned stiletto. It hurts. Under a fog of hairspray, we find a quiet corner and take refuge from the madness.
Lively, talkative and intelligent, Olumide – who started modelling at 16 – is one of a handful of black models working in Scotland today. She is 5ft 9in (1.75m) and a healthy size eight. Today, she sports a mohawk crafted by her mother which so impressed the hairdressers at the show that they kept it. As such, she's ahead of the game and has a little more time to kill. On top of that, she arrived early and tells me that bookers are always impressed with just how punctual Scottish models tend to be.
There will be five rounds of styling and restyling tonight, and she won't get home until the wee hours, feet aching from the torturous-looking heels she's having to wear. The heels, it turns out, are often a bit of an issue. Too small and they pinch your feet, too big and "the walk" becomes a lot more challenging. And they rarely fit particularly well.
So how difficult is it to nail that famous model walk (look to Naomi Campbell for the ultimate in catwalking), which looks effortlessly sexy, but can take years to perfect? "It all depends on the shoes," she laughs. "If you've got good shoes, you're rocking. The most important thing is to make a mistake look like you meant it. The walk just comes with experience. Some people are naturally good, but hardly anyone. And poses are not easy. It's like a Pilates workout, because you're holding these mad poses for so long. Modelling is like acting or music. On the outside it all looks easy, but it takes a lot to make it to the top."
On top of the uncomfortable shoes, there's the late nights and early mornings, the harsh beauty products that are piled on your skin and hair several times a day, and the lack of privacy. Models often share model apartments while they are in town, which are notoriously messy, often because they are being used by teenagers who are used to having their parents take care of them. Then there are the photographers, who will snap away backstage whether a model is grabbing lunch or getting changed.
Knowing the pressures that face models, many of whom are not yet out of their teens, supermodel Erin O'Connor set up the Model Sanctuary at London Fashion Week, a private space in an undisclosed location where models can relax, get advice and grab some healthy food. Olumide attests that, while she has never dieted or watched her weight, the hectic nature of a model's lifestyle can mean it's difficult to find the time to sit down for a meal, and her first meal today was her lunch on the plane down to London.
"I've never had anyone tell me I'm too big, and I've never dieted or done much exercise," she says. "Certain people are built in a certain way. Usually when you go to an agent, they take you on how you look. They could change you, they could tell you to lose weight, but usually they won't; they'll just wait for someone with the right look. Because it's easier. Because some people are just built that way, they are a size zero. They don't look underweight, because that's the way the are. The problem is when models try to change themselves, because how do you keep that up?"
Suddenly, a dresser grabs her and tells her it's time to get into her first look of the evening. It's a purple body-con dress with an enormous purple headpiece. A make-up artist makes a few final touches to her eyeshadow and she is whisked off. I catch sight occasionally of the top of her headpiece over the throngs of people, and spot her later, in tiny denim shorts and a bikini top, but while she has a 3am finish, my comfy bed is beckoning and I call it a night.
We next speak on Monday, when she's taking part in a one-woman show for Glaswegian designer JJ Noki. This is the job she's most excited about. She's modelling a number of his eccentric creations outside his studio in Brick Lane, walking up and down the grubby street for assembled photographers and fashion fans. Only it's sleeting outside, so the whole operation is moved into Noki's busy studio space.
Olumide adapts quickly. Her wit and personality come through as she poses for photographers. She doesn't let the clothes wear her (quite a feat in these eye-catching creations), and she holds her own in a room where all eyes are on her for a sustained period of time. This job certainly isn't for wallflowers. Noki has booked Olumide for his next campaign, something she's particularly excited about. Life isn't easy for a black model in Scotland, she tells me, and she gets many more opportunities for campaigns and editorial work down in London.
"It's something in Scotland that I've really struggled with," she says wearily. "They don't really use (black models]. In six years of modelling I've only been used in one magazine in Scotland. My book's full of editorial, but it's all stuff I've done down here or in Japan."
Growing up in Scotland and attending an otherwise all-white primary school, she found it difficult that depictions of beauty in the Scottish media are invariably of Caucasian women, and as a result (and despite her job revolving around her beauty) ahe found it difficult to view herself as attractive.
"Growing up in Edinburgh, I used to think I was ugly, because I was black," she says. "I was the first black person in my primary school, my high school, all by myself all the time. I thought I was ugly because of the colour of my skin and because my hair was curly, and I had no one to identify with, except Naomi Campbell and Lauryn Hill.
"And it was because I was looking at these magazines and there's no-one who looks like me. I could look at every single magazine that's published in Scotland and I can guarantee there won't be one black model in there. That's not right."
She shrugs her shoulders, then duty calls – her break is over. She gets back on to the crippling heels, turns on a megawatt smile and faces the flashbulbs. Now that's model behaviour.
OTHER SCOTS QUEENS OF THE CATWALK
Honor Fraser THE sister of Lord Lovat, chief of Clan Fraser, Honor Fraser, 35, was brought up at Beaufort Castle in Scotland. After leaving school she undertook an internship at British Vogue, where she was encouraged to try her hand at modelling. She was the cover girl on the 2001 Roxy Music compilation album The Best of Roxy Music and her first magazine cover was French Elle in 1996. By 1997 she had become Alexander McQueen's favourite model.
Kirsty Hume The 33-year-old Scot has been likened to a Botticelli angel, thanks to her classical features and long blonde hair. In her 1990s heyday, Kirsty Hume modelled for Chanel, Victoria's Secret and Gucci, among others. Asked once what the most exciting part of her job is, she answered honestly: "Um, the money."
Nicola McLean Nicola McLean, 25, was discovered at 15 and has spent much of her career working in Scotland. However, she has undertaken work for international designers, including Amanda Wakeley, Ralph Lauren and Armani. She won the Miss Scotland title in 2006 and remains one of the best-known young Scottish models working today.
Stella Tennant It can help in modelling, like in any other industry, to come from good pedigree, and Stella Tennant, 39, a mother of four, left, comes from the best. The granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and a fourth cousin, once removed, of Diana, Princess of Wales, Tennant was born in Scotland and attended St Leonards school in St Andrews. She has posed for photographers including Steven Meisel and Bruce Weber and is a muse of Karl Lagerfeld. Her advertising campaigns include Calvin Klein, Hermès and Burberry.
No comments:
Post a Comment