By Abbie Vicky Maguire
For as long as we’ve picked up a magazine or drove past a high fashion store, it’s become every girl’s ubiquitous utopia to pose before the world’s shutterbugs, to storm fiercely down the runway and to have photos that grace the renowned fashion covers. Being a model is deemed a sure fire way to become the envy of girls everywhere, a way for them to want to look in the mirror and see your comely reflection staring back at them.
Even world renowned model Elle Macpherson who has achieved all of the aforementioned feats, once proclaimed “…you have nothing to sell except for the image: the image is everything.” But how real is this image that we’ve mustered of the seemingly glamorous life of a model? It is fact or fiction? Friend or foe?
I quizzed one of my best friends, Holly Mason, on what she thought about this compelling, yet utterly misleading industry: “I think that in the modelling and media industry, everyone is so obsessed with the idea of being skinny and tall and perfect that models are constantly being told that they have to be a certain way. It can lead to them being anorexic because they are afraid that people will say that they are not model standard. In my opinion, modelling effects you more on the emotional and mental side. The emotional stress can then lead to physical problems, like not eating so that they can stay skinny and this makes you very unhealthy.”
I decided turn my inquisitiveness into an investigation and interviewed glamour model, Tina Higginson, getting up close and personal with the young model and entrepreneur to find how seedy the modelling industry really is.
At a mere 21 years old, Tina has clearly thrived in this competitive industry and after three years of modelling has been featured in publications such as News of the World; The Sun; The Daily Mail; Zoo; Playboy; Cosmopolitan; and FHM magazine. She has also taken things into her own hands by starting her own business: ‘Flirt PR’ Ltd, (www.flirt-pr.com) specialising in media, events and promotions.
After a few minutes of talking to her, I knew her determined demeanour had allowed her to propel her way through her profession, but what I was more interested in was how she got their and how she manages to stay on top. She enthused: “As soon as I turned 18 I had my first publication and I have modelled ever since. I love my career and am yet to have a negative experience from it.”
At first I was disappointed to be proven wrong. Was it just me and a few select others that believed modelling is a danger to mental health? But when I asked her if she thought all models had to be thin, she revealed: “Yes! Like most young girls I was under the illusion that to be a model you must be tiny but that isn’t the case – I most certainly am not! I’m a curvy size 10 and happy with my figure. Every girl would like to be a little thinner but being a size 0 model in my opinion is not healthy and setting a bad example to young girls that could possibly look up to them.”
She added: “A lot of my model friends suffered from bulimia/fad diets when they first started modelling as, like me, thought that to model you must be stick thin…”
When it was time for Tina to share her opinions on anorexia, she responded: “I am very biased when it comes to things like this. I think it’s irresponsible and selfish to put your life at risk just to stay thin. The best way to say slim is to eat healthy and exercise, however, I can understand how some models may feel pressured to lose weight, especially in the fashion industry. Luckily this is something I haven’t had to deal with personally and the glamour industry is much more appreciative of curves and womanly features…which I happen to have plenty of!” She laughs.
However, she later admitted: “It can be hard at times when you take off the make up and the fancy hair and look in the mirror and see plain Jane staring back at you. Sometimes it makes you realise just how normal you look in reality and that isn’t a nice feeling…All jobs give you up and down days and I’d say modelling is 80% up and 20% down so it makes me happy…most of the time anyway!”
Tahli McGill, a psychology student at Palmers College, revealed to me what she thinks of the industry where stereotyping has been increasingly apparent: “ The nature of the work means that people are constantly bullied into a certain image. People outside of that image are constantly blasted as something that people don’t want to see.
That attacks even the most mentally healthy person. [It] provides reasons for anorexia and bulimia. It sparks dieting and constant weight checking and loss. I think there’s a stupid label put with models and supermodels. People aspire to this easy money for being ‘beautiful.’”
Tahli seemed very set in her opinions on modelling but when I asked her why she thinks girls aspire to be the next Tyra Banks, Elle Macpherson, Heidi Klum, she replied: “They’ll get compliments, a big salary, and be called and proved to be beautiful forever. Who wouldn’t want that?”
