The modelling industry is known for being ruthless, with little care for the individuals involved. As a society we would like to think that harsh stereotypes are in the past, yet the lack of diversity, mistreatment of models and promotion of unheathly eating habits still appear very present. In efforts to give models a voice that is often unheared, Out of Frame aims to educate those outside the industry of what life as a model is really like, with hopes to promote the celebration of self authenticity.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this project has been shot via Facetime. This new way of shooting has allowed me to connect with models all across the world, capturing them where they are most comfortable: at home.
Annie Wade Smith Although I have done modelling for about 4 or 5 years it took me until last year to consider myself as an actual model, I think that’s because it took me time to accept that I deserved to have this title that I never saw myself worthy of growing up. I always loved fashion and images and started off doing on the other side of the camera photography In my teens, I was the friend that if you came round to my house you knew you’d probably end up being my doll/ model for the day and I’d get the makeup out and style my friends in different ways. It was a friend of mine who first asked me to model for heri tried it for her project and enjoyed it. I still didn’t like how I looked but it was only for her GCSE. A few years later someone asked me online if i wanted to model , my initial thoughts were ‘oh that’s a bit strange’, but I’m definitely a YES man so I went for it. It wasn’t until I shared the images on Instagram, that there was such a response to them, that I thought this was something I could continue. At that time my followers were mainly people I knew from growing up and the beauty standards had been really toxic with my age group.At school I was never seen as ‘pretty’ I didn’t fit the standards of being ‘attractive’ which was all teenagerscared about.
So people were reaching out to me to tell me that they felt empowered, inspired and that it was amazing to see me being myself and not giving a shit basically! I now work in mental health, supporting young people that self harm and have experienced child sexual exploitation. We have big open discussions about relationships, bullying, body image and I am able to bring my confidence from modelling into that which is great . Although I am signed, I have been to castings where the girls have looked me up and down. I’ve also experienced fatphobia in shows and on set from people who hired me, people who clearly wanted me to tick their plus size diversity box but didn’t want me there. In the plus and curve size industry, it definitely feels like a community, there’s not as many of us out there so it’s great we support and look out for one another. Some of my closest friends I met through modelling which is amazing! I think it’s also important as a model to do your bit to make sure there’s space for everyone, I still hold a lot of privilege being white, on the smaller end of plus and being able bodied. For me this means doing what I can to influence brands and other models and to call out bad practice and to support other models.
“No longer do I feel the shame or ugliness that I always felt tied to with pink complexions, red hair, stretch marks, acne and bruising.�
Laura I was quite young when I started modelling, I was about 15. I definitely idealised it a lot and I wasn’t really aware of the bad side of it. I guess I thought it would be easy to get into and easy to do and of course it’s not. My sister started taking photographs of me when I was 11/12 because she was into photography and she said “Ooo, you should be a model” so that encouraged me to apply to an agency in Bristol. I had absolutely no experience and they didn’t really help me. They sold me lessons on how to do catwalks and posing but they never actually gave me any. I think that was because I was very inexperienced and very young, but also at the time, I had too much weight on me so they put me on the back burner. “She’s not going to get any work” was their opinion of me. I recently followed someone on Instagram who’s work I really like and I noticed all the models they use are really tall and thin, so my first thoughts were: “If I want to work with this person, I need to lose some weight”.
This is how the industry has almost programmed me to think. I did, when I was 16, develop an eating disorder, because of the industry. I thought ‘I’m not going to get work; I need to lose weight’ and that is how it all started. I’ve now managed to find a good agent and she isn’t like most, she’s nice and she doesn’t discriminate on that basis. Without her, I don’t really think I would still be in it, it is not very good for my mental health. I have certainly made good friends with certain photographers and makeup artists, who I would work with again, so I guess in that sense it is a sort of community, Especially in Cardiff. In another sense though, the community also feels a bit false. Although you can build friendships with other models, you are still always going to be comparing yourself to them, when you see their photos. It is hard to have a genuine relationship with people who you are competing with and always see as being better than you.
“Shes not going to get any work”
Annie Before entering the modelling industry, I always saw it as something that was quite glamourous and separate to normal life. Almost like a different world. Now that I am involved with it all, I am grateful to my agency: Rare select models. They champion inclusiveness and celebrate people that look different which I think is good, as I feel like a lot of the time modelling can be something that kind of is other worldly or separate.
When you have people that are more relatable it makes others feel they can celebrate themselves and celebrate what makes them individual. That is what modelling has helped me to do, so hopefully it helps others.It is so nice to be wit h an agency that concentrates on inclusiveness, especially with in this time with Corona, it is nice to have a supportive group around me.
Meg As well as modelling, I am currently training to work in primary education. I think that when it comes to self confidence, a lot of our worries are deep-rooted in our childhood memories. It’s important to start educating children on the importance of treating yourself right, and making sure that self belief is there from the outset.
I know that I would have benefitted massively from being taught that from a very young age. I have only just started modelling but I would absolutely love to join an agency and build a platform for myself, it is such a fun industry and I would love the opportunity to use it to influence others.
Megan Before I entered the modelling industry I glamourised it massively. In my mind it was this insanely exclusive, glamourous, beautiful industry, where you go to all these different events and life is kind of easy. It sounds stupid and immature now, but before I entered it, I definitely thought it would be very glamourous. I think I now have a lot more of a realistic understanding of what the modelling industry is like, it definitely is hard work, it is a very competitive field to be in.
I would absolutely love to have a big enough platform to do something with my modelling that is more influential. I feel very much like, it is quite an introspective pursuit and very kind of self-centred, not in a bad way but it just has to be, that is the way it goes. You have to build yourself as a brand and as a product. I think that’s quite hard; it would be so nice to be able to have a platform which is a positive platform for other people to look at, rather than a comparative one.
I think a lot of things that people don’t think about is that you have to put a lot of energy into doing. It is a luxury world and it is a privilege to have to do it, but it is very different to the glamourous ideal that everyone has of it.
Most platforms are comparative, where we are thinking ‘What is she like and why am I not like that?’, not that people look at me like that, but I know that is when I look at other models account sometimes that is the way I can perceive it.
“What is she like and why am I not like that?�
Ella Historically you have seen the same sort of people on high fashion run ways and in store, I always thought I would want to be part of it but I was too scared to get into it because I knew there was a certain standard that I wasn’t sure I could meet. I was quite anxious about it becoming something that would force me to change myself. Before I got into the industry, I had a few walk ins with modelling agencies that literally just said “no, we don’t want you.” For me, it was pretty ruthless and I still do think it is a very ruthless industry at times. The agency I am with now are very, very inclusive, that is their ethos: Diversity and inclusivity. When I got scouted by them, I instantly felt that I was part of something that wanted to bring change to the industry.
Definitely from working with other models and a few brands, you realise that there is now pressure to be more diverse but I still do believe that there is a long way to go across the board. What they are making now are baby steps but there is still a long way to go. I am lucky because all my experiences have been quite positive, I have always come onto a set and met positive people. I think maybe that’s it; I have met some really wonderful people through shooting, people that I am still friends and had I not been doing modelling I never would have met them. People in the industry have so much talent and it is so nice to see people who you work with going up in the world, doing the things that they love, it is so inspiring and brings such a nice feeling.
Joy-Ann I never thought that someone like me could be a model, even though the modelling industry has improved overtime, their idea of ‘curve’ is not me. Most curve models are a size 10/12. Most of my friends are size 10-14 and I would definitely say that they are slim. I would never consider them as curve or plus size. I am a size 18-20 and I don’t feel like I see people like me in the industry, it has improved now, but before there was no one I could compare to myself. That is why I could never see myself as a model. I didn’t do modelling for any other reason than trying my luck at a competition I saw online. Now that I have experienced the industry and what it is like,I am definitely doing it in the hope to influence others. I am trying to be the person that I wanted when I was growing up. I want to be the person that people see and think ‘ok, she has a belly, I have a belly, I can do this, I can do that’. As well as influencing others, modelling builds my confidence too. Even though it has been a short journey so far, my confidence has definitely improved.
My first ever shoot, I didn’t know how to pose, I was awkward, but when you have amazing people, amazing photographer, amazing stylists, they build you up and make you feel good. I haven’t had any bad experiences within the industry, luckily for me everyone I have met on shoots have been so nice, but the one thing that does bother me is when they do not have my foundation colour. That is something that need to change. There are a lot of dark skin models and I am not the darkest, there are a lot darker tones than myself. So, if makeup artists do not even have my tone, what about people darker than me? I have a situation where the shoot was lovely, but I looked grey. More times now, I walk on set with my own foundation but I am so scared of upsetting the makeup artist that I find it hard to bring up without offending them.I do always carry my foundation in my bag, just in case. When they do have my skin colour in their foundation, I am shocked. I absolutely love modelling and I cannot wait to see how far I can go with it in the future!
“I dont want anyone to be like I was at my age. Thinking they would never be good enough to be a model, I want them to see people like me and know that it is actually achievable.�
Tatyana I definitely thought that modelling would be way easier. I thought that when you are a model everyone, like the photographers and crew would be completely on your side. Once I started modelling, it turned out that it is not all like that. You are alone and you have to fight for your own shit, because no one else will help you out. I thought it would be way more fun, but turns out it is actually a very depressing industry. Models are very depressed inside. The pressure, the measurements they make you have. Now, I am nowhere near modelling measurements. When I was 15, first starting out as a model, I was then even told “you need to drop some more weight”. A reason I stopped modelling and decided that maybe I want to do something else, was because, when I was 16, I went to London which was an awful experience for me.
I am from Poland and this was my first modelling trip, so I did not know anything. They were very aware that I was new, because when you are that age, how much can you really know about modelling? The agency was really mean to me, the owner was very harsh with everything. After my first week of being sent to multiple castings each day, I only secured one job, my first job. They rang me and told me when this job was done, they were flying me back home. They did not even allow me to enjoy my first modelling job. My second modelling trip I went to Istanbul, it was so crazy there, how it works. You walk into a casting and they line up around 30 girls in a row, and go down to row like “no, no, no, no, no, maybe, no, no”. It is so bad for your mental health,I compare myself all the time and when I say that, I mean ALL the time.
“They dont expect you to be skinny, they expect you to be a bone. Just bones, a stick. That is the look that they want.”
Jessy I am originally a dancer, that is my main job and beside that I have been modelling through a dancing agency. They offer me modelling jobs with brands such as Puma, Footlocker, Nike and different sports brands. This year, I decided to go into an actual modelling agency due to my dancing jobs are on the low right now because of Covid restrictions. Although at first this was a negative for me, as I was lost with what to do, I am now grateful for the opportunity to finally do more with my modelling career.
The agency sends me a lot of castings, these I always go to but don’t often get the jobs as they are looking for specific types of people. I play a lot of music, I have started intensely learning piano, and producing my own music. Now that Holland is fully in lockdown, I rely on modelling, music and dancing to keep myself occupied. I have a studio where I go and just dance for 3 hours straight, this helps take my mind off everything else going on in the world.
Emma At the moment, Amsterdam is in code red of Covid-19, I spend a lot of time in my room listening to music and smoking.What I usually like to do after a long day of work is to have friends over and be treated as a normal human being. Sometimes people in the industry forget that you are a real human that needs to go to the bathroom and needs to eat. When I get home all I want are people around me that will just treat me normal.
As a model, you are never really sure what jobs you are going to get. Once, I had a shoot and I was extra bloated, they asked me to wear this tight body suit. It was white and all see-through that I didn’t know about.All they told me before hand was that it was going to be a shoot for a fashion student. We did the photos and then three days later they sent me the pictures and told me they couldn’t use them because I ‘looked pregnant’.
“Your size is good,but your legs are just too big”
“You have to give zero f**ks to be a model. Why would I want to lose weight, lose any inches and have an unhealthy relationship with food just to make me look more attractive to a certain small selection of people? No amount of money is going to make me want to change for you�
Meg Smith Ella Devereux Megan rutherford Joy-Ann White Jessy Kemper Annie Wade Smith Laura Alldred Tatyana Annie Blomfield Emma-Lee
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