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| Can a disabled model make it in fashion? | Can a disabled model make it in fashion? |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Tall, slim and with flowing locks, Lara Masters modelled in her teens. But the work dried up as she developed a degenerative nerve condition. So is the fashion world ready for its first big disabled model? | Tall, slim and with flowing locks, Lara Masters modelled in her teens. But the work dried up as she developed a degenerative nerve condition. So is the fashion world ready for its first big disabled model? |
| The fashion industry has a very precise, exacting and unwavering view of beauty: a model must be tall, extremely slim and physically "flawless". It's a code of understanding which has ruled me out of modelling even though I am 5ft 9ins, size 6 and, if you'll excuse my immodesty, beautiful. FIND OUT MORE... Britain's Missing Top Model is broadcast on BBC Three, starting Tuesday, 1 July at 2100BSTOr catch up using the class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/">iPlayer | |
| I have a degenerative nerve condition that has been gradually paralysing my limbs for many years, and now use an electric wheelchair. As a writer, model (I use the term very loosely as will be explained) actor and TV presenter, I'm more visible than most disabled people. But I have never been accepted in any of these jobs for my skill alone - there is always a focus on my disability. | |
| My mum, Debbie Moore, (founder of Pineapple dance studios) was a very successful model in the 60s and 70s. In my early teens, before my disability set in, I followed in her footsteps - modelling for girls' magazines and Mum's company. But from the age of 14, because I had some paralysis down my left side and an awkward gait, I could not get an agent and that was the end of my hopes for a modelling career. | My mum, Debbie Moore, (founder of Pineapple dance studios) was a very successful model in the 60s and 70s. In my early teens, before my disability set in, I followed in her footsteps - modelling for girls' magazines and Mum's company. But from the age of 14, because I had some paralysis down my left side and an awkward gait, I could not get an agent and that was the end of my hopes for a modelling career. |
| I even tried joining an agency called Ugly which claimed to be looking for something "different". By the time my potential employers had scraped their jaws off the floor I felt that even for an agency that was thinking outside of the box, disability was more disturbing than different. Considering the agency name, I didn't know whether to be flattered or outraged when they refused take to me on. Lara Masters, whose modelling ambitions have been thwarted by disability | |
| Role models were in short supply, until Paralympic runner Aimee Mullins briefly took to the catwalk for designer Alexander McQueen in 1998 - sporting hand-carved wooden prosthetic limb. But when McQueen said he wasn't out to shock people but "to show that beauty comes from within", I was appalled and confused. It was patronising the stunningly gorgeous Mullins and seemed to be saying that having a disability makes you a beautiful person. | Role models were in short supply, until Paralympic runner Aimee Mullins briefly took to the catwalk for designer Alexander McQueen in 1998 - sporting hand-carved wooden prosthetic limb. But when McQueen said he wasn't out to shock people but "to show that beauty comes from within", I was appalled and confused. It was patronising the stunningly gorgeous Mullins and seemed to be saying that having a disability makes you a beautiful person. |
| Eventually, when I started using a wheelchair, I got signed up by an agency that only recruited disabled models. It felt like I was only a casting away from becoming the new face of Mac or Aveda. Instead, I found myself on a poorly paid path of infrequent job offers to advertise wheelchairs, stair lifts and accessible buses - all important campaigns but a far cry from New York Fashion Week. | Eventually, when I started using a wheelchair, I got signed up by an agency that only recruited disabled models. It felt like I was only a casting away from becoming the new face of Mac or Aveda. Instead, I found myself on a poorly paid path of infrequent job offers to advertise wheelchairs, stair lifts and accessible buses - all important campaigns but a far cry from New York Fashion Week. |
| So when the BBC set out to challenge stereotypes of beauty, with a reality-style show in which eight young, disabled women compete to be a "top model", I was excited but also sceptical. | |
| Car accident | Car accident |
| It introduced me to other people who'd had similar experiences, such as 22-year-old Jenny Johnson, who had modelled until a car accident at 16 left her with some lower paralysis. Aimee on the track in 1996, and at a McQueen opening in 2008 | |
| "I started modelling at age 14. I went on several photo shoots and gained some real experience. In spite of acquiring this knowledge, after my accident, it has been impossible to catch a break," says Jenny. "I've even been flat out informed that the reason the agency would not accept me was because of the way I walked." | "I started modelling at age 14. I went on several photo shoots and gained some real experience. In spite of acquiring this knowledge, after my accident, it has been impossible to catch a break," says Jenny. "I've even been flat out informed that the reason the agency would not accept me was because of the way I walked." |
| So what about the industry's insiders - are they really willing to give disabled models a fair chance? | So what about the industry's insiders - are they really willing to give disabled models a fair chance? |
| Designer Wayne Hemingway initially sounds an upbeat note. "We're learning to support diversity and be inclusive of disability in areas such as sport," he says, name-checking the Paralympics and the disabled basketball players who featured in a recent series of BBC One idents. | Designer Wayne Hemingway initially sounds an upbeat note. "We're learning to support diversity and be inclusive of disability in areas such as sport," he says, name-checking the Paralympics and the disabled basketball players who featured in a recent series of BBC One idents. |
| "In new buildings and transport systems it's now unthinkable not to design with disability in mind," he says. But fashion sees itself differently. | "In new buildings and transport systems it's now unthinkable not to design with disability in mind," he says. But fashion sees itself differently. |
| Wannabe model Sophie, who is paralysed and in a wheelchair | |
| "The fashion industry is still seeking out so-called 'perfect symmetry' in impossibly skinny girls and being predictably immoral." | "The fashion industry is still seeking out so-called 'perfect symmetry' in impossibly skinny girls and being predictably immoral." |
| For Marie O'Riordan, editor of Marie Claire magazine, fashion isn't alone in its promotion of the "perfect" human form - it is reflecting wider prejudices in society. | |
| It's a business | It's a business |
| "Disability is largely ignored by the mainstream. Traditionally, fashion models have represented the 'ideal' of womanhood - they are taller and slimmer so that they can show off clothes to the maximum benefit. Being a clothes horse is not something most women could do very well." A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl Marie O'Riordan | |
| The fact is that fashion is a business and it is us, the consumers, who keep it thriving. Is it any wonder the industry sticks to a winning formula and largely shuns the idea of using bigger, more representational female models, let alone disabled models whose physical forms will be even more difficult to sell as aspirational? | The fact is that fashion is a business and it is us, the consumers, who keep it thriving. Is it any wonder the industry sticks to a winning formula and largely shuns the idea of using bigger, more representational female models, let alone disabled models whose physical forms will be even more difficult to sell as aspirational? |
| Yet maybe the BBC's reality show will make a difference. After all, fashionistas are always looking for something new, and disabled models are perfect to create intrigue and attract attention. | Yet maybe the BBC's reality show will make a difference. After all, fashionistas are always looking for something new, and disabled models are perfect to create intrigue and attract attention. |
| "A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl, thus making her attractive to a commercial person trying to sell clothes in an advert, or in editorial," says O'Riordan. Her magazine will feature the programme's winner in a high-end fashion spread by world-renowned photographer Rankin. | "A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl, thus making her attractive to a commercial person trying to sell clothes in an advert, or in editorial," says O'Riordan. Her magazine will feature the programme's winner in a high-end fashion spread by world-renowned photographer Rankin. |
| This gesture in itself would give any able-bodied model major kudos and guarantee further bookings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this shoot will have on the future of the disabled model. | This gesture in itself would give any able-bodied model major kudos and guarantee further bookings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this shoot will have on the future of the disabled model. |
| After that, maybe, it's up to the public. Are they willing to prove their readiness to accept a different ideal of beauty by buying a magazine featuring a amputee model. It's our collective responsibility. If we want to see the fashion industry broaden its parameters, we must put our money where our mouth is. | After that, maybe, it's up to the public. Are they willing to prove their readiness to accept a different ideal of beauty by buying a magazine featuring a amputee model. It's our collective responsibility. If we want to see the fashion industry broaden its parameters, we must put our money where our mouth is. |
| Add your comments on this story, using the form below. | Add your comments on this story, using the form below. |