As part of an occasional series I am going to look at TV programmes and topical stories in the press. And what better way to start – when this week the size zero catwalk models debate has once again hit the headlines in the national press and magazines – than Channel 4’s real life fly-on-the-wall documentary, The Model Agency.
First, I must confess aged 17 – and shortly before I trained to be a journalist – I did some modelling myself. Incredibly Carole White was my boss and Premier was my agency. It will be very interesting to see if in the later episodes of this series, it actually follows the day in a typical model – which as I recall was endlessly spent sat on the Tube going from one casting to another. I discovered I hated sitting for hours while my hair and make up was done and the whole experience was soul-less and lonely. You get the picture – it wasn’t for me.
The agency swiftly decided I was hardly going to be top model material either. Unlike India – the 16 year old model in last night’s programme who went awol on her first assignment in New York – when after about a year I chucked it in, I don’t remember anyone begging me to come back.
Last night, aside from a few videos of the ethereal India, we learnt from Carole and her staff of ‘bookers’ that this was a girl they’d spotted and nurtured from the age of 12. They’d waited four long years for her to grow up and finally she was about to be launched as the latest hot property. But then a crisis! India, who had flown to the US for her first ever job, sent the woman who ran the New Face’s department an email. India felt sick. Worse, she was sick of modelling and wanted to return to school.
The tearful New Faces lady -somewhat bizarrely as she had a perfectly comfortable office within touching distance – sat crumpled on the pavement outside trying to convince India in a long-distance phone call to carry on. After further hand-wringing, she even flew to New York to persuade India to stay – and one would imagine try to salvage the investment and the thousands they’d banked India would make the agency in the years to come…
She told us she was often closer to the girls than their mums were – but this time India flew back home with her real mum…
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