WakaWaka Marrakech

When I saw on my call sheet we were shooting 'WakaWaka', I wondered if this was maybe a new type of print or range of clothes. Nope, it was just where we were shooting - a hostel!

Buried deep within the Souk, I was expecting a run down 'edgy' place - edgy was about right! From the moment we walked through the doors, we were hit by colour and beauty at every angle. It was one of the most beautiful places I saw in Marrakech!

It had an open air centre, like most Riads - a huge lack of ceiling. I think here and at our Riad they had covers, but if some rain suddenly came along you were in for a problem!

It was an incredible place for a shoot. The photographer captured parts of multicoloured walls and cushions in a magical way (Jamie Gray - he's amazing!). We were also given hot pancakes and almond dip by the lovely people who worked there which were great shooting fuel.

I especially liked the roof garden (as all houses there seem to have!)

Climb up the rickety stairs and come out in a burst of colour!

I love the shade of this blue - the make up artist had shot in this exact spot before, Debenhams, winter coats in 50 degrees heat! Thankfully we only had summery light clothes, and a 'cool' 30 degrees to shoot in.

We also came across the oldest WakaWaka resident..

The very cute, friendly tortoise! He had 'doom' painted on him - how mean :(

Here's a sneak peek of me - I had my eyebrows dyed blonde/nonexistent for this shoot and they are only just starting to grow back in a very uneven, unflattering fashion.

It was another incredible shoot and I loved the pictures from it, they're like nothing I've ever done before!

Hunger Magazine - do not try this at home!

The new issue of Hunger Magazine features my face, looking at it's finest wrapped up in elastic bands. If you are not in the fashion industry, you're probably wondering if you've come onto the wrong sort of page - if you are then you will be (maybe) thinking that is pretty cool. 

Starting off relatively normal - how awesome is this hair?!

To be in Hunger is a big thing - it's a rebellious, fashion bible by world famous photographer Rankin. He is amazingly talented, even with elastic bands wrapped around my face I still absolutely love his pictures and his work is so original. 

With  make up (and elastic band putting on) by the also very talented Andrew Gallimore, and hair by the amazing Amiee Hershan we actually looked.. not as bad as I would look if I'd done it at home.

Modeling - glamorous, right?

There were 4 other models there, and we all looked SO hilarious that we kept bursting out laughing at each other, ruining our beautiful elastic bands in the process. 

The point of it was originally to take photographs of the indentations left on our faces by these elastic bands, so we each had to have them on for half an hour! And of course, they ended up using the pictures with us still in the bands. I actually really loved the indentation pictures, Rankin took some amazing shots..

But of course nothing can beat this - 

Definitely one of the weirdest shoots I've done, but also one of the best - when you are working with such talented people it makes such a huge difference and reminds me why I love this job. 

And it got Lindsay Lohan's stamp of approval!

Don't try this at home - it hurts! This issue is brilliantly named 'We've Got Issues' and is available nationwide. 

Vivienne Westwood VIP Event - Sneak Preview!

I may have mentioned this before, but my favourite kind of modeling jobs aren't glamorous photoshoots or catwalks - they are the amazing exclusive parties that sometimes we actually get paid (?!?) to go to! 

Jobs with other models are so much fun, especially when they're as lovely as these two! (Patrish and Ava)

This week, I had a job to attend a sneak peek of the new Vivienne Westwood collection, showing at the upcoming London Fashion Week, at her flagship store in London. The event was for their VIP Shoppers who were treated to champagne, canapes (fruit sushi ones to be precise) and long chats with us models!

Here's some of the few pictures we managed to sneak inbetween chatting with guests and drinking champagne! 

My two outfits from the new collection - SO comfortable and so flattering! 

I am in serious love with Patrish's though!

As the night went on and the champagne began to ran out, out came the iphones and the 'model selfies!'

And the clutch selfies..

It was a brilliant evening, and I can't wait to see the full collection at LFW! 

Back in London town

It feels so good to be back in London after three weeks away. Since I've been back I've been running around to castings for an abnormally busy-ish January and sticking to my resolutions of getting fit!

London is literally freezing, but at least the sun makes an appearance sometimes.

The perfect weather for shooting outdoors!

I have a strong hatred for shooting outside even on the warmer days, as outside shoots just take generally a lot longer to set up and organise. I think that I was scarred from my JD Sports shoot in 2013, which consisted of running around London for 12 hours in December, wearing tiny shorts (aka my idea of hell).  Somehow I have already had 2 shoots outside in the first week of being back in London!

Me in the JD Sports bootcamp, a futile attempt at catching my breath

'Please don't take my coat off me!'

 Although I had the most amazing shoot this week - I shot with the uber famous and talented photographer Rankin for his incredible magazine Hunger.  It's shoots like these when I remember why I love modelling - doing ecommerce is great but shooting with amazingly talented people and producing unique work is a feeling like no other. Also, they come so out of the blue! I found out about the shoot at 6pm the night before - my life changes literally overnight and it is really exciting to not know what tomorrow will bring.

I'm not allowed to post any pictures until after the next issue is out (at the end of February) but the images came out amazingly. It was probably the weirdest concept and shoot I have ever done, but I think the pictures are some of the best I've ever shot. Rankin and Andrew Gallimore are incredibly talented, as are the many people who work at the studio, so this isn't really surprising.

Love your body!

With modelling, the one issue that always comes to mind is body image. Too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall. I have personally heard pretty much all of them, from all different sorts of people. 

I would say my body is 'averagely thin'. My hips are 92 cm on average which is deemed too large by the 'big' agencies and some clients, but I have gotten them down to 88 before which is the 'ideal'. This is the iridescent issue with models and the first thing that happens when you meet a new agency - their measuring tape finds its way loosely around the largest part of your hips and usually resides at 90cm or above, if you are above the age of sixteen. I know it is a huge issue for girls in other agencies, and was something I went through for a long time with a previous agency, however luckily my current one have never explicitly told me to lose weight. I have lost weight myself, for one particular client, but it was because I was very motivated to do so and I did it by eating healthily and exercising. 

Personally, I would much rather buy clothes off a girl who is more 'normal' sized - who has a body that will fill out jeans, no thigh gap and who is most importantly, happy. Happy because they aren't being hauled in to be measured every week, suffering under constant emotional pressure leading them to resort to unhealthy methods - happy because they are just allowed to be who they naturally are. As a 22 year old woman, I can honestly say that I love my body despite the fact that my thighs will always touch, that I cannot fit into size zero couture dresses and my metabolism is slowing down. It keeps me going, my bones have never broken, I have the power to walk and run and do anything I want to. 

This is such an important issue, and one to remember when you see girls in magazines and wonder why despite all of the green juice you have drunk and meals skipped, you don't look like her. It isn't because you have a lack of self control. It's because the girl in the picture doesn't even look like that in reality - she has been photo-shopped to the extreme, and this is after having her hair and make up professionally done, and being professionally styled and photographed in manipulated lighting. 

I think the biggest problem right now is that models are not being accepted at the 'medium' scale that the majority of us naturally gravitate to, There are catwalk models - scarily thin, bones protruding through papery skin - and there are plus size models, who are under as much pressure to stay within their measurement boundaries as the 'thinner' ones. If they are too thin they are deemed 'not plus size' and come under fire. Why can't they just be regular sized - a size 12 is not fat and should not be seen as plus size in any way whatsoever. The average size of a woman in the UK is size 16. Models are ideally a size 8, which is fine for slightly smaller girls, but combined with being six foot tall it can make you look slender erring on the line of ill, if it is not your natural body type. I am a size 8-10 depending on how much chocolate/running I have consumed that week, and I am proud of it. I don't want to be the model that is making others feel bad about themselves, for perpetrating a negative body image that is impossible to healthily maintain myself. I watch what I eat and exercise regularly because of my job, and because it makes me feel good - not to fit in with what someone else is telling me I should look like.

This post is about celebrating the ordinary size of women - whatever that is! If you are naturally skinny, then that is as good for you as being naturally bigger; you should love your body whatever shape it is. Exercise is brilliant, if you are doing it for reasons that make you feel good about yourself, whatever they are. Chocolate is better! Love your body because it is the thing keeping you alive, because it makes you different from everybody else, because you are you and no one can change that. 

This is a really inspirational, interesting video by Dove - definitely worth a watch! 

Work Lately

So Autumn has officially arrived and so have oversized knit jumpers, cosy coats big enough to get lost in, knee high boots and umbrellas. I manage to lose my umbrella literally every time I take it outside!

I have been shooting a lot of grey, as can be seen in the Sun Newspaper..



And  the Sunday Mirror magazine, Notebook, with the incredible photographer Dan Williams -





Grey grey grey. It's all good though, because grey is a really nice colour to wear - it's flattering and looks expensive.

Also shot for my favourites at Fabulous Magazine..

I love doing shoots where you get made up all grungy as it is such a change from normal, apparently my 'bitch face' is quite a good one too so it helps!

Also a cool little shoot for New Magazine, with a really lovely model called Marieke. It is really fun when you have other models on shoots - half the work and double the fun :)

Also everything £5 - look out for it soon on buses (!)

A shoot from the Summer came out in Velvet Magazine, which was such a fun day playing tourist.. 

A bit of my favourite Asos..

Definitely time to buy a parka like that one from Hilfiger..

Finally, super excitingly I got to shoot at Missguided HQ this week. The team, who I previously met shooting their Awesummer campaign with Joanna Halpin, are so lovely and welcoming. Their office literally looks like a tumblr explosion - there are print outs of awesome shoots and images all over the walls, their models, poses, inspiration, polaroids of everyone, models - everything you can imagine is on their pastel coloured walls. It was such a fun day and I completely fell in love with every thing I wore - at least I know how to find it now!




xXx