By BRIDGET COOK
NATHALIE Nicole has learnt to grow a thick skin after working in the superficial industry of modelling for more than 15 years.
But after she was called fat, despite being a size eight and weighing 60 kilograms at 173cm tall, she has lashed out at her industry for fear of the wrong message getting out to young girls.
Ms Nicole, from Hampton Park, said while she was not personally affected by some of the comments about her weight in recent months, she was worried about what such words could do to the self-esteem of young models.
Ms Nicole, 32, had a magazine photo shoot in January, where a photographer patted her on the stomach and said “suck it in, suck it in, suck it in”.
A few weeks ago she had a fitting for a runway show, where comments were made about her being too fat to fit in some of the gowns and two designers told her she was too big for their garments.
Last week, she also had a text from a runway show organiser who told her she would not be needed for the next show.
“I wrote back ‘Why, because I’m too fat” as a joke,” she said.
“And I got back ‘don’t take it personally, we’ve let a few size eight models go’.”
Ms Nicole, who is a mentor and trainer to up-and-coming models, said she was constantly trying to teach girls how to build their self-esteem and confidence, yet those in the fashion industry seemed to have a complete disregard for it.
“This is not about what was said to me, I’ve got a thick skin,” she said.
“It’s about what is being said to the younger generation.
“If this is being said to size eight women, then we are going to end up with young women with eating disorders because they feel they have to conform to someone’s idea of beautiful.
“When I’m on jobs, I often see young girls chain smoking and chugging down on coffee to keep them going without eating.
“Yet I pull out some yogurt and fruit and it’s as if I’ve pulled out a Big Mac.”
Ms Nicole said she wanted to let young girls know to stay true to themselves and live a healthy lifestyle and maintain a healthy weight.
“Don’t conform to someone else’s idea of beautiful and starve yourself to be a size four or six model,” she said.
“I’ve always lived a healthy and active lifestyle, and been lean not skinny, and I’m still in the industry after 15 years.
“You don’t have to be skin and bone to make a career out of modelling.”
Ms Nicole also had a message for those in the industry.
“Give more constructive criticism,” she said.
“You don’t have to leave people feeling terrible about themselves and their weight.
“You don’t know what they’re going through or how it might affect them.”
