But apart from its commercial merit, Instagram also became a platform where grievances could be voiced and abuses of power called out. In the wake of #MeToo,shared gut-wrenching stories DM’ed to her by fellow models recounting stories of sexual assault and abuse in the fashion industry. In the wake of this and other social media-amplified exposés, conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering signed a charter to safeguard models from abuse and create better standards for shoots and shows.
Both accounts really made me reflect on my own experiences in the industry. I concluded that in my years as I model there had definitely been moments in which the boundaries I thought I had set for myself were crossed, like the time I was sent to an unknown scout from Japan in a hotel room, for example, and it was just assumed that I would strip down to my underwear for polaroids to be taken. Situations that, while strange to the outsider, are very much normalised within the industry.
It was encouraging to see that, as we as a generation became more conscious of the different forms of oppression and injustice in society, models started to be much more vocal. From the mid 2010s onwards we saw.
If the 2010s was an era of increased diversity and outspokenness in the modelling industry, the challenge for the upcoming decade is to make these changes stick., or a means to rake in higher sales – it means challenging the very concept of exclusion that underpins the fashion industry. Similarly, regulated and safe working conditions is not something models should have to endlessly fight for, but must be acknowledged as a basic right. Modelling is a job, and has to be treated as such.
It’s shameful to admit but sometimes I get a twinge of jealousy when I realise that these times of body positivity -- of being unapologetically yourself, of celebrating bodies of all sizes, colours and genders -- came too late for me. Or I feel bitter that my ‘in-between-ish’ body was never good enough, and that standing up for myself by not giving in to outlandish beauty ideals punished me because the only option it left me was quitting.