The life of a model – walking in fashion shows for Prada and Givenchy, shooting for Vogue – can seem, from the outside, like a dream come true.
I was scouted and signed to a modelling agency when I was 16. It was a heady experience, but still confusing – I had had no idea that a trip to Kent’s Bluewater shopping centre could result in a total life change. Then, the week before I was due to enter the first year of sixth form and begin my A-levels, my agent asked if I would model at London fashion week. They said I’d only be out of school for a week, so of course I said yes. That week turned into two, which spiralled into five as I was swept off to Milan and Paris to walk in Jil Sander, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton.
