Along with every fashion week comes a lot of press reports of models being too skinny, today the models for Victoria Beckham, tomorrow the models for another designer. I have been researching what models REALLY eat during Fashion Week and have been quite shocked by the actual truth.
Thanks to my lovely model friends help I created messaging group full of male and female models and asked for their personal stories and experiences of food during fashion week. The press articles of hungry models definitely plays on the mind of many of the models I have spoken to. They feel the press can actually cause the models to worry about not being skinny enough to fit into the designers clothes when in actual fact they already can.
The reports of designers producing clothes that will only fit those that are super skinny isn’t always true. The reality is that at most of the fashion houses the clothes are actually fitted on a standard size 8, like myself, pre fashion week. These garments are then left un-hemmed and fitted on the show girls nearer the date of the show. In reality this means that the show girls just need to be a healthy size 8. It seems height is actually the first priority, unless you’re Kate or Cara.
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The lead up to fashion week
Models tend to be healthier in the lead up to fashion week than during the show season itself. Show season is jam packed. For the top models, they can be travelling from city to city for a good month of constant shows and by the end of it they are left exhausted and spotty from the make up and lack of healthy home cooked food.
There are some models that are naturally gifted with no real need to work out, yet there is also a new wave of models that work out like athletes. With the influence of the Victoria’s Secret motto, “Train Like An Angel”, many models are working out more and more and eating healthier than ever. Models don’t take time off and will wake up at 5:30 to make sure they get in a run.
The biggest factor for every model during fashion week is time. Imagine you have a day full of meetings and didn’t have an intern to run out and get you your lunch. You would have to simply do without food until your meetings have finish. That is the same for models. If there is time, they eat.
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Today I am zipping between two modelling jobs, three castings, one meeting and writing this article. Models get very good at juggling many jobs. If you are not prepared with food in your bag you often have to forfeit food. Whereas on other days you may have no work and sit on the sofa eating a bag of Maltesers and a pizza. Some models that I spoke to said they like their food too much to care about their weight.
I spoke to a PR girl I know who works for a company that organises shows for some very well known fashion houses. She tells me there are rules set by the British Fashion Council that make sure there is always food available for the models. This being said there often isn’t time for the models to eat it if it is actually there so the PR girls end up eating it…its very hard to resist free food. When you are having your make up done and are putting on the clothes you can’t be munching away on food.
–Even though there are these rules, all the models I have spoken to say there is more often than not no food at all just bottles of water. Maybe these rules should be better regulated?
I spoke to a very honest male model who has been doing shows for ten years. He notes that there is sometimes some food available but to be honest he wouldn’t want to eat it before a show anyway. He spoke about wanting to feel your best when walking down the catwalk in front of hundreds of people. Maybe the best option would be for the BFC to have an hours break for lunch allowing everyone in the industry to have a break. Yet, we all know this isn’t going to happen as fashion never takes a break.
One organised models food diary for a typical day of fashion week
The night before fashion week starts I bulk cook loads of sweet potato, quinoa and kale and then store them in Tupperware pots to take with me each day. I tend to wake up very early for the first show to get to my hair and make up call. I tend to pick up a smoothie from Pret or M&S on my way to work. At lunch, or any time that I actually have free I will pick at my lunch that I brought with me. In-between shows I will graze on nuts and seeds. By the time I have finished for the day I am exhausted and hungry so I skip the late night parties and pick at whatever food is closest to me on my journey home. I tend to eat quite bad food after a long day because I am often in a foreign city so just have to pick up something from a shop or get a take away. It’s not healthy but it will fill me up until the next day.
A TYPICAL DAY AT FASHION WEEK
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Homemade sweet potato and greens and tuna
Snacks: Continuous grazing on nuts
Dinner: Trashy food. We are hungry from a tiresome day
