FEATURE CLOTHES SHOW SCOTLAND
New model army
Come in Kirsty Hume your time is up. ClothesShow Scotland — the live spin-off of the BBC’s Clothes Show — is back in Glasgow. And this time, discovers Ellie Carr, with a catwalkful of Scottish models.
hen Trainspotting first hit the nation’s cinemas a letter appeared in hip style mag t'D complaining that Diane. the school-age object of Mark Renton’s desires. was too good- looking. ‘Everyone knows Scottish girls aren’t that nice-looking.’ wrote A Reader From Glasgow. Due to a traditional excess of self- effacing humour. most Scots would be inclined to agree: Kirsty Hume excepted. we’re not exactly a nation of supermodels.
The talent-spotters at this year’s Clothes Show Scotland however. would beg to differ. When the live shopping-fest of a spin-off from the BBC‘s Clothes Show made its Scottish debut in I995. it shipped in with a rollcall of designer and high street names. top hairstylists and make-up artists and a 30-strong team of international models. The line-up at Clothes Show Scotland 96 is similar. but this time. strutting shoulder-to-shoulder with the international thoroughbreds. will be a sizable unit of Scottish models.
Heta Sherman. who plays mother and mentor to the Clothes Show catwalkers. was determined to scout Scottish talent for this year’s event. She began by making contact with four Glasgow- based agencies — Model Team Scotland. The Look. The Best Agency and Premier — who were asked to put forward city models with catwalk experience for a local casting. Out of the 60 or so hopefuls who put their best side forward. two stood head and shoulders above the rest: Nineteen-year-old new face Nicola Crawley from Glasgow and 27-year-old ex- Hearts reserve player Mark Drysdale. both from Model Team Scotland.
Realising the pull the big catwalk exerts on so many local models. Sherman then began to scour London agencies for Scottish talent that had flown the coop. From there she snapped up another three contenders. all from Glasgow. Nineteen-year-old Gillian McOnnachie. 26- year-old Mehbs Yaqub. and Karen Morrison. Also joining the newly swelled local ranks will be top model Eileen Catterson (otherwise known as Wets frontman Marti Pellow’s girlfriend) who was the sole Scottish catwalker at last year’s show.
Without any pressure to achieve a tartan quota. Sherman has appointed a total of six Scots models to her 26-strong team. well in excess of any proportional representation requirements. In the eyes of the world’s modelling elite this makes us very good-looking indeed. Next time you’re hitting Scotland with a major fashion event there’s no need to parachute in with a plane-load of exotic beauties. We’ve plenty of our own.
For those Scots who landed the job - especially those actually based in Scotland — the Clothes Show is a prize opportunity. lts catwalk is one of the biggest in Europe, and flanked round its perimeter on the four days of the event will be a host of the industry’s high heid yins.
12 The List 12-25 Jul 1996
‘The catwalk at the Clothes Show is amazing.‘ agrees Model Team’s Nicola Crawley. still wowed by her local success despite having just returned from a jet-setting interlude in Paris. Despite being keen to pursue her international career. Crawley finds working in Scotland can be more satisfying. ‘lt‘sjust not as bitchy.‘ says the Glasgow-based model. ‘Elsewhere people are much more critical. It can be very tough.’
Clothes Show Scotland is good news for established Scottish models. But it’s also good news for the legions oi undiscovered lovelies who wander in our midst.
The hard knocks school of international modelling has clearly had an effect on this Glasgow girl. ‘There isn’t a lot of work in Scotland.’ she admits. ‘But I still want to base myself here.’ Getting the Clot/it's Show job then. is agenuine thrill for Crawley. ‘lt‘s a really good event to be part of.‘ she says. ‘And all my friends will be there cheering me on.‘
Clothes Show Scotland is good news for
established Scottish models. But it‘s also good news for the legions of undiscovered lovelies
who wander in our midst. No really. Throughout the four days of the event. top agencies will be scouting for new talent to bolster their books. And though it sounds like an fashion fairytale. last year‘s search by Storm — the London-based agency who discovered Kate Moss — turned into a career break for seventeen-year~old Edinburgh girl Pollyanna McIntosh.
Mclntosh. who was shopping in the stands when she was approached by Storm scouts. went on to win the agency‘s prestigious New Faces competition for I995. Despite being drop- dead gorgeous and having done various small bits of modelling. Mclntosh had never considered it as a career. 'I was gobsmacked.‘ she says. recalling the moment when the scouts asked to take her Polaroid. ‘I didn‘t really think anything more of it. Then suddenly I was in the [New Faces] Scottish final. And then the UK final.‘ Next thing Mclntosh knew she was thanking her mum. dad and everyone else who knows her and slipping a Storm New Faces medal round her neck.
‘l‘d never have entered a competition like that off my own back.‘ says Mclntosh. who has since modelled for Toni & Guy. Vidal Sassoon. Mir/nag and 1/) and is now expected to enter Storm‘s books on a permanent basis. As far as she‘s concerned. Storm scouting the Clothes Show is a brilliant way to coax Scotland‘s model potential out into the flashlight. ‘lt‘s a great place for them to find new talent.‘ she says. 'And when they actually go looking they get exactly who they want.‘ Maybe we‘re not such a bad-looking bunch after all.
Clot/It's Show Scot/ant! takes place at the SEC C , G/asgon; Thursday I l —Sttttda\' l4 Jul. See opposite page/or details.
lllcota Crowley: Glasgow glrl booed tor the Clothes Show
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