BECOMING THE first black, British Victoria’s Secret Angel and walking for the likes of Burberry and Fenty, to creating her own label LAPP which landed her in the top spot of Forbes 30 under 30 for Arts and Culture, Leomie Anderson is a role model to a countless number of young women.
In her brand new podcast, Role Model with Leomie Anderson, the Jamaican born Brit is set to speak to international superstars who are breaking boundaries and shaping culture.
In episode one, Anderson is joined by model Winnie Harlow who talks about industry ignorance with black hair, America’s Next Top Model telling her she wasn’t good, feeling like the only person in the world with Vitiligo and not allowing herself to be put in a box.
On America’s Next Top Model and being different to the 18-year-old Winnie that went on the show Anderson asked: “So Winnie, you were introduced to the worlds when you are a contestant on America’s next top model, a show that has, have recently been highlighted for being problematic AF anyways. And I feel like people got this portrayal of you that was not genuine, and they don’t understand as well that when you’re on these TV shows, you’re under a microscope, there’s a lot of pressure And that’s even before the editing happens. So I want to just talk a little bit about your experience and what’s one thing you wish the audience got to see of you that you feel wasn’t shown.”
WH: “I think people also forget to acknowledge. I was like 18 or 19 on the show. It’s about an, almost a decade I’m turning 27 this year, you know? So I was probably like 18, 19 on the show. And I think people get stuck in the time warp of television, because it can be 20 years from something and you’re watching it and it feels brand new. But when you’re 18 or whatever the case is, things happen that are different from when you’re knocking on thirties door, you know, so I’m appreciative that I got the opportunity to do so many of these things that have pushed me to this level. I mean, it is what it is. I don’t really feel like I mind. What people’s mindset is from a television show. You have no control over, like when you go on a reality TV show, what they edit things to, what they say, how other people are going to interact with you. So. Lord, give me the strength to, you know, accept things I cannot control. “
On America’s Next Top Model telling her she wasn’t a good model, and feeling unsure about her career path until she met a legendary photographer, she told Anderson:
WH: “It was incredible coming off of America’s Next Top Model. I was kind of, I guess, fed the notion that I wasn’t a good model and that I didn’t know what I was doing. And it wasn’t something that was cut out for me. So leaving the show and going back home, that was also a reason why I was like, maybe I should go back to school because, you know, I was told by the people on the show that I didn’t know what I was doing and I wasn’t good at modelling and, you know, whatever. So then being booked by this legendary photographer, who’s shot for everything telling me that I was an incredible model and I knew how to move my body so well and actually helping me and instructing me and showing me things and giving me ideas on how to move and then appreciating and acknowledging this young girl who knows how to move and stuff.”
On models being human: Anderson said: “And there’s things that are said to us as young girls that it’s likely almost, forget that … we are human sometimes and have feelings. And I completely relate to finding that person who instills that confidence in you and says, actually, you are good at this. You can do this. And I had someone similar in my life as well. He’s actually the guy who discovered me. And anytime that I felt like I was unsure of myself or I wasn’t good enough, he was always someone that made me feel confident in myself. But I’m telling you people think that being a model and getting into the industry means that boom, you have loads of confidence and it’s like, no, it’s just that…”
WH: “…our confidence gets knocked even more because we are also looked at for the confidence. We’re like we have to always be on. We always have to be up, but like, that’s not human. We’re not always up. We’re not always happy, not always confident.”
On ignorance in the industry when it comes to black hair, standing up to it for change and wanted to be respected at work:
WH: “I felt like anytime I did say something, it was like, I was dramatic, like trying to be a queen, they love calling us a diva just because we want our hair to look just as nice as a white girls on the runway. There’s no problem with that. There’s no problem. And there’s no problem with me letting you know that my hair is not going to lay down flat. Or if you add water to it, there’s nothing wrong with me giving you that information. I’ve lived with my hair my entire life. I know what’s going to happen. If you put water on it, I know that it’s going to pop off. If you add water and then say, Oh, let me just put a tong on it, on top of it being what I know, it is going to drop off. And if I try to let you know that and you call me a diva and my hair’s gone, who has to suffer – only me because I’m not going to look good in the pictures, my hair gonna fall off. I’m going to be upset and insecure and sad that I’ve lost my hair just because you want it to feel like, you know, everything and nobody knows. […] Everyone’s so scared of the word ignorant. We are all ignorant. Every single person is ignorant about something. And that is okay. As long as you make those moves to not be ignorant anymore.
And that includes listening and learning […] So if you’re not used to working with black hair, you’re not. And in order to handle it, that’s like no biggie in that. The biggie is when you don’t want to listen to a black model on how to take care of her hair. I want to have long hair down my back for real, for real, when I’m like, you know, retired, I don’t want hair dropping out and like having no edges at the end of my career because I didn’t speak up for myself. I have to, I’m a strong black woman and a Leo at that, I have to stand up for myself. I have to say something I don’t like when people take offence to it.”
Anderson: “Good. And that’s the thing, because when we speak up, it helps the future generation of girls as well. Like the next black girl who sits in that hairdressers chat now will probably be listened to a little bit better.”
WH: “I feel like when I first started, it was always a battle and I would end up crying to my agents and being like, you know, what, if that’s the case, if they’re going to be damaging my hair and not listening, then I don’t want to do that job. That means that they don’t respect me. And I want to feel respected at work. I respect them. I’ve taken this job because I’m honoured that I’ve been chosen to walk this show. I am honoured to be chosen to shoot this campaign, but I want to feel respected at work. I feel like everyone wants to feel respected at work, you know? So I feel like we are the generation that’s really made those changes because now, when I go backstage at a show, I see designers hiring black hairdressers. Educate yourself 100%. Like I see so many designers taking the initiative now and I feel more comfortable when I’m going back stage.”
On feeling like the only person with Vitiligo, and little girls seeing her and learning to accept their insecurities:
WH: “I never saw myself or I never saw anyone like me. Growing up in anything, not just on magazine covers, not on TV, not in movies, it was as if I was the only person in the world with Vitiligo, which is not true. There’s tons of people around the world who has Vitiligo, but at the time growing up, I felt like the only person in the world. And now, being able to see myself on Vogue covers and know that little girls who have freckles or whatever the case is that makes them feel insecure, that they’re bullied about or whatever. They can see me and know that they can do it too. That just makes any hardships that I ever dealt with to get there worth it.”
On not allowing herself to be put into a box:
WH: “I think something that was really important to me when I realised that modelling was going to be a career and not just a passing job or hobby was that if I was going to be a model, I wasn’t going to allow them to box me in because I felt like, especially when we were coming up, it was still kind of like the typical one type of person. […] It was very important to me in my career that I didn’t take certain jobs. Even when I needed somewhere to live and I needed to pay bills and all these things. I made sure that I was aligning myself for a career and not just something that was going to be fleeting or a trend or whatever the case is. […] I am a black woman. I am Canadian. I am Jamaican. I am my mother’s child. I’m a child of God. All these things come before I have Vitiligo. So I couldn’t allow people to make me see me, the way they saw me. I had to make them see me the way I saw me.”
Listen to Winnie Harlow on Role Model with Leomie Anderson on Apple, Spotify and all podcast providers.
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