Saturday, June 27, 2009

Child's play

Most of the things I do i've been doing since I was a kid. I'm self-taught. My Mum said I started styling her at age 3. When I was 10, I was asked what my hobby was and I said "dressing up." At 11 I bought my first book on make up art and started practicing on myself, girls at my boarding school and doing make up for school plays. I also started writing little novels in exercise books which I would pass around the girls. I read a lot of books. None of these things were conscious, i did'nt know I was going to go into fashion or be a writer, i just did those things. I got into fitness early too. When I was 11 I became a full blown athlete and sportswoman (or girl), 100m, 200m, relay runner, we went to the English National Championships for our age group! I also played netball and hockey and tried cricket, football, rugby, tennis, swimming...... I went to a school where they'd make us do cross country runs in the rain, constant laps around the track and traumatic 15 mile bike rides through all terrain. I gave up all sports when I was 16 because I'm vain and did'nt want to turn into a man. It did my body a world of good though, i had a curvy slim athletic frame which stayed that way even when I did no exercise. That's why I do mostly low-impact, gentle exercise now, like Iyengar and Bikram yoga rather than Ashtanga, I also do the kind of Pilates that is very slow and keeps repititions low, if not i'd get too ripped, (too muscular) a look I don't particularly enjoy on women. When I was a very small child, i suffered from terrible excema which only went away with taking chinese herbs and eating very clean. I've had a great diet since I was 7. I don't eat chocolate or biscuits or cake or ice cream, maybe very occasionally. At 14, i sang on stage for the first time at a talent show as part of a doo-wop group. We won! When I was 12, I wanted to be a model for a while, forgot about it but started getting print modeling offers by the time I was 21 which I mostly turned down cos I was shy and forgot that I'd wanted to model. I'm only 5 ft 4. Now I model for the House of Makeda whether I like it or not.

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