The unlikely success of Ben Barry is a great example of how the fashion industry is changing, and why the option of a modelling career is opening up to many more women than used to be the case.
At the tender age of 14, Canadian Barry appointed himself to represent a college friend who was having trouble finding modelling work. A size eight, his friend had been told that she had to trim down to a size two or four in order to get more work.
So what did Barry do? Unable to understand why his friend should face any difficulties in becoming a model, he took matters into his own hands. “I looked at her portfolio, and it was fantastic,” he says. “So I took her pictures and sent them to a local magazine. I sent them a letter that said I thought she would be perfect for them.”
And so began a career that has seen Barry, now 26, grow his business to represent hundreds of women of all colours, ages, and sizes. When Dove needed to find models to appear in its Campaign For Real Beauty, it was Barry who sourced the talent.
Damian O’Connor, Managing Director of Models Direct, one of the largest modelling agencies in the UK, sees Barry as a visionary in the industry.
“Ben Barry is still a very young man and he has not only established a very successful agency, but been involved in extremely innovative campaigns,” says O’Connor.
“The kinds of changes that he is pushing are very positive. He wants to move the fashion industry away from idealising very skinny women, and instead encourage influential designers and labels to reflect in their promotions the reality of what people actually look like.”
“And this approach really works,” says O’Connor. “Just look at the phenomenal success of the Dove campaign.”
Further links/information:
* To find out more about Models Direct: http://www.modelsdirect.com/
* Find out about how you could become a model: http://www.modelsdirect.com/locations/worldwide.html
* To find a model for your business: http://www.modelsdirect.com/find_a_model/index.html
Dave Chandler
Campaign manager
t +44 (0) 870 041 0459
[email protected]
