With a plethora of modelling reality shows out there, the BBC's Britain's Missing Top Model, which starts on Tuesday, provides a welcomed insight into the lives of eight disabled models. Set to a similar structure of Britain's Next Top Model, they compete to win a modelling contract and a photo-shoot in at top glossy, not Vogue but British Marie Claire. Contestants include a woman with one arm, another who is deaf, and a model who is wheel-chair bound due to a degenerative neuro-muscular disorder.Just as the NY Mag points out, the series is an opportunity not only to witness the inequality models (both disabled and able-bodied) face on a daily basis, but it also paints a picture of how industry folks, such as editors, photographers, and agents, really feel about models with disabilities.
Take for instance, Marie Claire editor Marie O'Riordan, who also doubles as a judge on the show. She says: "When I first heard about the programme, my immediate thought was would it all be women in wheelchairs and I knew that if it was going to be some sort of freak show, I didn't want to be involved. But I very quickly realised there are many disabled people who are not in wheelchairs, and that is just one of the many preconceptions we all hold about disability."
Blindly ignorant, or refreshingly honest? I am inclined to think the latter. As the Daily Mail, highlights, 'whether the winner will go on to have a career when the cameras stop rolling remains to be seen'. That is true, but regardless of this fact, it is the recognition of the struggle alone, in an industry so rooted in the notion of appearance, that is the real winner.
Britain's Missing Top Model, part of BBC 3's Beauty Season, starts on Tuesday, July 1 at 9pm.
Thanks to www.catwalkqueen.tv
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First Name: Julia
Childhood
After the competition, Alexandratou had exclaimed I've worn a lot of crowns in my life. I really didn't need another one. Many people took this as ego, but Julia had later expressed that what she meant was that I like the work of a model but I am not crazy about it, and that she was eager to pusrue other things. Julia was to participate in the Miss International pageant in Tokyo, Japan, but she did not, supposedly due to budget cuts, or her own will.
Julia made her first appearance after the competition on a live show of Fame Story4, and was a guest singer the Greek song titled "Mono Yia Sena" ("Only For You") by former Fame Story3 contestant Andreas Constantinidis, which was featured as the first single on his debut album and she also appeared in the video clip. The song became one of the biggest hits of the whole year and also had great success on the video charts, ringtones, and download charts. After her participation, she was frequently questioned if she was going to pursue a career in music. A few months later, Julia was a co-host to the hit show Megalicious Chart Live! alongside Mad TV presenter Themis Georgandas. She did many television appearances, and in the course of one year, did over 10 magazine covers on magazines such as Nitro, Diva, and Celebrity. Losing the pageant seemed to have sky-rocketed her fame, and the publicity seemed to never end for the youg artist. Her subsequent fame and popularity, led to her hosting her own show, called Music Bee, with her friend Stathis Aitiatoglou. Originally, the show was highly-anticipated and had an informative theme of music news in Greece and abroad. Unfortunately, the ratings soon dropped, but this was rumored to be because of conflicts with her network on payroll, as well as Antenna trying to change her public image and conflicts in her personal life, and it was speculated that she herself had left the network.
In 2007, she released two singles on her own, "Stohos Einai Ta Lefta" ("The Target Is The Money") and "I Vasilissa Tis Pistas" ("The Queen Of The Dance Floor"). She also made her film debut in a comedy by Nikos Perakis, playing a singer named Areti. She starred alongside actors such as Giorgios Kimoulis, and the film premiered in December, with good critiques. Recently, rumors of recording a studio album and a Hollywood film deal have existed. There has also been talk of Julia pursuing an international career, in both film and music.
