QUICK POST.

I know I haven't been blogging for such a long time but since my first show season things have changed so drastically; my life has changed. Balancing school and college is really hard, but I am determined to do both to the best of my ability; you only live once right? I was literally doing work in between shows when I was in New York and staying behind until 6-7pm when I got back to college but I'm doing it :) Im going to try and blog at least once a week from now on so keep checking my tweets for updates @LeLeValentine x

DIARY OF A GIRL IN NEW YORK.

On the 29th of January i woke up at 3:30am to be ready by 4am to get a car to the airport. One word- AWFUL! But my morning was about to descend into sheer stress. Once I got to the airport I had to wait with my mum until the check-in actually opened; it wasnt even 5am yet! When they did open I waited a while because i didnt really want to leave my mum just yet... i wanted to just fall asleep on her shoulder to be honest but I knew i had to get up and do what i had to do. BUT when I got to the desk the woman's face began to screw up and she asked me "have you applied for an ESTA Visa". what the hell was that? I remember vaguely having to do one last time but I thought it lasted like 20 years! I was right but because I got a new passport I had to do it again! So there I was paying £2.00 for 15 minutes on a computer in the airport *sigh*. To make matters worse and old man was also attempting to fill out this form- he didnt even know how to get the computer to go onto the internet -_-! "hello dear, what should i type?" "hello pretty girl, where do I type it?" "hello sweety, do I click GO?". I wanted to scream!

Finally i filled out the stupid form and paid a fee of £10 and wrote down my unique application number into my phone, qued up again and reached for my phone to retrieve the code. My phone screen was black. I clicked the unlock button. the screen was still black. WHY IS MY LIFE LIKE THIS? my phone screen was broken so that meant no code. no code meant no ESTA. no ESTA meant no entry to America! So I had to fill out the form again and get a new code. whilst doing this I had to e-mail my agents telling them everything that was happening and time was running out... my flight was in less than an hour and i hadnt even been threw security yet :( I dont think anyone nows how helpless i felt at this time... I didnt know what I would do if i missed this flight i felt like i would disappoint so many people... my mum, my U.K agency and U.S agency, my friends and family and most importantly myself.

Finally, got past the check-in point! yess! But, the security process was long. To make matters worse I smashed my nail varnish on the floor and everyone was looking at me expecting me to clean it up but in reality there was absolutely no time to do such a task so I ran off :). I looked up at the departure board and saw "New York- Flight Closing". I prayed to God that i wouldnt miss this flight so I ran- and I look crazy when I run. But I made it! I sat down and looked up and thought "Thanks dude... now please.. my phone" and I took my phone out of my pocket just as the plane was about to take off and wacked it... It switched onnnn!

I watched 'Salt' with a smile on my face and passed out :)

QUICK INFO ON THE SHOWS :)

Ok so let me explain how the fashion week seasons work to those of you that don’t know :) 

   Fashion week happens twice a year during the months of February and March and August and September. They are separated into to seasons Autumn/Winter and Spring/ Summer. A/W happens in February and March and S/S takes place in August and September. Now some people maybe thinking “is this girl confused” but I promise im not! The shows I did were for Spring/Summer 2011 not 2010; the fashion world sets the trends so of course they would show case them 6 months before leaving enough time for high street stores to adapt the trends to suit their target market.

The order of the shows are as follows- NEW YORK/ LONDON/ MILAN/ PARIS.

New York and Paris are viewed as the most prestigious of the shows due to the fact they boast the best designers such as Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren etc. If I don’t do shows in New York I'm less likely to do well in all the other countries because people wouldn’t have seen me and if you do well in Paris then your highly likely to get campaigns and editorials after the shows! Everything is so connected in the fashion world when it comes to shows which equates to more work for me! But without doing shows a model is not likely to do well after that so I'm making sure that I do my best… come the 30^th of January 2011 I shall be in New York once again going through the motions of castings through the harsh Winter of New York and I shall take you with me this time! Keep following my blog for updates :)

Top left- old picture for my card. The rest are shows i walked in :) Giles Deacon, Marc Jacobs, Topshop Unique, Loweve and Ungaro.

Next season i have my fingers crossed for Louis Vuitton and Chanel in paris; oh how I would love to walk for those designers!

LIFE AND DEATH.

Life and death. 

One is associated with happiness and miracles; the other mourning and despair. However, they are both inevitable parts of life. Recently, I have experienced both of these with the birth of my cousin on the 30^th of October and the death of my Grandma on the 8^th of December. I remember exactly how my face dropped when I heard the news of my grandma. It was a shock. Everyone was crying; I was the last to know. But I think about it now and although I look at her photo everyday and my eyes well up I know that it’s for best. She’s in a better place now looking down on me smiling gently. She is no longer in pain. The one thing I am truly sad about is that my new little cousin will not have a chance to meet our Grandma and experience for himself how funny and inspirational she was. I will make sure that he does know. I will make sure he knows that his grandmother was a beautiful woman who had such a hard life but always smiled and made the best of what she was given. I love her. Rest In Eternal Peace my Grandmother, Hermine Jasmine Anderson.

NUDITY AND ME.

Ok. So I’ve been modelling since I was a fresh faced fifteen year old and I have developed so much. Not just in the way I carry myself but also in confidence; specifically with my body. Recently I was in the December issue of Marie Claire Magazine and the last page of the spread… well lets say I was “bearing all”. People ask me all the time now “wasn’t it embarrassing?” and “what does your mum say?”. 

Well here it is!

Marie Claire December 2010. [just the nude ones]

I remember my first 'topless' shoot. At first I did feel nervous and awkward and I tried to cover myself but then I realised that it was just my body and as time went on I just got more comfortable. Then she was like “can you move your hands away from your breasts if that’s ok?” and I just ran with it. Those photos turned out really nice; in fact she didn’t even use the ones were my breast were completely out. Since then I’ve grown to accept my body and I’m happy to display it; as long as it’s in a tasteful manner. My mum has exactly the same attitude as me; as long as I’m happy she really doesn’t mind!

Now, even more recently I done a FULLY NAKED shoot. It was just a photo shoot either. It was part of a short film dedicated to Alexander McQueen! MY FANNY WAS OUT! (Okay it wasnt out like that!) It was myself and two other black models and we had to rub on each other and dance (can someone say porno lol) but we all had a laugh and tried to enjoy the situation and the clips turned out beautifully. Bodies are beautiful and if they’re going to be portrayed to convey their beauty in a different light then I’m fine with that! NO PAGE 3!

First Topless Photoshoot.

SO MUCH FOR "VOICE OF THE STUDENTS."

I go to a Sixth form college in South London and I’m on the school council. It’s a lot of additional responsibility on my plate with the meetings and so on and so forth but I joined because I have a voice and I wanted to use it to voice the opinions of the student body and provide a service to them. However, this has not been possible to do with our principal cancelling and postponing everything we organise. First she “postponed” the talent show which was fair enough due to the students over-excited behaviour but that really knocked everyone’s faith in the student council. Now she has cancelled our annual college rave due to the fact that the CMDC (whoever they are) wouldn’t allow it due to fear of violent attacks after the event. I don’t believe this for one second seeing as we were using the same venue as last year and that was completely fine with no trouble afterwards or anything like that. But all of a sudden the event is deemed too dangerous. Thanks so much for telling us when we’ve already put down the deposit for both the venue and the DJ and spent many hours after college discussing themes, decorations and even designing the posters. Thanks so much for considering all the hard work that we put in. Oh yeah, thanks so much for meeting with us and discussing it before hand- oh right she never even did that. I don’t care if she sees this or reads this because she’s taken the absolute p*ss out of us. Other teachers keep using the excuse that “she’s new”- she’s been here for over 2 years now so I’m not hearing it. Nobody come up to me asking me what happened/ what’s the school council going to do because at the moment I am not a member of that time wasting sham- and we're meant to be the voice of the students.

College Rave 2009. Theme; Jocks VS. Nerds.

MODEL BEHAVIOUR.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I never did modeling. From the way that people go on I would assume that I would be some bullied anorexic no friend child because people always seem to use my career as an excuse for things I do. For example people say “Arr you’re mad skinny but you do modeling so that’s okay”. WHATS THAT MEANT TO MEAN? So imagine if I wasn’t one then what would you say or what would be the narrow-minded reason as to why I’m slim?! Another popular comment seems to be “arr you dress kind of weird sometimes BUT that’s the model look”. Sigh… what is the ‘model look’ anyways?! Half the time I don’t even like what other models are wearing because I find it too bland or too stuck in the box; slimming, black, androgynous BORING- Well to me that is. If I hear that lame line “because you’re a model one more time I’ll probably scream and run off and you know what the person will most likely say when I’m gone “that’s some mad model behaviour!”

[PICTURES TOMORROW]

PEOPLE LOVE TO HATE.

  People say that infamous phrase “there’s a thin line between love and hate” yet when you ask what is the opposite to hate the majorities instant reaction is to say love. What a contradiction?! But one thing I do know is that people love to hate. Why is it that when people are trying to succeed in life there will always be at least one individual trying to get them down with their negativity! GET A LIFE! Everyday I see people trying hard to do something with their lives and you know what; I congratulate them. Whether they’re working hard to get those A grades or putting in extra time at their part time job it doesn’t matter; theyre still living their life! The more negativity you put out in the universe the more you’ll get back later in life and im a firm believer of that. Everyone is trying to get somewhere so why cant people just except that and leave them be?! Hating on someone doesn’t improve your position in life!

IS X-FACTOR RACIST?

After the eviction of Paije from X-factor my twitter timeline was on fire of comments saying that the show was racist and fixed etc but in reality did any of these people even try and make a difference to the results? Did any of these people screaming "racism" vote for Paije even once on his duration on the show? The answer to this question is no. This is one of the biggest problem with the black 'community' in Britain; we want our people to succeed but do not support their progress. How do you expect black figures to have a chance if you don't support them? Someone made the comment that the fact that people are voting based on the colour of the contestants is still racist and that you should vote for whomever performs the best and I do agree with this comment but the fact of the matter is that all these people blaming racism for the eviction of Paije clearly wanted him to win but when it came down to him and Cher, a white female, people looked for every other excuse except for the fact that no one voted for him. Both of them are talented contestants but if people really didn't want Cher to go through then guess what they should've done? Voted for Paije.

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN TRIBUTE FILM.

 Yesterday I was privileged enough to be selected to be apart of the Alexander McQueen tribute film directed by Nick Knight. It is a short film, which will be roughly 6 minutes long according to Knight, and the story depicts McQueen’s turbulent but brilliant life through the portrayal of ascendancy and descent through the imagery of a journey through Heaven and Hell. One of McQueen’s dying wishes was to work with a group of all black models for a show and this vision is now being brought to life to honor one of the greatest designers of our time. This film is also special because it contains some if his last original creations which after this will no longer be able to be worn as they will be sent to the Met Museum in New York. These include his infamous shoes and feather detailed gowns.

The short film is scheduled to be release on the 7th of December at the British Fashion Awards at the Savoy Theatre to commemorate one of the most iconic creators of not just the British fashion industry but the world. I cannot wait to see the finished product and I believe that it will be a true reflection of the vibrant yet tragic life of the great Alexander McQueen.