'I was told to have a nose job and get my breasts done': Supermodel Erin O'Connor reveals pressures of fashion industry
24th November 2009
Supermodel Erin O’Connor has revealed she was told to have extensive cosmetic surgery if she wanted to succeed in the modelling industry.
The 31-year-old, who has been hailed for her unusual look and striking features told how the fashion world was originally unhappy with her physical appearance, wanting her to have nose surgery and a breast enlargement.
Miss O’Connor, who is 6ft 1in, said in an interview with the Radio Times: ‘In the early days of my modelling career, I think the industry was uncomfortable with how strikingly different I was. For example, I was told to have a nose job and get my breasts done. But I suddenly got very stubborn and thought, ‘Well, no. This is me,’ and suddenly I was being hailed as ‘a new form of beauty’.
This is the latest criticism of an industry that regularly comes under fire for the way it treats young girls, in particular the pressures put on them to lose weight. Charities and parents are increasingly worried about the prevelance of size zero models on catwalks and fashion magazines and the impact it is having on British children.
Last week Kate Moss, who earns millions from her modelling contracts and designing deal with high street chain Topshop, caused anger by revealing that one of her mottos is the phrase 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'. The 35-year-old model was accused of encouraging young girls to starve themselves after using an anorexics' slogan. And there are fears her ‘motto’ is indicative of the attitude of the entire modelling industry.
Earlier this year it was revealed that teenage girls are routinely missing two meals a day because they believe they need to lose weight, a major survey of children's lifestyles has revealed. Twenty-six per cent of 14 and 15-year-olds often do not eat breakfast, 22 per cent skip lunch and 10 per cent regularly go without either, the study found.
A majority of teenage girls believed they needed to slim but few were actually overweight. The survey, conducted among 32,000 ten to 15-year-olds by the Exeter-based Schools Health Education Unit, presents a snapshot of British schoolchildren's lifestyles.
Miss O’Connor also confessed her concerns about society’s obsession with youth and questioned the ease of which people turn to plastic surgery. She said: ‘I am concerned about ageism and the loss of beauty - the perception that as you grow older, you "lose your looks", which I think is diabolical.
‘I worry about how accessible cosmetic surgery has become. Of course, if it has genuinely helped people and their confidence has grown as a result, who am I to form an opinion? But I think there are better routes to confidence than trying to freeze time.'
Thank you so so much for your scan mojopin 
So glad Erin is on the cover looking this amazing! The variety of the poses in the editorial is pure Erin, love it 
She is so fantastic!
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