Giselle Norman Is The Rising British Model Who Found Confidence Thanks To Cindy Crawford
NAOMI PIKE
Naomi is the Miss Vogue editor
Wednesday 16 January 2019
Turning 18 is a big deal for Giselle Norman. It's not just the fact that she can "get a real ID, drink and get to vote," as it also means new doors are about to open for the model as she comes of age.
JAMIE STOKER
While the fashion industry continues to
expand its practice of duty of care by - amongst other stipulations - upping the age requirements, it means that a model's rise has to be more staggered.
Girls of the season exist during fashion month and amongst the campaign securing, but for those making the decisions of further education or taking up the job full time, things will be more spaced out than before when age specifications were placed in the mid-teens rather than the over-18 mark of today.
Giselle is a testament of this new practice. Her shows plentiful, her campaigns fruitful and yet almost a year since she made her debut is, she is only now giving her first interview, on her 18th birthday.
JAMIE STOKER
As her friends were submitting UCAS applications this May, Gisele made the decision on a train headed to the South of France for the Louis Vuitton cruise show to close her school textbooks for good.
JW Anderson's London Fashion Week show last February. With
Vogue's contributing casting director
Ashley Brokaw selecting her for both the opening slot and exclusive.
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"I felt sick but so excited. I can remember walking out and seeing everyone's phones rising. In my head I was like, 'Oh wow, this is actually happening," she laughed. A few days earlier she had phoned home with the news and the Norman family - there's four sisters in total - were all in elated tears.
Fran Summers, Hannah Motler and
Nora Attal currently taking the industry by storm, there's an energy surrounding them that feeds on the opportunities and the doors being opened for them.
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"I think that we are all quite down to earth and we don't take life too seriously. Everyone just takes is as it goes. We're happy and excited, and really taking it all in. We all get on really well with everyone and we don't judge. We go there, we talk to everyone, we have a good laugh."
Warned by those around her of the reputation that precedes the fashion industry, and the modelling sector in particular, Giselle and her infectious positivity have found the situation to be quite the opposite. "I came into it having heard stories that the girls would be bitchy, and it would be overly competitive, but I've walked in and my opinion has completely changed," she explained. "I've made such good friends, who I'm really open with and can have such a laugh with. I can be myself, I don't have to try and be something I'm not. It helps to know that I am doing the same thing that they are doing. There's a weird thing that happens twice a year with fashion where we come together every day and I love being with them. There is not a single girl that I don't enjoy the company of."
Growing up in West Sussex, modelling was never a profession that crossed her mind as she struggled with self-confidence issues, but all it took was a certain
Cindy Crawford - who Giselle now shares an agency with - to shift her mindset. "I didn't really know about modelling when I was younger, but the first model I was ever shown was Cindy Crawford because I was really self-conscious of my beauty spots," Giselle explains laughing at the situation today. "I remember walking into my mum's office and saying to her 'Look, I'm really conscious. Please can I have them lasered off?' She didn't even talk to me and continued typing but was getting up a picture of Cindy and said to me 'Do you think she's beautiful? She's famous for her beauty mark on the side of her lip.' Ever since then I've thought she is so beautiful and I remember walking into school the next day and being like, 'these moles are beautiful, so shut up!' I've actually never told anyone that story, not even Kaia."
JAMIE STOKER
Who Is Giselle Norman Model Interview | British Vogue