Bambi on catwalk. When the word “catwalk” is mentioned, Iselin gets giggly and a bit hectic in her facial colour.
- I always hated to go on the catwalk. I still blush when doing it. I don’t feel I have control of the situation.
The worst thing Steiro has done on a catwalk is to choose the wrong exit. Lost a shoe. Showed a breast unintentionally. But she can live with that. What bothers her is that she can’t do the kitten like soft movements that has named the walk.
- My way of walking is best described as marching. But luckily I was long viewed as very androgynous, a hard type. Therefore I did little typically sexy shows. I mostly did the classical ones, where you put one foot in front of the other. Balenciaga for instance. You’re supposed to go crash, crash, crash over the floor. It’s my favourite show. I was good there.
- When I go catwalk I don’t see anything. I hear the music and the rhythm I’m supposed to follow, and the voice inside my head that says: “Oh no, I forgot the turn”. “I’m going to step on my dress” “Remember to stop!”. It’s really not that glamorous.
After thing for long, Iselin remembers one positive thing about catwalking
- Sometimes I hear my name whispered in the darkness as I walk past. If someone there wonders who the model is. Then I’ll hear, very faint, “Iselin”, “Iselin”. That can be a little good.
Model myths. And then we’re back to the big question. When everything was going so well, and the career was so bright, what trigged the dramatic feeling in Steiro that she just couldn’t take it anymore, the fall of 2006?
- When you ask like that I feel I’m a little bit afraid to be portrayed as bitter.
- Why?
- There’s so many stories in the media that’s quitting because they’re burnt-out and broken-down(?). Or pregnant. That’s like the two reasons why people quit. It wasn’t like that for me.
The darkest of the model myths dates back to the 90s.
- The history about champagne and cocaine and models so high they fall of stage comes from that period. But in the end of the 90s they had a big clearing out of all those things, and things are different now. There’s as much drugs in the modelling business as there are in all other businesses. It’s a spare-time activity. There’s nobody dealing drugs backstage like people think. Most models are aware of the fact that they have a job to do, and you can’t do that being high.
Weight pressure. There’s one myth she can’t reject though. You get skinny of it.
- Models sleep little and eat little, that’s just the way it is. Specially during show seasons.
For a long while she lived of the adrenalin she got from travelling the world, doing shows and getting photographed.
- But when all those things starts getting routine, then you notice that’s it’s tearing on your body. Your body begins to struggle.
- Have you kept the weight you had when modelling?
- I don’t want to talk about weight. But okay, I’ve gained. Lots of kilos.
She emphasizes that is wasn’t the weight craze that made her retire.
- I’ve always viewed modelling as an intermediate stage(?). And now I’d reached a point where it didn’t stimulate me any more. I wanted to study. Wanted to hang with friends. I simply wanted an everyday life. Don’t underestimate everyday rituals.