BBC show Britain’s Missing Top Model was a big hit with viewers, but can it change the reality of the modelling industry?
I was completely surprised, I was totally flabbergasted,” Kelly Knox tells Able, after winning Britain’s Missing Top Model. The 23 year old credit controller from Enfield, who was born without a left forearm, has since appeared in Marie Claire magazine, shot by acclaimed photographer Rankin, and been in talks with one of the UK’s foremost modelling agencies. Not bad considering Kelly initially wasn’t that bothered about the modelling side of the competition!

“I’ve never, ever considered myself as being disabled,” Kelly explains, “but I thought that throwing myself into a situation where I would be labeled as disabled would be an interesting and challenging thing to do.” And so it proved to be. “Being around the different girls has made me realise how lucky I am, because I can do almost everything for myself. To see some of the girls, like Jenny, struggle doing the simplest of things – like her makeup and her hair, or put her contacts in – was really upsetting for me. It really opened my eyes.”

Opening people’s eyes and changing perceptions was very much at the heart of the show, according to Richard McKerrow – managing director of Love Productions, which made Britain’s Missing Top Model for the BBC. Previously a commissioning editor at Channel 4, Richard has been responsible for a whole raft of disability-focused programming over the last 20 years, with a hard-earned reputation for covering serious subjects in ways that attract large audiences who would normally switch channels.

BEING REALISTIC

Not that Britain’s Missing Top Model was an easy show to set up. “We found it incredibly, incredibly difficult,” Richard says. Despite his team making a concerted effort to find young disabled women willing to take part, only 350 women put themselves forward, although judge Mark Summers believes that would increase with any second series. Nor was it just about numbers – most of those who applied were white, tall and slim. “The high fashion model world actually discriminates against a lot of people – anyone who isn’t 5’9”, who doesn’t have a certain waist size, or look a certain way,” admits Richard. “We took a decision fairly early on that in order to be taken seriously (by the industry), we needed to find women who might stand a realistic chance of having a modeling career.”

Jonathan Phang – the man who helped launch supermodels Naomi Campbell and Jodie Kidd – agrees. “If we’re trying to make some sort of slight progress, they have to conform to a degree,” he says. “We also had this problem on (previous BBC Three series) Britain’s Next Top Model; it was remarkable how limited the girls who applied were when it came to nationality and ethnicity.”

Jonathan acted as a mentor to “the girls” throughout the series. “I was there simply to be helpful and impart my knowledge and expertise of the industry,” he explains. “If I felt they were getting something wrong or misjudging it, I had no qualms about telling them. I certainly didn’t beat around the bush and I was always honest to them; I didn’t want to be patronising to them in any way.”

Despite initial worries about his involvement, Jonathan recognises it’s been a really positive experience. “It’s opened my eyes to see beauty in a different way,” he admits. “The truth is that I probably would’ve previously avoided looking at disabled girls in a professional capacity, and I’d have limited myself in that way.”

Initially, top UK casting director Mark Summers – one of the contest’s judges – also had his doubts. “When you hear the word ‘reality’, you tend to think they’re going to sensationalise people’s lives,” he says. What persuaded him to say yes was the reputation of the production team and the serious intent behind the show. “I thought I’m better off doing something like this rather than another reality show because, actually, it does count – it makes a conversation happen,” he explains.

Mark had no problem with the concept of a disabled model. “I work in casting,” he says. “If you’re different, and can use being different to get work, then why not?” However, he accepts that not all the judges approached the competition in the same way, which occasionally led to honest clashes. “Myself and Marie O’Riordan (editor of Marie Claire) were talking about the work aspect, while the other two judges (Wayne Hemingway and Lara Masters) were about who was going to be a role model first, and then a model afterwards. My brief was ‘find a model who can work’: I don’t want Kelly to work just once a year.”

Freelance writer, presenter and former model Lara Masters, however, genuinely believes that this wasn’t just a search for a new model. “At the start I said that – all things being equal – if there was an exceptional model with a hidden disability and one with a visible disability, I would go with the visible disability,” she tells us. “If you’ve only got one disabled model to choose, and expect her to change years of prejudice within the industry – and also generations of social prejudice – you need someone who is going to make the most impact. We need a quick fix.”

What the judges do agree on is that public reaction to the series has been incredible. “I didn’t realise how many people would talk about it, would come up to me in the street and talk to me,” says Mark Summers. “I didn’t realise that by doing a programme like this, how much an impact it would have.” Lara believes it has already made a difference within the industry. “People have said to us: This is an experience that I’d never have looked for. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, because in the future this isn’t something I would shy away from.” Admittedly, comments from the general public ranged from the patronising – suggesting disabled people shouldn’t be criticised – to the downright rude. “Some disabled people think that wanting to be a model is beneath them,” adds Lara. “It’s really weird; it’s always disabled people who feel they have the right to be rude and nasty to other people just because they’re also disabled.”

The big question, of course, is whether Kelly can really have a real mainstream modelling career. Jonathan Phang certainly believes the right person won the competition. “I think Kelly is capable of being the best model out of that group of girls,” he says. Lara, though, accepts that it’s not really up to Kelly. “She’s got the very difficult task of chipping away at very deeply rooted prejudices from a very fascistic industry,” adds Lara, “so it’s going to be really down to who books her, what opportunities she gets, and if she meets people who are more creative and open minded.”

Certainly Kelly doesn’t just want to be a one-off model. “I loved every second of it,” she insists. “If something progresses from the programme, then I’d love to do it.”

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