Natalia Vodianova has weighed in on Instagram’s effect on the modeling industry, and she seems to be of two minds on the issue. In a new interview with The Independant she notes that while social media allows models to show off more of who they are as individuals, their presence online is now integral to their ability to get jobs.
“For young models, it’s really, really hard. It’s really hard without this following. I know a lot of brands are asking models how many followers they have — this dictates whether they get the job or not,” she began. “It’s interesting because that means personality is celebrated and it’s not really about the brand’s ideal of the, let’s say, face. It’s crazy because very beautiful girls, or whatever that means, will miss out and the job will go out to someone who is very charismatic and funny and has a lot of personality.”
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But Vodianova, who boasts 2 million followers herself, also sees how social media has been a positive force for change in regards to having more size diversity on the runway. “The brands themselves now have a great presence on social media so they can hear from their consumers directly about what works and what does not. I think this is really positive.” She added that it is up to designers and brands — who ultimately have the power — to make the runways more diverse.
“There will always be a place for girls who are naturally slim, but I would love to see more beautiful, curvy women on the catwalk. I see a lot of these shows and I think it should be more like in real life.” It seems that Instagram’s biggest accomplishment has been democratizing fashion not just for models, but for us all.
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