Ever met yourself?

Photographer: Marcello Pozzetti
Ever since my hair has grown long - and it truly has, to my waist - I have experienced the strange phenomenon of being told "I have seen you somewhere". This particularly  happens when I hang out  with fashion savvy people. "Oh, I know you, you were in..." and I keep on saying no, it was not me. When I did the Tree of Hope catwalk show last month absolutely everyone said it was awesome I should be there and a girl even approached me for some tips on surviving in fashion. I thought it was all a bit over the top and put it down to the weirdness of the fashion crowd. Then, apparently, someone in the audience went up to the organiser to ask how they had managed to get me. I honestly could not understand what they were on about. Finally this morning, by chance,  I followed a fashion thread, looking for more photos from the Tree of Hope show.  And what do I see?

Photographer: Suzy Conway
There she is and she looks like me. Slightly older and apparently slightly taller, according to her stats, but the hair is the same and we could be mistaken for one another, only she is more beautiful. And there are personality resemblances too. She is a fashion model and a photographer published in loads of magazines and books, she takes self portraits, she does yoga, she is someone I could relate to extremely well.  She is Yasmina Rossi,  born in Corsica and currently in the US but also jetsetting around the world. I phoned up the agency I have been the longest with. "Alex"   - his name is also Alex - "did you realise that I look like Yasmina Rossi?" I said. "Yasmina who?" he could not quite remember. I mentioned her most recent campaign "Oh yes. Yes, of course". Pause. "You do, dont you? better put that among your skills". Now that threw me a bit. Resembling someone is no skill, it's just an accident of fate. "Why?" "Oh it might be useful". So that's how it works...
Who knows, it might not be useful at all. But I know a  model who looks a bit like Sophia Loren and makes it a point of saying so, among her 'skills'. Still...

Photographer: Marcello Pozzetti
But actually, on a more serious note,  knowing about Yasmina makes me feel a lot better. I look at her and I think she is stunning, so confident, so radiant. She is more than a model, she is a role model, making  it acceptable for women to be older and be confident in their own skin. I have been  feeling a little sad recently  because in this youth worshipping culture of ours  not only am I sometimes belittled for being older, I also see that many mature 'internet models' do all they can to look hideous in their attempt to copy younger models. That simply does not help! We need, as women, not just as models, to embrace getting older as a fact of life and grow old gracefully. Easier said than done, I know, but then people like Yasmina show us that it is possible.

(All photos modelled by Alex B)

Blogger has been down and thus I have lost all the previously posted comments. Apologies, but there is nothing I can do about it. Grr...

Comments

  1. Haha! She looks startlingly like you. That's weird. It's not often a resemblance is *that* on the nose. I must say, though, I never realized there were stigmas attached to older models. I mean, in certain circles, sure. But in the industry as a whole? I had kind of hoped I could escape ageism a little in still photography, as it is rampant in film and television as well.

    Curious response from your agent. He does have a point. It's similar with actors, when one is in demand and can't be scheduled there are others with similar body type, age, mannerisms, and acting style to take those parts. It's not a deliberate insult to you, since as a business your services need to have some kind of packaging, if that makes any sense. Something like a resemblance to another model can help a photographer quickly digest you and hire you with less hesitation. Gratefully, she also happens to be an admirable model, as well as a beautiful one.

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  2. But can Ms. Rossi do your power yoga poses? :)

    There are two facets to "growing old gracefully," the "internal" and the "external." The internal facet is something you've obviously mastered, self-knowledge and self-confidence. I don't say "happiness," for you and those like you often suffer tremendous external pressures; but knowing who one is and that one is worth something gives one confidence at any age. And I feel that, in general, whatever "society" might say, such people as you tend to relate to others with strength and inherent grace--and that tends to make people respect and admire you. That's grace--at any age.

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  3. You seem to be taking this a little too personally I wonder why. An internet model, as we understand it over here, is a model who is not agency represented, has put up her details online and works independently. Net -model, MM registered models are internet models.
    As for the label mature I too wrote about this, but the convention is to call older models mature models. And that will not go away.
    I have seen many older, since you dont want to use the term mature, models with online profiles which honestly made me puke. The older the model the more likely she is to be doing adult work. There are very few genuine older art models that do not open their legs to make a living. I am not saying that some of the younger ones do not also do it, but the percentage of genuine non-adult older models is pretty low. I do not want to be mistaken for one of these models. I draw a line there, sorry. Women they certainly are and they may have all sorts of good reasons for doing what they do, but no, I am not in that league and want to distance myself from it. If older models in general are identified with adult older models it's frankly bad. That's all I am saying

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  4. Alex, I wouldn't have known how to take that statement as I have never heard the term "internet model" nor have I ever heard that women 40+ or 50+ or 60+ are more likely to do adult work, by which I think you mean pornographic videos including bondage and pay-for-porn or pay-for-bondage sites. I searched online for statistics on this but found no stats at all for women of any age. I have also never heard of any association between non-agency models and this type of work. I've heard one complaint from a photographer on his blog regarding an MM "model" who tried to negotiate a sex transaction rather than a shoot, and one case where the photographer was set up for robbery, but these incidents had nothing whatsoever to do with "mature models."

    The statement seemed unnecessarily harsh so I decided to inquire. I have not had the experience of being mistaken for someone who works in the adult industry, and I am so sorry that is an issue that needs to be of concern to you.

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  5. I think you are being disingenous, UL. Do a search on Net-model and see what comes up. Or on Purestorm. My post was actually about Miss Rossi, the remark about mature Internet models was incidental. I am glad to hear no one has ever approached you for adult work. This post and that remark was not about you by any stretch of the imagination so I don't see why it should upset you if I say that on those sites the majority of mature models do primarily adult work and look like parodies of themselves. It must be the nature of the work - being photographed as a MILF does not produce great images.

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