A student model of colour has told Rising East that her biggest struggle with the fashion industry is “battling between who I am and who they want me to be”.
Summer Nesbeth, a second-year Fashion Journalism student at the University of East London, said: “I think they are trying to give all black models a very edgy look.
“That goes hand in hand with the whole black women having to be masculine vibe, and I disagree with that.”
Nesbeth said the industry expected her to develop a specific character that she didn’t feel fits her personality.
“I am very girly, so it just doesn’t fit how I view myself. I understand that it is for a job, and you do have to mould yourself into a character. Still, it is annoying that other models get to be all types of characters. We get to be one type of character”.
Nesbeth said having long hair is a way for her to be “girly”. However, she gestured towards her current style and said “my hair looks like this”, showing her short, natural hair which was just one of the requirements of her job for her to develop this “masculine” character.
In the interview with Rising East, Nesbeth talked about how she started her career and what day-to-day life was like for her.
Nesbeth describes her new life in Stepney Green as feeling “like it is a bigger Nottingham,” where she is originally from.
Pursuing her career as a model since the age of 12, she says she’s very proud of everything she has done so far.
Nesbeth says her hope for the future is to see herself on a billboard to see her hard work pay off.
Edited by Maxi Pfeifer