Inside Channel 4’s New Model Agency
AS Fashion Director of Fabulous magazine, I’ve always been determined to showcase diversity and inclusivity on our fashion pages.
Over the last 15 years, we’ve featured models who are wheelchair users, visually impaired, octogenarians and breast cancer survivors among many, many others who all have their own individual stories to tell.
For our big Fabulous September Style Issue last year, I wanted to use a model who would make the big trends of the season come alive.
After seeing lots of models from a whole load of agencies, I cast Nan from Zebedee Talent.
Nan, who has albinism and is non-binary, brought such an amazing vibe to the shoot. They looked so strong in front of the camera, they made the clothes look like a work of art.
Now, you can see Nan in Channel 4’s new fly-on-the-wall documentary, New Model Agency, starting Tuesday night at 10pm.
The series follows them and nine other models who are signed to Zebedee Talent – an agency that is breaking down barriers and revolutionising the fashion industry – as they hustle to secure big-money advertising campaigns with brands like Fred Perry and Marks & Spencer, as well as strut their stuff at London Fashion Week.
Since Zebedee opened its doors in 2017, we’ve featured its models on our covers, in our fashion pages and on big advertising campaigns that we work on with brand partners like F&F.
Like Ellie Goldstein, who was our cover star in December 2021, when we named her one of our Women of the Year.
Working with Ellie was a dream come true for me – I had followed her career for a while after she made history by being the first model with Down’s syndrome to feature with huge brands like Gucci Beauty and Adidas, and she’s since gone on to appear on the cover of Vogue, no less.
Back in August, I got a call from Zoe, one of the founders of Zebedee, telling me about the C4 documentary and explaining that she wanted brands that had supported the agency from the start to be a part of it – so keep your eyes peeled for a cameo of Team Fabulous shooting for our Style Issue!
Fashion is about storytelling, and the story we’re telling is all about diversity and inclusivity.
Tune in tonight to see these trailblazers in action.