Daphne Selfe on modelling, manners and thigh gaps

Daphne Selfe, who will be appearing at The Industry on 22 July, has been taking the media by storm in recent days. We’ve spotted her on ITV’s Lorraine show, in the Daily Mail (twice), and in The Times to name a few.

Daphne, who at 87 is the world’s oldest working model (according to The Guinness Book of Records) has been outspoken about her views on the fashion industry’s use of models she considers to be too young and too thin. When Daphne began her modelling career at the age of 21 she was 5ft 7in and 10 stone, which would make her a rarity today.

“I’m worried about them [today’s young models], really, it’s too young. I don’t like to see thighs that don’t meet,” she told the Daily Mail’s Liz Jones. “We wore grown-up clothes, while the clothes they feature nowadays, well, I look in the magazines and think, ‘I don’t want to wear that!’ I was never thin. I was horsey.”

But she has criticised today’s models for their lack of work ethic and manners. In a further Daily Mail interview she said: “Make sure you’re presentable and disciplined and able to be on time and be helpful to the photographers,” she said. “A work ethic is the word. I don’t think people are brought up quite the same as we were. We were very strictly brought up in those days. I was brought up to have manners.”

When Daphne began modelling in the 1950s models not only had a greater work ethic but had to do their own make up and undergo training to work on their posture. She told ITV’s Lorraine: “We had three weeks’ training. We were taught how to walk with a book on our head.”

Indeed it is her posture that Daphne attributes to her success as a model today, saying it is that, and not being super-thin, which is the key to looking good in clothes. While she fell out of modelling in the 1960s, when she was married and had children, she was rediscovered at the age of 70 and cast to walk the catwalk for Red or Dead, after which she was photographed by Nick Knight for Vogue. She is now busier than ever and, as we learned from her interview in The Times, can command up to £1,000 a day.

Daphne has just published a book The Way We Wore: A Life in Clothes.

She will be in conversation at The Industry with owner Lauretta Roberts and fellow campaigner for image diversity in fashion Caryn Franklin, the esteemed journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker.

The event will take place on 22 July from 5-7pm at Conde Nast College, Greek Street London.

Members wishing to attend should email [email protected] while non-members can purchase tickets by clicking here.