A Model Talks About What It's Like Getting Your Period During Fashion Week
Watching supermodels strut their stuff up and down the cat walks at fashion week, it's hard to imagine that they, with their angelic strides and glowing skin, could possibly go through anything as mundane as acne or period leaks.
But, obviously, they do. They're human like the rest of us - it's just their job to look superhuman. Now, 19-year-old model Victoria Cain is opening up to the Independent about what it's like having your period when you're a model.
There's the constant fear that you're going to leak on the clothes.
"The first time I realized periods could be a problem was at a photo-shoot where I was the only girl," the model told the Independant. "I got a surprise [period] attack in the middle of the day and I had to fake a cigarette break and go to find a shop." (Because in the world of fashion, ditching a shoot to smoke is more acceptable than needing to grab a tampon, apparently.) "All I could think was, 'I can't leak on the clothes.' It makes me stressed just thinking about it."
It's hard to take care of yourself when you're on the casting grind.
"Fashion week is just castings, castings, castings, castings," Victoria explained about the fast-paced nature of rushing from auditions to fittings to shows and not having time for much else. "It can be exhausting – especially if you have your period and you don't have time to eat properly."
Changing your tampon could mean losing a job.
"It's hard to find five minutes to do what you've got to do," Victoria said about waiting in endless lines to land a modeling gig. "It's horrible because you can feel it and you can't go to the toilet because you lose your spot. You think, do I lose a possible job or wait for another half an hour?"
Getting acne makes you feel like throwing in the towel.
Sometimes, Victoria avoids auditioning altogether when her skin becomes spotty on her period. "The thing that stresses me out most about getting my period during fashion week is my acne-prone skin," Victoria explained to the Independent. "It's like my period is smack bang on my face."
Victoria isn't the first woman to speak out about the reality of balancing your profession with your period. Chinese Olympic swimmer Fu Yuanhui was applauded for her honesty earlier this summer when she spoke out about competing during that time of the month.
Given that so many people still freak out at the mere mention of period blood, it's awesome to hear high-profile women who aren't afraid to talk about it in a real way.
"Periods are a natural thing and they happen to half the population," Victoria told the Independent. "I feel that often others regard it as a taboo subject, when really it's just human nature."
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