Lily Cole opens up about the fashion industry’s beauty standards

Lily Cole is a renowned star in not only the modelling world but for acting too.

But despite modelling since the age of 14, Lily has opened up for the first time about the many problems that the fashion industry can pose for many young women.

“The way we present images in general bothers me. So the way that beauty is understood often as being largely Caucasian and largely young is inherently problematic. And the idea of what is fashionable, of what is hot or not, and that being applied to young girls is also hugely difficult. I know how I was when I was a teenager and how insecure most teenagers are.”

Lily said that in a recent model shoot, she loved how she was able to grow out her own armpit hair and wishes the natural look existed in more modelling shoots.

“I did a shoot about six months ago where I grew out my armpit hair and in a small way it felt that I was resisting. Our concept of beauty is so restrictive. We treat it like it’s got an eternal truth to it when it hasn’t. It’s relative to the country we’re in and time period.”