Natalia Vodianova voices her opinion on health and self-worth matters at the Vogue Festival
Last Saturday afternoon, at the Royal Geographical Society presentation theatre, Natalia Vodianova and fellow top models Eva Herzigova, Lily Cole and Jourdan Dunn outspoke their opions on some topics. Despite not having English as her mother tongue, Vodianova, Russian, has still managed to outshine the other speakers.
“Anyone who has been in Natalia’s eye line when she wants you to do something, knows it is jolly hard to get out of doing whatever it is that she asks, and she’s used this talent, along with her profile and the contacts she has made through modelling, to raise huge sums of money for her Naked Heart Foundation”, was how British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman introduced one of the most successful models of the 21st Century on stage.
Later on Natalia’s discussion, eating and a healthy body image became hot topics. Then, Herzigova had to admit she and other models were “just born with” those figures almost every woman longs for. Rapidly relating to Eva, Vodianova added: “I respect my body, my body is my temple. If I eat like a pig, I am going to feel like a pig. Sometimes I have a huge, delicious five-star dinner with my grandparents with seven courses. In the morning you wake up and you feel like s**t. If I feel like that, OK, I am not going to be able to feel good about myself”. Lily Cole followed with a cultural insight on body image ideals, but the Russian had the last, surprising and applauded, word: “C’mon guys, you know it’s better to be skinny than to be fat. NHS are fighting against obesity, children are taken away from their parents because they are too fat”. The mother-of-three has also revealed she has been following a blood-type diet for the past five years due to painful stomach ulcers.
Then, the discussed issues moved on to the ability of models to direct their own destinies and Vodianova shared some inspiring and motivating words: “I think it’s really important to say no in this industry actually, it’s more important than saying yes. I believe it is very much about saying no, and fighting for what you think you deserve. No matter who you are, you are somebody in fact. Always in the back of my mind, I have to do what my heart tells me and not what my brain tells me”.
Source: Fashion.telegraph.co.uk.
