kealy allen
MODELLING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Meet Jade Duncanson, a 21-year-old-model, who discusses her victorious triumph overcoming her body insecurities and eating disorder that were provoked by the toxic world of modelling.
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Kealy Allen: How did you career as a model begin?
Jade Duncanson: I always wanted to be a model for the longest time, and so many people had reached out to me just on the street or when I just downtown, or in big cities asking me if I wanted to model, and I was just so keen on it. When I was little I thought this would be so cool, but I knew I didn’t really have the body for it.
I sent out my photos to my first agency, and at this point I had already had an eating disorder, so honestly starting off on this note was not a good idea. I should have known that I had such low self-esteem and confidence, that walking into an industry which is so heavily focused on the way you look, and your body, and your face as a commodity. You have to have that confidence to be able to know your worth, and know that no matter what people say, that you are beautiful, and I just didn’t see that, and didn’t know that, and that factored in with so much of my body dysmorphia. What I saw was just so different than what other people saw.
With her captivating features, and tall, lean build, it became no question that Jade Duncanson would eventually be stopped and asked to model. The current 21-year-old, signed to her first modelling agency when she was just 17 years-old. The next four years of her life consisted of countless photo shoots, promoting the products of successful companies in Vancouver. Jade, overall enjoyed herself while constructing in this type of work, but in time developed body insecurities after being told by her first agency to lose weight. She chose to walk away from the agency, but still carried the weight of body dysmorphia. The illness drastically affected Jade’s mindset bringing her to a dark place, that many other models relentlessly share with her.
How did modelling help develop your body insecurities?
My first agent, he initially told me that I had the perfect look, that I would be huge if I was to go international, but I had to lose weight, and at this point I was already starving myself. To hear that I had to lose more weight was just very unrealistic because I’ve always had a more athletic build. I’ve done track for the last eight years of my life. For them to say that I needed to be even smaller, I just didn’t know how I could achieve that. I should have seen the fact that my agent wanting me to lose weight initially as a red flag, but I decided that I won’t go international, I’ll just stay locally, but in the back of my head I was always like, “You can be better. You can do better.” Constantly hearing that I wasn’t small enough, that made me realize that modelling was not a good thing for me at that time of my life, so I quit modelling, and just did it freelance every now and then.
Struggling for two years with an eating disorder is really hard and really tough and I didn’t tell anybody about it. I was very alone in it. It didn’t really hit me how bad it was, until friends and family started pointing how just how small I was starting to look. The past six months I really started to seek counselling and really decide that I can’t keep treating my body this way.
Constantly being dizzy and constantly just feeling so tired all the time and just not being able to be myself was really hard.
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My body is such a small part of who I am. When people say that I’m beautiful, they aren’t just saying that to my looks, they’re saying that to my inner-core and to I actually am. I just got really passionate about it, because I started to exercise and treat my body right. It was not easy, and it’s still not easy, but I think just choosing every single morning to wake up and be like, “Yeah, I know that I’m beautiful, and I know that my body is my home and it’s carrying me through life.”
Now, I’ve actually decided to start modelling again, but that was after very many times of just being like, “Okay is this right? And is my mind right in it?”
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How does working as a model again effect your mindset this time?
I think a huge part of it, is the fact that right now the industry is so promoting towards diversity and what that looks like is that models are actually of all shapes, sizes, races; people are willing to be inclusive for once, and I feel like for a long time it was very cookie cutter to what a model looked like. I just think that it’s super cool that I can be a part of a time, right now, where I can model and not have the pressure of having to fit a mold of what a model looks like.
I remember now that I’m doing it for an art form and not for people to look at me. I think that I’m walking into it with a lot more new confidence and just knowing who I am too.
A huge part of why I’ve become a lot more passionate about it is because I actually got asked by ‘The Boys Club’, which is a fitness centre in downtown Vancouver that promotes body positivity and inclusivity. They asked me to do a shoot for them, which was so cool, and honestly I was like,“Whoa. This is so weird for me to be doing, because I don’t know if I’m that big of an activist.” For me that was crazy that I was in an environment with all these other girls, and I just learned so much. I got more out of that shoot that I could ever imagine. Having modelling to be able to open that up for me has just been so cool.
Your looks are literally everything in the industry. There’s so many other different things, and there’s so much life to live. To just really appreciate your body for the way that it looks and not to try to be like every other person.
The world of modelling can still be very negative, as it promotes an unrealistic ideal body image type for both men and women, but Jade hopes to see a future that is inclusive to models of all different body types, genders and races.
Interview: Kealy Allen
Photography: Kealy Allen