The size 18 model who is changing the face of fashion with her shoots
19-YEAR-OLD HAS NOT LET SKIN CONDITION GET IN WAY OF HER CATWALK CAREER
A MODEL is changing the face of fashion in Manchester after bagging her first big job with one of the city’s most popular fashion retailers.
Kyra Jaye has wanted to be a model since she was four-years-old. So much so she’d introduce herself to people as model Tyra Banks because she was obsessed with America’s Next Top Model.
But Kyra has always felt judged on the way she looks.
The 19-year-old is a size 18 and has vitiligo, a condition where areas of her skin lose their pigment and results in pale white patches.
She was eight years old when the condition first appeared after she split her lip.
Kyra says the wound healed with vitiligo, which ‘went away after a while.’
However, a fall while running, aged 15, triggered the condition’s return. Kyra had avoided the hospital at first but had actually broken her leg.
“I got up and continued to walk on it, instead of going to the hospital because honestly, I thought it was just a bad sprain,” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“Anyway, long story short, I had to get surgery and my scar healed with vitiligo. About six months to a year later the vitiligo really started to show on other parts of my body.”
While there is no explanation for it, Kyra knows her vitiligo was triggered by trauma.
Kyra spent most of her teens taking a break from modelling and only returned to it last year after a friend encouraged her to apply to modelling agency Nemesis after seeing some local modelling shots she did.
Now, she is now making her modelling dream a reality by appearing in BBC Three’s Models: Street to Catwalk.
Based at one of Manchester’s leading modelling agencies, the show follows young hopefuls as they try to avoid adversity, with one at risk of being sent to prison, another overcoming being slashed in the face and a third battling to beat the self-doubt that’s holding them back from the life they crave.
And Nemesis, which is run by the man behind Take That, believes Kyra is the gamechanger they’ve been looking for.
As seen in the show, Kyra’s confidence soars after she overcomes her shyness to smash her firs modelling shoot with Pretty Little Thing and earns herself £2,000 for a day’s work. She has since worked for JD Sports and another Manchester fashion brand, InTheStyle.
“When I was a kid I never saw anybody on TV, on social media, or anywhere, who had vitiligo,” Kyra said.
“So, I feel like it’s really important to be that person. I just want to be out there and I want people to see me, I want them to feel okay in their skin because I feel a lot of people don’t.
“I remember feeling like that and I didn’t like it, I couldn’t stand it. And I feel like if I had seen somebody a lot more comfortable as they were, I would’ve learnt to love myself a lot quicker.”
After spending her childhood hating the condition, Kyra now ‘loves’ her vitligo.
“I love it. I don’t really have any other
I love it. I don’t really have any other explanation as to how it makes me feel Kyra Jaye and her vitiligo
explanation as to how it makes me feel,” she said.
“When it appeared when I was 15, I just embraced it.”
The shy teen has overcome so much in her life already - including swapping the pink-sand beaches and soaring temperatures of Bermuda to move to a drizzly - but still pretty awesome Manchester seven years ago.
“It was an experience for sure,” Kyra laughed.
“Bermuda’s hot, tropical and to come here [where it’s] cold, wet and raining, it was a shock.
“The culture shock was big as well. For the first year and a bit, I felt a bit lost because Bermuda’s so tiny but after a while, I found my feet and really fell in love with Manchester.”
She added: “It’s my home away from home.”
With her confidence having blossomed, Kyra is now inspiring others and recalled a message she received from her dad,
“One of his friends has vitiligo and seeing me be totally confident in my skin was really helpful for her because growing up she didn’t have the love and support and she didn’t have the confidence like myself.
“And I’ve got that from a bunch of people.”
She added: “It’s weird to know that I’m actually inspiring people and helping people to learn to love themselves a little bit more.”
Models: Street to Catwalk Series Two is available as a boxset on BBC iPlayer.