.

Lady Oprah Benson, the Iya Oge of Lagos, Guy Murray-Bruce of the Silverbird Group accompanied by the current and past winners of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Beauty Pageant (MBGN), Chidi Mokeme and other celebrities graced the red carpet launching of Linda Ikeji's Fashion Modeling and Beauty (FM&B) magazine on Sunday June 25, at the Golden Gate in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria. And the next edition of the FM&B is already fully sponsored by Silverbird and other leading companies and personalities in Nigeria.

Before the launch of the FM&B, Linda Ikeji was interviewed by The News magazine.

In this Interview with Lois Okereke and Seun Alabi, frontline model, Linda Ikeji, speaks on her career and other issues

Q: For a while now, you haven’t been as prominent as before in the modelling industry. What is the reason for that?

A: Prominent? I have been more or less behind the scene, first of all I have started working on my magazine for the past one year. I started in June 2005 and it will be out this month. I have been busy with that and have also been busy with my own company. I run a modelling agency. I do events, beauty pageants and fashion shows. So I have been behind the scene making sure money than I did when I was a model. Your magazine will be hitting the news stand soon, let’s know more about it. It is called FMB, (Fashion Model and Beauty) and the rest. You know I have been into modelling for eight years now and FMB and fashion are related. They are one industry and I am part of the industry. I have a passion to write, I use to write for a celebrity magazine, I had column and I was writing fashion and modelling and some people called. Everybody wanted to know about fashion and modelling and basically that’s what I write. Initially it was supposed to be a book on fashion entitled Beauty and Modelling by Linda Ikeji. I found out that Nigerians don’t read. Even if all I have are pictures, they won’t read the book. So, I said, ‘why not do a magazine’ because I saw the response when I was writing for celebrity magazine. I am a very creative writer. I know much about fashion and especially modelling in this country. So FMB is basically promoting players in the fashion industry, that is, the fashion designers, label outfits, model, hair stylists, fashion promoters, beauty queens, photographers, if you have any link to the industry. This is my gift to you. It’s not about society people, or about who is getting married or who is wedding who, it’s strictly promotion of people in the industry and also dealing with an aspect that most people do not talk about which is modelling magazine. In this magazine we have some foreign articles not just about fashion and beauty, but also modelling all around the world. It will talk about the designers here and those abroad.

Q: Will it be an all glossy magazine like the other one?

A: It is the same quality with Genevieve, all glossy. It contains 108 pages and glossy.

Q: How did you get to fund it?

A: Funding was really difficult that was why it took me a year. I started in June and September it was ready, photograph, write-ups and all that. Everything was ready by December 2005. In fact I had everything on CD then. When they told me the amount, it unsettled me out so much that I called my lawyer. He said I should go to the bank. I went to First Bank, Prudent Bank, Wema Bank, my bank, nobody had anything to offer me.

Q: Why?

A: They were all asking me to provide a collateral which I don’t have at all. All I have is my car and then I was asking for 2 million naira. Then I went to a finance home and was still the same story collateral. And I don’t have any shares, I don’t have any property. In fact somebody told me, ‘you are too young for this’ and he added ‘you know that this is too much for you’ and I told him, all I need is determination. I had some money in my account and I have a little business which I run. People were owing me money and I have said I will not go and meet them for the money whenever they want to pay it okay. But I was compelled to go and meet them for my money.The magazine is guzzling a lot of money. I doing just a thousand copies for now. That is all I can make. The thing is that I have cash problem so I am doing what I can afford for now. When I have more money I will go and print more copies but for now. If I can afford more money, I will go and print more copies.

Q: How do you intend to sustain it?

A: I’m a very determined person. There is nothing I set my mind to do that I don’t do. My mom has always said ‘Nnna go and get a job, you are always being stressed up by this thing, you are worrying yourself.’ My next door neighbour also said ‘stop, this thing is bigger than you’ and I told her there is nothing bigger than anybody. I know I am going to sustain it with that determination. The first hustle is the most difficult one so I have done that now. The magazine is coming out tomorrow so the biggest problem is solved.

Q: Now that you have done it, didn’t you take copies to the corporate bodies to say oh! Look at what I have?

A: It’s coming out tomorrow, I bought everything I did and went to some advertising agencies to show them what I have and they said they want to see what it is all about before advertising.You have a modelling agency, what do you guys basically do?We have girls and guys with potentials, if you have anything to do with modelling.

Q: What are the qualities to look out for in a potential model?

A: People ask me this question everyday. First of all you have to be specific- there are two types of models: Photography and fashion model. Photography models are all those that you see on billboards, calendars and all that. It depends on whether you meet the criteria of the client. Almost everybody can do that, it is not restricted but fashion model involves catwalk when you wear designers clothing and strut your stuff on stage. You have to meet certain criteria also. And as a woman you have to be 5.8 if you want to really go far. I was like the shortest amongst models when I started. Everybody was taller than me but I had it. I have my shape and my height. For Fashion modelling, you have to be at least 5.8 and above in height and you have to have a good shape.

Q: If you want to go far must you be thin?

A: No, not necessary.

Q: When you say thin what do you mean? The likes of Heich Klum and Tyra Banks have big boobs, so why must the Nigerian model be flat-chested and thin?

A: Tyra Banks is more of a photo model than a fashion model. She is not as prominent as Naomi Campbell and others on the runway. But it doesn’t matter really, Oluchi is booby. The basic thing is that you have a good height and a good figure whether you are booby or not doesn’t really matter. In fact the bigger the better, so that you can pack and have cleavages to make the outfit look more sexy. You don’t necessarily have to have a good face, look at Alek Wek, she isn’t beautiful but she has a good figure but most importantly, you must have an attitude. So, if you have a good height, figure and attitude you’ll be better than even some white models.

Q: Most models complain about how bad designers treat them. You’ve been in the industry for a while now, how true is that?

A: To a large extent, we have been treated fairly. I have been modelling for eight years, I am probably one of the oldest in this business. I have a couple people who complain to me about being molested, but I have never been molested. There was one incident in 2000 where a designer asked us to strip, not like go totally naked. Just to see our boobs, which was unnecessary, to tell you which outfit will look good on you and which wouldn’t. I was strongly against it. I told him that, that was just an excuse because he didn’t even include that as one of the criteria. Anyway, he was doing that only to the new models. I mean, you should be able to tell if a girl has a drooping breast. Two of the models were saying they wanted to do the show but they didn’t want to strip. I told them that they didn’t have to. It caused a big problem between me and the designers. I don’t want to mention his name. The show was outside Lagos anyway. I told him if you insist on seeing my boobs, I won’t do it. I have done shows with so many designers, and they didn’t ask me to. A lot of girls did it because they thought it was the norm. These are some of the reasons why parents are against their girls going into modelling. So this is just one out of a million incidents and what I mean is one incident that I ever experienced. I have worked for big designers and nothing like this happened except for this designer and I am sure he didn’t do it again after that incident because I took it up. When we got back to Lagos, I spoke to a lot of people, I went to see FADAN, and I said that has to stop. If you want to encourage young potential models, you cannot continue to allow that to happen.

Q: I read in a write some time ago that a male designer was saying that a model had to strip for him before he would give her the job. What’s your view about that?

A: Did he really say that? He is wrong. I heard that in Europe and America, that it is done but I don’t know how true that is but that is America and this is Africa. Our culture is restricted. We are more or less like backward let’s work like that. They behave like that. I would not be comfortable stripping in front of a guy because he wants to pay me N10,000 to walk the runway. No. In America, they have the Victorian City Fashion Show where models display bikinis, bras and pants. Do it in Nigeria and people will protest. There they are advanced, they can do anything. If you go through their fashion magazines, you’ll see naked girls. We are still a third world country. We haven’t gotten to that level yet. The much we can do is to show cleavages and thighs but not going totally naked. How are we being paid, besides, those girls who strip naked in front of designers, do you know how much they get for a show? If you convert 5,000, 10,000 dollars in our currency, you know how much we are talking about and that is for new comers. How much do we get paid here N10,000, N20,000.

Q: Has it been rewarding financially for you?

A: For me, it has, because I have been into it for a long time. I use to have a good face for photography. In 2000, 2001 and 2003 I did a lot of calendars. I’ve done a couple of billboards. I’ve also done one or two TV commercials. I stopped doing TV commercials because they expose you and they don’t pay you well. It’s been rewarding. I’ve done some really big jobs with MTN. I was the face of MTN 2002 and I’ve had a good contract with Prestige Cosmetics which I just renewed.

Q: Lesbianism is one serious issue in the modelling industry. How has it affected the industry?

A: I have never heard of that. The only thing I have heard of is that male designers are gay, not female models.

Q: Has any female designer ever made a pass at you?

A: No. Never. What I know is, people say models are promiscuous. Promiscuity is not about what you do, but who you are. Come to think of it, it’s in every profession, there are female lawyers, bankers, accountants, doctors, journalists that are promiscuous. We have some models who are decent. I am one of them. I am extremely decent. I can say it anywhere. I have read stories about me that are nasty. Someone said that when they heard I was doing a magazine, someone else said, ‘Oh! She is an aristo girl. Her aristos will give her money’. I was angry. As I am speaking to you now, I have only managed to pay for the venue, I don’t have money for food and drinks. I am still hoping that something will happen. I’ve asked people for money and nobody has given anything yet.

Q: You have never been romantically linked with anyone. Why?

A: I had a boyfriend but we broke up. So for now I am not in any relationship.

Q: Are you a lesbian?

A: No. I am not. I think lesbianism and homosexuality is evil. Anyone who is in such condition has mental disorder and needs to get his or her head checked.

Q: So why do people have the impression that you are a lesbian?

A: I am not really, I was in a relationship but we are taking a break now. When we get back together you’ll definitely know about it. And please he is a guy. It’s not like I have never been approached by a girl. I have in fact been approached by two. One came here as a model, but she called me up later to say she only came to check me out and she loves me. Ironically, I told her off politely but when she persisted, I had to shun and warn her.

Q: Modelling in Nigeria has overtime become lucrative, looking at the standard, are we measuring up to the standard out there?

A: No. I don’t think so. The industry here is not the same as the one over there. It’s different in terms of the money, but in terms of potentials, I have seen a lot of good models here. That is what inspired me to publish the names of over thirty modelling agencies in America, U.K., Europe. So that if you think you have the potentials, just contact them. That way they’ll be treated fine. In Nigeria models are not celebrated except those ones who are on the international scene like Oluchi, Agbani Darego and Bisi Sowemimo. There are others who can do better.

Q: Did you ever model abroad?

A: No. I have never been interested really. I was discouraged by my height. The girls who claim to be 5.11 here, if they go to UK, they’ll be 5.9. So we don’t get the measurement right. So I said let me stay here and do my thing. I didn’t know I would publish a magazine, but I had always wanted to do something bigger than modelling.

Q: Is publishing a magazine that bigger thing?

A: Definitely being a publisher of a fashion magazine is bigger than being a model. Apart from that, I am a model and I’ll always be a model But it’s just that I’ll not be as prominent on the runway and anytime I get photography modelling contract, I will do it if the pay is right. So even when I am married and have kids, I’ll always model.Apart from that, I’m hoping to open a paper fashion and modelling institute, more or less like a finishing school. When I have the money, I’ll buy a big building like a school, a vocational school. So if you don’t want to go to school, you want to become a professional model, you’ll come there and we’ll train you.

Q: Isn’t that what you do now?

A: No. We don’t train models. We just take what you have and get you what you want.

Q: In return, what do you get?

A: We get 10% of whatever you get from any job. So, apart from the money I make by myself from modelling, I also get money from getting jobs for models. The institute will be a place that will perfect your potentials. I hope to go abroad to a school, acquire more knowledge on what I am supposed to do.

Q: How lucrative has your modelling agency been?

A: Very lucrative. I started about a year and a half ago and I have been very lucky especially last year. I did a lot of jobs, billboards, calendars, posters (not me) but my models. By the time you put all these money together, it’s far bigger than what I’ll make as a model.As a model, what has been your most embarrassing moment?What happened to Agbani happened to me once. My boobs popped out of the outfit. I just adjusted them. It’s part of the job.

Q: Isn’t there a rule that says you must not adjust?

A: There is no such rule. If the designer did not put the outfit on you for your boobs to show, if that happens, then you can adjust it. It’s a normal thing for such things to happen to a model.

http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=7996

Lady Oprah Benson, the Iya Oge of Lagos, Guy Murray-Bruce of the Silverbird Group accompanied by the current and past winners of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Beauty Pageant (MBGN), Chidi Mokeme and other celebrities graced the red carpet launching of Linda Ikeji's Fashion Modeling and Beauty (FM&B) magazine on Sunday June 25, at the Golden Gate in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria. And the next edition of the FM&B is already fully sponsored by Silverbird and other leading companies and personalities in Nigeria.

Before the launch of the FM&B, Linda Ikeji  was interviewed by The News magazine.

In this Interview with Lois Okereke and Seun Alabi, frontline model, Linda Ikeji, speaks on her career and other issues


http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=7996

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