FEATURE: The dark side of fashion

Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
September 14, 2009

A TOP city model today warned of the downside of the industry, revealing she was the victim of a stalker as a teenager.

Lauren Tempany, 26, who was first spotted at a Clothes Show roadshow in 1997 and had three top modelling agencies fighting over her at the age of just 14, has revealed she also attracted some less welcome attention.

The model, originally from Linlithgow, admitted to being too candid in press coverage that accompanied some of her early model shoots and her comments came back to haunt her.

She said: "Some of the early interviews I did revealed a bit too much about my home and family life, and someone was able to trace where I lived and began making loads of dodgy phone calls. We had to change all of our phone numbers.

"I've always tended to just blurt things out when I'm talking to people without realising some of it might make it into the papers, but I've now learned to be a bit more careful."

Miss Tempany's revelation comes just days after Indian-born celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander - who dressed a number of celebrities including Paris Hilton and Mary J Blige - was sentenced to a minimum of 59 years in US prison for sexually assaulting aspiring models as young as 14.

Several former models have since stepped out to criticise the industry, including seventies star Robyn Peterson

and model-turned-filmmaker Zara Ziff.

Miss Tempany got her first modelling job at 14 for So...? perfume, a fragrance aimed at the teenage market, but she's since gone on to model for Alexander McQueen and Giles Deacon, featured in Vogue and Harpers, and shared a catwalk with Kate Moss.

However, she insists that there is nothing endemically wrong with the model industry, and that becoming a model at 14 does not automatically make you a target for obsessives.

She added: "When I was first approached at the age of 14 my family were a bit dubious, but they did their research and discovered they were all legitimate agencies.

"However, I would advise aspiring young models to only sign for big modelling agencies because it's tough getting jobs.

"The smaller agencies don't get a look in and there are some people who are out to exploit you, but get nasty people in all professions though, not just modelling.

"The industry comes in for a lot of unfair criticism but I've met some fantastic people while modelling, and my experience over the last 12 years has been overwhelmingly positive."