Charli Howard caused a stir last autumn when she hit back at the agency who dropped her for being too big in a viral “f**k you” letter. At 5ft 8 and weighing 7.5 stone, the 23-year-old UK Size 6 model was told her physique was “too curvaceous”.
Revisiting the saga, the model from Peckham, south east London, has spoken out about what happened to her at length for the first time in a video for StyleLikeU. In doing so, Howard speaks candidly about the dictatorial diet and gruelling fashion shoots she endured to meet the fashion industry’s unjust beauty ideals.
While in Paris, Howard, who has modelled for the likes of Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmo, Vidal Sassoon and more, was told she had to lose an impossible amount of weight. “He just comes over to me and he was like, ‘Charlie you need to lose 2 inches in a week’ and I was like ‘how is that possible?’”
It was at this point, which Howard says she began to starve herself. As well as walking everywhere in Paris she greatly reduced her diet. On most days, she says she wouldn’t have much more to eat than “two energy bars and lots of hot drinks ... and for lunch you’d have soup”. Reflecting on the situation, she says, “It was always like 'if you lose this weight, then we’ll send you to this person and send you to this person', but it never transpires, it never happens”.
Salt was another problematic food. “Salt was a no go,” she recalls. “No salt at all. I was terrified to go out for a meal with someone. It ruined my relationship with my ex-boyfriend. We couldn’t ever do anything nice”.
Howard also explains that everyday she would perpetually measure her body. “I’d be constantly measuring myself five times to make sure that I hadn’t gone up,” the native Londoner says. “If I wasn’t a 35 hip or below it would just be like the end of the world … Like literally dreading going into your agency and being measured”.
Going on to develop body dysmorphia, Howard would have to be informed about how much weight she’d lost by friends. Nevertheless, this still wasn’t enough for the modelling industry. “I started feeling like when I was on the shoots that I was the more curvaceous one. That was made quite clear quite a few times … We’ll make Charli wear this one because she’s more womanly ... For f**ks sake I’m a size 2–4”.
In the end, Howard was dumped by her agency on the phone. “We’ve been told you’ve put on weight and you know we really appreciate how much you go to the gym but to be honest, it’s not going to work’,” she recalls of the situation.
In the aftermath of the incident, Howard’s viral post condemning her agency’s bodyshaming triggered an unprecedented outpouring of support on social media. And since then, the self-proclaimed feminist has continued to do all she can to fight the damaging unattainable beauty ideals of the fashion industry.
“We’ve got all these young girls with eating disorders and body image problems and we don’t question that,” she says. “We keep doing the same thing over and over again. Beauty isn’t measured by a number”.
But Howard herself she is happier than she has ever been. “I’m being myself for the first time in my adult and teenage life and I’m making up for lost time that I spent worrying about my looks”.
The Independent has approached the agency Howard was previously represented by for comment.
