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'I was told I'm too fat to be a model'

Last updated on: June 28, 2018 15:09 IST

The London-based model reveals that she is underweight and has a BMI of 16, which can be dangerously low.

Jazz 

Photographs: Courtesy Jazz Egger/Instagram

Jazz Egger, 20, can't get over the fashion industry's unrealistic beauty standards.

Despite having an extremely low BMI, the model was asked to lose weight by a casting agent has decided to vent out on Instagram.

The model, who has been a part of Germany's Next Top Model and Elite Model Look, has been battling an eating disorder and has been constantly told by agencies that she is of the wrong shape. 

Jazz

On International Women's Day, Jazz urged her followers to 'rise up as one and get what we deserve'.

'I'm 177 cm tall and I weigh 50 kg, and they told me that I have to lose weight,' revealed the model on a YouTube video, in which she has shared an account of what happened and why she feels sorry for young models who are trying to make their mark in the industry.

'It's just so crazy that they want unhealthy models, they want skin and bones.

'They basically have super skinny models and plus size models but nothing in between', she added.

Jazz
 
'Don't trust the pictures you see in mags, on Instagram or on billboards,' the model warns her followers. 'Don't compare yourself to lies.' Place the mouse over the photograph for the truth behind this shot.

'This hasn't been the first time that I was told I'm too big. When I started modelling I starved myself. 

'I ate like 100 calories a day in order to conform to industry standards, I was a mess. And now I'm getting told again that I'm too big.'

'Some crack under pressure and will fall into eating disorders and other illnesses. This industry ruins people’s self esteem and that shouldn't be tolerated.

'I can't believe we are in 2018 and people still get body shamed. I'm underweight and the industry’s standards seem to be more unrealistic than ever.

'I feel so sorry for everyone who has issues loving their body because of what the fashion industry teaches us,' she says.

Jazz

An unedited pic from a campaign she did last year. Jazz had asked several mags 'if they'd be interested in featuring untouched photos. All of them declined. So after a year, she decided to publish some of the pictures on her own.

She likes to be known as the small-town girl who made it big in the city of dreams, New York. 

Jazz has been urging her followers to embrace cellulite and stretch marks, and no longer be ashamed of natural things. 

'Being real is cooler than Photoshop.'

Jazz

Jazz wrote on Instagram that she was only posting Photoshopped modelling pics because Instagram has become a business card for models.

'I know you see hundreds of those posed and edited pictures every single day. and I want to remind you that this is not real life,' she wrote.

'Don't ever let photos of fake bodies make you feel like you're not good enough.

'I don't know how much was retouched in this picture, but I do know that it took about 20 minutes till we got the right shot and that my make up took about 40 minutes till it looked like this.

'Also, do you really think this is a natural and comfortable pose?

'Just keep those things in mind next time when you’re scrolling down your feed, looking at all those perfect faces and flawless bodies.

'Retouching and photography in general are a form of art and shouldn't be considered reality. I wish you all a wonderful day/evening.'

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