Vida Samadzai
On her site Lifeofamodel.com, model and fashion commentator Kelly England invites her fellow models to report “dangerous incidents to help to make the fashion world a safer place for young women and men.” England is working on a book about how “modelling can lead to human trafficking, exploitation, eating disorders and drug dependency. Unlike the smoke and mirrors that insist that modelling is a safe and fun career, we tell it like it is.’’ For the book, she interviewed Afghani model Vida Samadzai, who wore “a red swimsuit and high heels, causing mass outrage” during the 2003 Miss Earth pageant, which she won. “She is the ongoing subject of scorn and potential prosecution and regularly suffers from death threats,” England writes. Samadzai told her: “I understand beauty is appreciated everywhere around the world. However, it is intelligence that doesn’t fade…. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. We have heard of this quote before. F. D. Roosevelt’s wife was his advisor for the most part.”