![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Noemie-Lenoir@.jpg\" "\\"No\u00e9mie")
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Aged 16, No\u00e9mie Lenoir was about to embark on a diploma to become an office secretary. Before heading to class, she stepped into a post office to get some stamps, where she was spotted and signed up by Ford Models. Her decade-long modelling career, during which Lenoir pushed the envelope on ethnic boundaries in the fashion world, saw her working with Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gucci, and Mario Testino. But Lenoir\u2019s career was an emotional journey too \u2013 of the roller-coaster kind. Today, she is 32, a mother, and is working on her singing debut. sleek met with Lenoir in Shanghai, where she headed the jury of the Elite Model Look Contest 2011.<\/p>\n
sleek: Has modelling evolved much since you first started?<\/strong> No\u00e9mie Lenoir: Before, girls could have careers that would last 6 years or more. Alessandra Ambrosio still works for example and she is of the “2000 generation.” Today girls start at 14, they come from backgrounds with absolutely no money and are suddenly put up in 5-star hotels, have drivers and so on, and then two years later, it\u2019s all over. Modelling is a surreal life. You\u2019re valued for your physique and nothing else, and you\u2019re told you\u2019re the most beautiful girl in the world. But eventually, you have to come back down to earth, whether you like it or not.<\/p>\n sleek: What are your views on girls\u2019 weight?<\/strong> NL: When I started modelling, I weighed 49 kilos for 1m80. I looked scary. I\u2019ve since become curvy and now that\u2019s something I like seeing on women, and I highly encourage it. Men like it, trust me. But the terrifying truth is that on a catwalk, the best way to show a dress is on a thin model because if the girl is skinny, it is the dress you\u2019re promoting. If the girl is curvy, it\u2019s the girl you\u2019re fantasising about.<\/p>\n sleek: Have you worked in China?<\/strong> NL: Yes, all over Asia actually but always for foreign clients. They\u2019re really into black, mixed race and Latino types here. They\u2019re still a little behind on skin tone, like France was ten years ago. But it\u2019s funny, in Europe, I\u2019m used to men turning around in the street but here no one looks at me. I could walk around naked and no one would even pay attention.<\/p>\n sleek: Do you feel the fashion world is racist?<\/strong> NL: No, today, you can\u2019t say fashion is racist anymore. I know at least five black top models, which is a lot. Italy was the slowest to incorporate black girls into their shows, but now they’ve picked one for Gucci. I was always referred to as the black French model, as opposed to just a French model, but you know what really annoys me? I\u2019m not black! Or not just black. I\u2019m mixed race. I\u2019m just as black as I\u2019m white.\u00a0<\/p>\n sleek: Apart from modelling, you have also acted\u2026<\/strong> NL: No, come on, I wouldn\u2019t call that acting, that would mean taking credit away from real actresses. Let\u2019s say I\u2019ve been featured in films. Today, I\u2019m working on something I really want to succeed in. I\u2019ve been working on for a year – singing.<\/p>\n sleek: What will you be looking for during the contest?<\/strong> NL: Charisma, the \u2018wow\u2019 factor. But I know how hard it is for them, they\u2019ve learned to walk two weeks ago and they\u2019re babies. But they\u2019re here, not because the parents are pushing for it but because it\u2019s their lifetime dream. I hope they remember that even if they lose, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the end of their career.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aged 16, No\u00e9mie Lenoir was about to embark on a diploma to become an office secretary. Before heading to class, she stepped into a post office to get some stamps, where she was spotted and signed up by Ford Models. Her decade-long modelling career, during which Lenoir pushed the envelope on ethnic boundaries in the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[159,170],"class_list":["post-2101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alice-pfeiffer","tag-noemie-lenoir"],"acf":{"main_category":null,"legacy":"1","exclude_from_ads":null,"hero_title":null,"subtitle":null,"hero":null,"teasers":null,"facebook_image":null,"related_articles":null,"next_article":null,"sleek_card_focus":null,"content":null},"yoast_head":"\n