Namibia's modelling industry

Celeb Talk Georgina: Model and Miss Namibia runner-up Many people describe Namibia's modelling industry as a growing baby. To be quite frank, it’s been a growing baby for as long as I can remember, and that's nearly a decade. Growing up, I never missed a single Miss Namibia pageant. I sat on the floor close to the TV, so I wouldn’t be interrupted by my siblings. I thought if you won the title or even made it to the top three, that's it, you were in and you had made it. I couldn't really differentiate between pageant girls and top models when I was 10. I grew up, moved to the City and took part in Miss Namibia. I was a runner-up at age 19, did a few shows and I still didn't feel like I was ‘in’. Other people may have seen it that way. They may have believed that I had succeeded, but this is not how it really is. I'm a model and that is a fact. I do almost every big show in the country. I've worked with some of the big names in the fashion industry, locally and internationally. What I have learnt is this: this industry is not growing, it is dormant. It’s like a skeleton without a backbone. You can't be a full-time model in Namibia, because you're going to go broke - that's how small our industry is. The market is tiny. We don't have fashion week, we have Namibia Fashion Show that only started a year ago and is said to be an annual event. Maybe if it does happen on annual basis, then we can say that we're growing. No doubt, we have international standard designers and models, but they are few, too few to say that we are growing. Young girls wanting to join modelling agencies are asked to pay huge amounts for portfolios and classes, but what do they get out of it? In a year they end up doing one single show that pays N$300. That isn't even enough to cover the money they spent ‘to become models’. Namibia has potential, if only we had more faith in our models and used them for local adverts, instead of relying on international models only. We have a number of persistent and hardworking models, designers and investors trying to build this industry with their passion for fashion. Although it’s at a slow pace, I'm certain if we keep at it our industry will certainly grow - at least to a point were Namibian models can confidently be called full-time top models.