{"id":66018,"date":"2020-08-27T04:35:32","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T04:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=66018"},"modified":"2020-08-27T04:35:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T04:35:32","slug":"supermodel-alexina-graham-represents-redheads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=66018","title":{"rendered":"Supermodel Alexina Graham represents for redheads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria\u2019s Secret\u00a0Angel Alexina Graham\u00a0wears her beauty lightly. She regularly posts\u00a0makeup-free selfies and goofy dance videos\u00a0on Instagram. And when she was worryingly ill with the\u00a0coronavirus\u00a0in March, she shared pictures of herself on an IV in the hospital and dozing on her sister\u2019s lap at home in England.<\/p>\n

As soon as she recovered, the fun-loving model was up to her old tricks. She \u2018Grammed a clip of herself balancing a glass on her head while her sister filled it with wine.<\/p>\n

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Graham has always focused more on her personality than her looks. As a teenager, she was taunted mercilessly about her appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople called me \u2018carrot top\u2019 and \u2018giraffe,\u2019\u2009\u201d the 30-year-old supe told Alexa. \u201cI was very skinny, I had bright red hair, braces and no boobs at the time. I was an easy target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paradoxically, the fiery locks that made Graham bait for bullies became her greatest asset. By the time she was 18, the 6-foot stunner had placed third in the Ford Supermodel of the World competition and starred in a coveted Burberry ad. She was a face (and mane) of L\u2019Or\u00e9al for four years, graced the covers of French Elle and Harper\u2019s Bazaar Serbia, and worked with top photographers like Ellen von Unwerth and Mario Testino.<\/p>\n

Last year, she was named the first-ever redhead Victoria\u2019s Secret Angel.<\/p>\n

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Landing such a high-profile contract not only confirmed her status as a ginger-pride icon; it also gave her a global platform to help children who are being bullied. She frequently posts empowering messages and videos on her Instagram and YouTube channel, with hashtags like #redheadsdoitbetter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many redhead children or their parents message me on social media saying things like, \u2018I showed my daughter or my son your profile and they get bullied at school. They can\u2019t believe there actually is a redhead on billboards now,\u2019\u2009\u201d she said, referring to the ubiquitous outdoor advertising of Victoria\u2019s Secret. \u201cIt\u2019s usually blondes and brunettes. They love that there is actually a redhead representing us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Having been badly bullied at school herself, Graham knows how much it hurts. \u201cI hid in the bathroom a few times on breaks, so I wouldn\u2019t have to see anybody. I remember I went home and cried,\u201d she recalled, adding that she always had the support of her family and a group of friends.<\/p>\n

She coped by developing an outgoing, playful personality. \u201cI was a class clown,\u201d she said. \u201cI used my humor to make people happy. I get that from my mum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Graham was raised in a small town near Nottinghamshire in the Midlands. Her parents divorced when she was 3, and she lived primarily with her mother, now a shop-owner, her stepfather and sister. She saw her father, a university lecturer, on weekends. As a child, her hobbies included dance classes and theater, which she credits for her ease in front of a camera.<\/p>\n

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After briefly studying to be a midwife \u2014 perhaps not the best occupation for someone with an aversion to blood \u2014 she entered the Ford modeling competition. Six months later, at just 18, she moved to New York to begin her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time away from my family, and I remember crying a lot when my mum left,\u201d said Graham. \u201cI had no friends, and I was just put into a model apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strutter \u2014 who keeps an apartment in New York after a six-year stint in Paris \u2014 has been staying with family back home since the pandemic began. She describes herself as a \u201chands-on aunt\u201d to her sister\u2019s young twins.<\/p>\n

One of Graham\u2019s first magazine jobs involved posing with dead fish, dead spiders and live snakes. \u201cThe dead fish smelled so bad!\u201d she recalls with a shudder. \u201cThey put three snakes over me. One was on my head and came down my face.\u201d A consummate pro, she kept calm and carried on.<\/p>\n

French designer Jean Paul Gaultier jump-started her high-fashion runway castings in 2013, booking her for six years straight.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have boobs, so I always thought I couldn\u2019t really do shows,\u201d Graham says. \u201cBut he\u2019s always included different body types. He called me his English rose, which was really sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

She walked in Gaultier\u2019s final couture show in January, which featured more than 175 looks, celebrity catwalkers like Paris Jackson and Dita Von Teese, and performances by Boy George. \u201cIt was more like a theater production,\u201d says Graham, who made a backstage video of the extravaganza for her YouTube channel. \u201cIt was very emotional and everyone cried.\u201d<\/p>\n

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