Looks arent everything. Believe me Im a model Cameron Russell
hi my name is Cameron Russell and for
the last a little while I’ve been a
model actually for ten years and I feel
like there’s an uncomfortable tension in
the room right now because I should not
have worn this dress so luckily I
brought an outfit change this is the
first outfit change on the Ted stage so
you guys are pretty lucky to witness it
I think if some of the women were really
horrified when I came out you don’t have
to tell me now but I’ll find out later
on Twitter I’d also note that I’m quite
privileged to be able to transform what
you think of me in a very brief ten
seconds not everybody gets to do that
these heels are very uncomfortable so
good thing I wasn’t going to wear them
the worst part is putting a sweater over
my head because that’s when you’ll laugh
at me so don’t do anything while it’s
over my head alright so why did I do
that that was awkward well hopefully not
as awkward as that picture image is
powerful but also image is superficial I
just totally transformed what you
thought of me in six seconds and in this
picture I had actually never had a
boyfriend in real life
I was totally uncomfortable in the
photographer was telling me to arch my
back and put my hand in that guy’s hair
and of course barring surgery or the
fake tan that I got two days ago for
work there’s very little that we can do
to transform how we look and how we look
though it is superficial and immutable
has a huge impact on our lives so today
for me
fearless means being honest and I am on
this stage because I’m a model I’m on
this stage because I’m a pretty white
woman and my industry we call that a
sexy girl and I’m going to answer the
questions that people always ask me but
with an honest twist so the first
question is how do you become a model
and I always just say oh I was scouted
but that means nothing the real way that
I became a model is I want a genetic
lottery and I am the recipient of a
legacy and maybe you’re wondering what
is a legacy well for the past few
centuries we have defined beauty not
just as health and youth and symmetry
that were biologically programmed to
admire but also as tall slender figures
and femininity and white skin and this
is a legacy that was built for me and
it’s a legacy that I’ve been cashing out
on and I know there are people in the
audience who are skeptical at this point
and maybe there are some fashionistas
we’re like wait Naomi Tyra Joan Smalls
Liu Wen and first I commend you on your
model knowledge very impressive but
unfortunately I have to inform you that
in 2007 a very inspired NYU PhD student
counted all the models on the runway
every single one that was hired and of
the 677 models that were hired only 27
or less than 4% were non-white the next
question people ways ask me is can I be
a model when I grow up and the first
answer is I don’t know they don’t put me
in charge of that but the second answer
and what I really want to say to these
little girls is why you know you can be
anything you could be the president of
United States or the inventor of the
next Internet or a ninja cardiothoracic
surgeon poet which would be awesome
because to be the first one
if after this amazing list they still
are like no no camera and I want to be a
model well then I say be my boss
because I’m not in charge of anything
and you could be the editor-in-chief of
American Vogue or the CEO of H&M or the
next Steven Mizell saying that you want
to be a model when you grow up is akin
to saying that you want to win the
Powerball when you grow up
it’s you know out of your control and
it’s awesome
and it’s not a career path I will
demonstrate for you now ten years of
accumulated model knowledge because
unlike cardiothoracic surgeons it can
just be distilled right into right now
so if the photographer is right there
and the light is right there like a nice
HMI and the client says Cameron we want
a walking shot well then this leg goes
first nice and long this arm goes back
this arm goes for the head is at three
quarters and you just go back and forth
just do that and then you look back at
your imaginary friends three hundred
four hundred five hundred times it will
look something like this and hopefully
less awkward than that one in the middle
that was I don’t know what happened
there unfortunately after you’ve gone to
school and you have a resume you’ve done
a few jobs you can’t say anything
anymore so if you say you want to be the
president of the United States but your
resume reads underwear model ten years
people give you a funny look the next
question people always ask me is do they
retouch all the photos and yeah they
pretty much retouch all the photos but
that is only a small component of what’s
happening this picture is a very first
picture that I ever took and it’s also
the very first time that I had worn a
bikini and I didn’t even have my period
yet I know we’re getting personal but uh
you know I was a young girl this is what
I looked like with my grandma just a few
months earlier here’s me on the same day
as this shoot my friend got to come with
me here’s me at a slumber party a few
days before I shot French Vogue here’s
me on the soccer team and in V Magazine
and here’s me today and I hope what
you’re seeing is that these pictures are
not pictures of me they are
constructions and they are constructions
by professionals by hair stylist and
makeup artists and photographers and
stylist and all of their assistants and
pre-production and post-production and
they build this that’s not me okay so
the next question people always ask me
is do you get
free stuff I do have too many Aiden
shields which I never get to wear except
for earlier but the free stuff that I
get is the free stuff that I get in real
life and that’s what we don’t like to
talk about I grew up in Cambridge and
one time I went into a store and I
forgot my money and they gave me the
dress for free when I was a teenager I
was driving with my friend who was an
awful driver and she ran a read and of
course we got pulled over and all it
took was a sorry officer and we were on
our way and I got these free things
because of how I look not Who I am and
there are people paying a cost for how
they look and not who they are I live in
New York and last year of the 140,000
teenagers that were stopped and frisked
86% of them were black and Latino and
most of them were young men and there
are only 177 thousand young black and
Latino men in New York so for them it’s
not a question of will I get stopped but
how many times do I get stopped when
will I get stopped when I was
researching this talk I found out that
of the thirteen-year-old girls the
United States fifty-three percent don’t
like their bodies and that number goes
to 78 percent by the time that they’re
17 so the last question people ask me is
you know what does it like to be a model
and I think the answer that they’re
looking for is if you are a little bit
skinnier and you have shinier hair you
will be so happy and fabulous and one
we’re backstage we give an answer that
maybe makes it seem like that we say
it’s really amazing to travel and it’s
amazing to get to work with creative
inspired passionate people and those
things are true but they’re only one
half of the story because the thing that
we never say on camera that I have never
said on camera is I am insecure and I’m
insecure because I have to think about
what I look like every day and if you
ever are wondering you know if I have
thinner thighs and shinier hair will I
be happier you just need to meet a group
of models because they have the thinnest
thighs and the shiniest hair and the
coolest clothes and are the most
physically insecure women probably on
the planet so when I was writing this
talk I found it very difficult to strike
an honest balance because on the one
hand I felt very uncomfortable to come
out here and say look I’ve
sieved all these benefits from a deck
stacked in my favor and it also felt
really uncomfortable to follow that up
with and it doesn’t always make me happy
but mostly it was difficult to unpack a
legacy of gender and racial oppression
when I’m one of the biggest
beneficiaries but I’m also happy and
honored to be up here and I think that
it’s great I got to come you know before
ten or twenty or thirty years had passed
and I’d had more agency in my career
because maybe then I wouldn’t tell the
story of how I got my first job or maybe
I wouldn’t tell the story of how I paid
for college which seems so important
right now if there’s a takeaway to this
talk I hope is that we all feel more
comfortable acknowledging the power of
image in our perceived successes and our
perceived failures thank you