New modelling agency promoting positive body image in Cork city

A new modelling agency representing the most underrepresented in the modelling world and encouraging models to be themselves has been launched in Cork city.

Speaking to The Echo about the agency’s purpose, PR Manager David Akinwunmi said that Melanin Ireland is not just an agency but a movement against the beauty standard of the modelling industry.

“I personally as a photographer have worked with many brands in the past where when you take photos of models they will insist you photoshop certain elements and make people taller, shorter, fatter, or skinnier to meet the standards that have been created.

We insist you cannot change our models because they are beautiful the way they are and we take on people on their own individual merits.

"We don’t ask for their pictures before we take them on, they have to go through a four-stage recruitment process which is all about the person and their commitments to the movement.

“We don’t inquire about their height, their weight, their size or anything like that because all those things are superficial and those things can change with time.

“This is not a means to promote people not looking after their health but it is a journey of self-development where we take on different exercises and we work on different campaigns in bettering yourself, building your confidence and embracing yourself the way you are despite the challenges you face,” he said.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/9MDEWyhz0O

— MelaninIreland (@IrelandMelanin) August 5, 2021

The agency has received a lot of support and positive reaction from the public and the models themselves, who Mr Akinwunmi said feel “there is an agency that stands for them and doesn’t instill these preset criteria for them to meet in order to model”.

There have been a total of 20 models taken on by the agency to date, with over 30 on waiting lists.

The agency hopes to diversify the branding and campaigns of different organisations and businesses so people of all ages, of all sexes, of all nationalities and ethnicities and sizes can relate with these brands by seeing people of their own image representing them and to encourage brands and agencies “to remove that criteria that you must be X, Y or Z to be a model”.