Bright lights and promises

Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein, l'Oreal Paris, Chanel, Adolfo Dominguez, Bimba & Lola, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Mango, Marie Claire, Oysho, Elle UK, Zara, Vanidad, among others. That also translates as Milan, Madrid, London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris, Munich, and a lengthy etcetera. And not to forget five days on a luxury yacht in the middle of the Med on a swimwear shoot, but that was in the middle of a bitterly cold February and you came close to catching pneumonia. But you are 19 years old and you can do nearly anything and the world is your oyster. Or is it? So let's go back to the beginning.

You were walking across plaça Catalunya in Barcelona and someone came up to you and.... That really happens?

–I was with my mum and this woman gave me a card and we went to have photos done, just for a laugh.

That was two years ago. Do you remember your first job?

–A shoot for Stradivarius. I was terrified. I couldn't eat. My legs!

Had you thought about being a model before?

–I have always liked fashion and the idea sounded nice but I had never thought about it as a job. To tell the truth, at the beginning it was difficult to take it seriously. I thought I would do a few sessions and nothing would come of it.

But it did. So, how do you feel about it now?

–I love it! You adapt, learn, and I have discovered that I can do it. It's fun, exciting, it has it's bad points, but you learn to accept those things. One thing that you have to understand is that it's nothing like I imagined and I suppose nothing like what most people imagine. Nothing at all.

Explain.

–Yes, it's glamourous at times and can be exciting, but that is a very small part of it. Basically it is very, very hard work. I never know what tomorrow will bring. Things change constantly. On a personal level, making plans is just impossible. I might think I am doing a shoot in Barcelona tomorrow but instead I could be in Madrid for a week and halfway through when I get a call saying to go somewhere else and that can happen at any time, day or night, and that means dropping everything and going, and nearly always, alone. For a while I was getting home at weekends to see my family, now it's not that easy. Working hours? They don't exist. Once I started a shoot at 8:00 in the morning and finished at 5:30 the following morning; 21.5 hours. That's not common, but it can happen.

But travelling, seeing the world?

–One part of that I like, one part I don't. Meeting people, going to different places, learning about them. That is so interesting. But once again, I am usually alone and that means having to find my way around a new city, problems with the language, organising food, transport, the way things are done. There's not much time to see things because I am working all the time. Even when I am there for a long time. London Fashion Week, for example. It's fantastic, but it's totally chaotic. I've done two of them and I am about to do another. It's not really a week, both times I went for a month. Rushing from one end of the city to another and 20-odd castings each day as well as the shows and the shoots. Setting off at 7pm, getting home at 10pm, day in, day out. No breaks. Once there was a strike on the Underground. I didn't know. I had to be all over the city and I had no idea where I was. I panicked. That wasnt a good day, I didn't handle that at all well. My English is another thing I know I need to improve. I need it all the time when I am away. But when can I find time to do classes? I can't programme things like classes, ever. Even getting time to relax. London again, I arrive home (well, where I was staying) one night, exhausted. At two o'clock in the morning the phone rings. I have a catwalk show the next day and they want me now, yes, at two in the morning, for a fitting.

And you still love it?

–Oh yes, really! But I have to be realistic. People think it's a fantastic job, and that it is so glamourous, and some of it is, but as I said before, it's just very, very hard work. The worst thing of all? Being alone. Most of the time a model is alone. One of the best jobs I did was in Alicante. I flew to Madrid and met the crew and there were other models, a big group. Together we travelled to Alicante for the session. It was so wonderful and so much fun and I think for me that was because I wasn't alone.

The agency, Uno Models, how does that work?

–I have met models from all over the world, and quite honestly, I think I have a good agency. I have a “booker”, Izate, like a personal agent. A client will call with a profile for a job, she and the other bookers will make a short-list and send that out or perhaps send a group of us to a casting. I spend a lot of time in castings! That doesn't mean that I get the job. It also can be that a photographer or a company wants a particular model, or that a company like Mango is doing a campaign or season shoot using the same models. A magazine might ask to feature a certain model. Anyway, Izate sets it all up: the paperwork, travel plans, accommodation, everything. Then it's up to me. I trust Izate completely, she's always there for me and in some places, like London, we have sister agencies and they organise me and look after me. But that doesn't mean they are there to hold my hand.

I have the feeling that in two years you have come a long way.

–Definitely. The job changes you. I am more confident. I can do things I couldn't before. I am more relaxed with it. I remember when I first realised that people were recognising me. There was a little girl in the metro staring at me and I felt uncomfortable. And then I saw that other people did the same from time to time. Apart from magazines I am on posters in shops and on billboards and people make a connection. I feel OK with it now, but it was strange at first.

Looking ahead five years.

–Frankly I don't think about it. I love what I am doing. There are nice things ahead, such as 080 Barcelona Fashion, and after that London Fashion week again, and possibly a stint with our sister agency in New York, The Lions. That's exciting. But personally, what's important is to concentrate on the present. For the moment everything is going really well for me and I am happy. What makes it easy is that I have wonderful family support, no pressure at all. If I decide tomorrow that I want to call it a day, then I know that I can just close the door and move on to something else. But first things first; tomorrow morning, London.

The day after the interview I texted Laura to thank her for her time. She replied from a far-off city. Of course, it wasn't London.