Model life for Newbiggin teenager

Posted by The Journal on Nov 28, 08 03:09 PM in News

Few could argue teenager Melissa Bell hasn't had a model upbringing - literally.

The 19-year-old Northumberland lass has been hitting the world's catwalks and the pages of top fashion magazines for the past five years and admits she is now something of a veteran in the business.

Melissa Bell

Next week she will be taking to the catwalk in front of 3,000 fashion followers at The Clothes Show Live - and even after years of posing, admits she is still nervous.

Not bad going for a Newbiggin-by-the-Sea girl who fell into modelling by a fluke and has since travelled the world countless times, and worked alongside the likes of Giorgio Armani, Paris Hilton and 50 Cent.

"I got scouted at The Clothes Show when I was 14," she says.

"I was super-super young. I wasn't meant to be going. It was a school trip just before Christmas and mam and dad said I couldn't afford to go.

"Someone dropped out from the school trip and the teacher told my mam it would be good for me to go.

"I ended up going and loads of different agencies were asking 'Do you want to be a model?'.

"Me and my mates were like, 'I can't be a model. Leave us alone, we just want to go shopping.' I was getting harassed all day but I never thought any more of it.

"We went just to get made up and have some girly shopping. My mates were saying, why are they asking you, you can't be a model.

"But all the agencies called back, we went to London, saw Select, and I got signed."

The former Windsor First, Newbiggin Middle and Hirst High school pupil soon found herself jet-setting across the globe.

"My mam came with me until I was 16, she chaperoned me," she continues. "We went to Paris, New York, all over.

"When I was 16 I was old enough to do it on my own. Then I went to South Africa on my own, New York on my own. I spent lots of time in loads of different countries and it was just so good."

Now mixing with the glitterati, Melissa hails from humble beginnings. Dad Darren is a builder, while mum Sharon runs a video shop. She also has an older brother James, 21.

"They don't know where this little model came out of from the family," she smiles.

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