
Ugly Models is a
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
-based alternative
modelling agency
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency.
The top agencies work with b ...
that specialises in character modelling. Owner Marc French says it is about "celebrating everyone's unique beauty". Major clients include
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer. In 1968, he launched the company that later became Calvin Klein. In addition to clothing, he has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery. ...
,
Levi's
Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...
,
Diesel,
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
,
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
, and
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
, with models appearing in film series such as
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
,
Pirates of the Caribbean
''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Wa ...
and
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
. Ugly Models are in official partnership with
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
and represents the world's tallest man, the world's most pierced woman and the world's most tattooed man.
History
Ugly was started in 1969 by Jill Searle to fill a gap in the modeling market for interesting faces. They placed an advert in a newspaper saying "If you've got an interesting face contact Ugly.", people poured in, and the agency took off after they received thousands of applicants from the outset. They created a niche for themselves in supplying advertisers with faces that are not traditionally beautiful to front its campaigns. In 1997, Marc French had the idea of creating an offshoot fashion agency within the company called Rage. Both Rage and Ugly work from the same office but Rage is about conventionally beautiful and 'girl or boy next door types'. Most of the Rage models are dancers, performers or extras.
A three-part documentary series titled 'Britain's Ugliest Models' aired in 2010 on
Channel 5. It was an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the agency which followed French and his team as they scouted for fresh talent to add to their books in the
UK and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
See also
*
List of modeling agencies
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model, the head agency, or both.
Modeling agencies
See al ...
References
{{reflist
Modeling agencies
Companies based in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Entertainment companies established in 1969
1969 establishments in England