Teen fashion model Georgina got so thin her organs were failing. But fashion designers still queued up to book her. Now she's telling her story to shame the whole industry

An agent said Georgina could work for her in Japan if she lost 3in from her hips and one from her waist

Georgina Wilkin had eaten nothing for days and felt so dizzy she had almost blacked out on the Tube ride into central London to visit her model agent.
On arrival, however, the agent was delighted. He took one look at the 16-year-old's skinny frame and declared: 'Georgina, whatever you are doing, keep doing it.'
Sadly, Georgina took her agent's words to heart and would spend the next seven years fighting anorexia, becoming so dangerously malnourished that her heart and kidneys began to fail.
Yet somehow she survived, and now wants to expose the modelling industry which so nearly killed her. She says: 'Everyone should know about the pressure models are put under.'
Georgina, now 23, insists that the only way to prevent models succumbing to eating disorders is for customers to boycott labels employing girls smaller than a size 8.
Georgina, who lives with her businessman father and paramedic mother in North London, was introduced to the modelling world at the age of 15 when she was approached by a model scout on London's Oxford Street.
'On the first visit to the agency they treated me like the next Kate Moss, saying “Oh my God you are so unique, we're so excited you've come to us. Who scouted you? Can we get you a drink?”,' says Georgina.
'I was incredibly flattered and excited - as was my mum. She's always been really enthusiastic about me being successful - and she didn't know much about the modelling world back then.'
But by her second encounter with the agency, however, Georgina was already beginning to get a glimpse of the more insidious side of the industry. 'They took Polaroid shots, to check that I was photogenic, and then measured every inch of me, right down to the tips of my fingers,' she says. 'I quickly understood that my body was merely a product, for people to examine and criticise.'

 

Georgina discovered modelling at the age of 15 when she was approached by a model scout

Georgina was in the middle of her GCSEs when the agency asked her to come in for a casting with a Japanese agent looking for models to work in Tokyo for a few months.
'I was really flattered when the Japanese agent picked me,' recalls Georgina. 'She said I could go to work for her in Japan in two months time, on condition that I lose 3in from my hips and one inch from my waist.'
Losing weight become her mission: 'The only food I allowed past my lips was salad and vegetables and I'd often go for two days without any food at all.
'I'd skip breakfast, spend lunchtimes in the school library and tell my parents I'd had dinner at a friend's house so I didn't have to sit down to a meal with them when they got home from work.'

'My lips and fingers were blue because I was so thin that my heart was struggling to pump blood around my body. The make-up artists would have to disguise it with concealer.'

Georgina will not reveal how little she weighed in the years that followed, worried that other anorexics will view it as something to aspire to - just as she once did.
However, at the beginning of her career, she weighed just 8st 6lb - which, when you consider she is 5ft 10in, gives some indication of how pitifully thin she was.
Yet every fortnight, Georgina would go into the agency to be measured and photographed in a bikini. Every time she would be told that she needed to lose more weight.
'The skinnier girls got all the bookings and I was even told I wouldn't be able to work for jewellery companies because my fingers were too fat,' she says.
Emaciated, she arrived in Japan in June 2006 but was shocked to see that she was one of the 'biggest' girls on the books.
Aged just 16, Georgina was left to fend for herself in a Tokyo apartment with two Russian girls who didn't speak English.
Frightened and lonely she spent most of her time indoors, surviving on high energy drinks. A couple of weeks in, she was photographed for a pregnancy catalogue wearing a false, strap-on bump.

Every fortnight, Georgina would go into the agency to be measured and photographed in a bikini

'I was a malnourished young girl being made to look like a pregnant 30-year-old,' she says.
'Messages like that can be very damaging to a teenage girl, or indeed, any woman.'
Georgina's mobile phone didn't work in Japan so her only contact with her parents was once a week from a payphone.
'I don't think my parents wanted me to go to Japan but they knew how desperate I was to make a success of my modelling career. And I was very stubborn.
'It must have been hard for them when I called home because I was so unhappy I was always in floods of tears.'
So why, one wonders, didn't Georgina's parents book her on the next flight home?
'Part of the deal was that I had to reimburse the agency for the cost of my flight and accommodation from the money I earned. So I couldn't afford to leave,' she says.
Whenever her parents asked, Georgina pretended that she was eating a healthy Japanese diet. However, when her mother and brother came to visit during Georgina's final week in the Far East it was patently obvious that she was not.
'Mum has since told me that she was shocked to see how thin I'd become,' says Georgina. 'She begged me to eat with her and my brother but I always had an excuse for why I wasn't able to.
Georgina returned to London, where she worked on photoshoots for Top Shop, Gap and designer Giles Deacon, among others.
'Nobody ate on these shoots, which could go on all day, and we would survive on adrenaline and caffeine drinks. On the occasions I couldn't fit into a dress, I felt so humiliated.
'The stylists would give me a look, and that would make me eat less and walk even more.
'Mum was wary, but she could see how excited I was to be part of the whole fashion industry and didn't want to stand in my way. When she tried to talk to me about how thin I was, I'd get cross and it would turn into an argument, like so many conversations between a mother and her teenage daughter, I suppose.'
In August that year Georgina discovered that she had achieved nine A* grades at GCSE. It should have been a joyous time, however, over the year that followed, Georgina became gravely ill. Unable to work, she parted company with her agency.
In the summer of 2007 her parents insisted she see their GP, who immediately admitted her to hospital where she was diagnosed with anorexia and spent five months in treatment.

The only food she ate was salad and vegetables and she'd often go for two days without any food at all

'I'd kept getting bookings although it must have been obvious to everyone in the business that I was anorexic,' says Georgina. 'My lips and fingers were blue because I was so thin that my heart was struggling to pump blood around my body.

'The make-up artists would have to disguise it with concealer.
'It wasn't just me - I know of at least six other models I still see photos of on a leading  fashion website who are also anorexic. They have the same telltale blue lips and hands.
'In hospital the doctors made no secret of the fact that my life was in danger,' she says. 'My vital organs were under such strain that there was a risk my heart could stop or my kidneys pack up.
'I was force-fed through tubes before being transferred to London's Priory Hospital where they made me eat enough to get back to a healthy weight. I did as I was told but, even after hearing that I'd almost starved myself to death, I didn't fully grasp the danger I'd put myself in.
Despite this brush with death, shortly after Georgina left hospital, in February 2008, she joined the books of another model agency.

Georgina knows of at least six models on a leading fashion website who are anorexic

Her parents tried to talk her out of it but Georgina convinced them that she had recovered from anorexia and with her new, healthy attitude would not allow herself to be pressured into losing weight
However, old habits quickly resurfaced and Georgina began starving herself once again.
Later that year, aged 18, she was signed by Prada to appear on the catwalk during Milan fashion week.
'Just two days before the show, I was told I wouldn't be needed after all,' says Georgina. 'No one explained why and I convinced myself it was because I wasn't thin enough.
'Too often I'd been told by agents and stylists: “You could do much better if you were a bit smaller” or  “You've got so much potential, but it would be a good idea for you to join a gym.” This sort of language seeps deep into a young girl's psyche.'
Georgina ate even less and insisted on walking everywhere to burn off the few calories she did consume.
But, despite her skeletal appearance, she continued to get bookings until the middle of 2009.
'My mum had been begging me to get help, so I decided to take some time out and have outpatient treatment for my eating disorder.'
Astonishingly, despite the stress she was under, Georgina notched up four A* grades at A-level, and never returned to the catwalk.
The spectre of anorexia continued to haunt her to such an extent that last year she once again became so dangerously underweight that she was readmitted to the Priory.
As well as being force-fed and receiving counselling, this time Georgina was also prescribed anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication to help her battle the illness.
A year down the line, Georgina is working as a PA, with ambitions to become an interior designer, and is so convinced that her anorexia is under control that she agreed to talk about her experience during the Shape of Fashion debate held during the recent in London Fashion Week.
'I feel very lucky to have survived but it makes me really angry to see images of models who I know are seriously unwell due to eating disorders.
'Most high fashion brands have used anorexic girls in their campaigns and the only way this will stop is if we stop buying their products.'