While on the runway as a model, Connie More calls the shots behind the scenes as part of a team booking models. But in real life, she considers herself a shy person who is hardly around people.
Connie has been working for SAFW since she was only 21 years old.
In between fashion show rehearsals and fittings as well as the glitz and glamour in between, Connie caught up with TRUELOVE to speak about how she modelled her way to the top.
“I did not see anyone in South Africa doing what they do. I did not know Lerato Moloi until I was 18 years old. That is mainly because I grew up without a TV in our house, so I was not exposed to many things, but I knew about America’s Next Top Model, and I knew about Naomi Campbell from magazines.
“That is how I said to myself ‘I can be this girl, but I did not realise that I was tall, and that height, proportion, and skin tone were needed for modelling at the time. I just said to myself ‘I want to be this woman’ and when it happened, I was scouted by Lerato Moloi while I was doing the Model Fresh competition.”
Speaking of the legendary model who we’ve seen on multiple TV campaigns and magazine beauty spreads – some of which she was the cover star – confirming a full-circle moment Connie got to model during the three-day Standard Bank Africa Rise showcase and so did Lerato.
Connie says, “I was in awe because I saw Lerato in one of the magazines I read and to this date we still have a beautiful relationship. It was nerve-wracking when I first met with her, remember the competition had thousands of models in Johannesburg and when she pulled me out of the line ‘I was like oh no is this really happening?’
“And she said to me, ‘You are my height and, in that case, I am going to pull you out and put you in the shortlisted girls so you have to go through a height test’. The test was supposed to be 176 [centimetres] and above, and I was 178. She said I was her height and I looked at her with no words to say because I was very excited.”
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At home, Connie also had unwavering support from her, who bought her first pair of heels so that she could be comfortable walking in them and perfect her posture.
“She said to me, ‘This is the type of heel that is okay for you because it is not too long and not too short but it is just average size’. I think it was about seven inches. She said ‘You are going to wear these heels whenever you are doing your chores in the house and I did just that. But little did I know that I was giving myself practical's of how I am going to be in the modelling space. I did not know I was going to be the person I am today.”
But she made it to the top regardless of the naysayers. Connie tells us that is the reason she always recounts her journey to success and she is taking it in well.
“If it was not for the discipline and people believing in me, especially my friends at the time, then I wouldn’t be here. If Sibu 'FBD' Sithole did not pull me out and said ‘I want, you to be part of us’ I do not think I would have even been scouted again by Lerato Moloi because my journey started with Sibu scouting me to work with them.
She tells us that her first time on the runway was during the autumn/winter season in 2013 of SAFW.
“I was booked by two ladies from Pretoria and I was so excited. I was excited to walk at the time but I was very nervous about the crowd, mind you, I am the shyest person you could ever meet. I am super shy and I have struggled with making friends. I have always been the timid one in the crowd. I do not speak a lot because I grew up with speech impairment so, I had issues with speaking.
Connie starts laughing when she speaks about how she ended up as a modeling scouting agent. That is mainly because of the events that led her back to what she loves the most – modeling.
“I was dismissed from my previous job because of my natural hair. I have always preferred my hair naturally, I did not want to wear a wig. I just preferred being comfortable in my workplace. So, I said to myself ‘let me go back to what I know, which is modelling’. I was out of work.”
This is part of her journey that led her to model casting.
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“What I do is assist with model casting, talking to the designers when it comes to the trade shows. Like literally everything that involves fashion week and what makes it so fun for me is because I see myself in these young people like the first time, I went for casting I was so nervous. I always tell them that it is okay to be nervous, it means you belong here, it means you belong here, this is your element and it shows that you want to show yourself.
“What modeling does, as I see it, it builds character. It prepares you for the journey you must take. So, I see myself in them most of the time, I was also nervous.”
She says she also had a fair share of feeling self-conscious when she started modeling and that is why she always advise young women to be themselves.
“I have a lot of insecurities. I never wore crop tops, skirts and I still don’t wear short things because in my mind while I was still a teenager, I did not have a ‘beautiful’ skin tone because I had a navy blue mark on my back; I still have patches of it in my body. I was constantly bullied about my teeth and my hair to a point that it was going into my adult life.
“I think [modeling] is a calling. So, when it comes to the young ones who look up to me, my advice is just be yourself, accept who you are, you are born into this world and cannot change who you are.
She is slowly and surely getting there, “Chomi! You should see me,” she chuckles.
When asked how busy SAFW was, she tells us it was hectic but she is still having the best time of her life.
“I love being at fashion week. It does not start during fashion week season, we prepare for [it]. So, Lucilla Booysen would make sure that she gets the media, the international buyers and so on from now until March. She gets the designers that she wants to showcase, the models – mind you, she needs to go to agencies and talk to them about the new faces and we would assist in the midst.
“I have learnt a lot about the fashion business from all this. I have learnt presentation, I have learnt punctuality, I have learnt preparation, it is just a lot.”
