Models: Brainless Beauties or Living Art

I tell my designer: "I dress plain because I want to be a canvas." Growing up I never wanted to model. It never crossed my mind, and I always thought that modeling was just for white girls who didn't eat on a regular basis. I knew about Tyra, Iman, Naomi Campbell, Alek Wek and all of the other Black models but I always thought they were just "lucky." In the past year, my life has been changed in a real way. I began to see that modeling was a way to express myself, and learn about all the aspects of fashion. I couldn't have been happier.

All my life I have been a "jeans and t-shirt" girl. I was never really into fashion, and still try to keep a basic, toned down wardrobe. I find myself enjoying clothing, shoes, and make up now more than ever. Vintage, thrift stores, and yard sales have turned out to be gold mines for me. Sure, I would love to have a closet full of Cavalli and Louboutins from here to the moon and back. I would die for a vanity full of MAC, Nars, and Urban Decay. But lately my survival and my essential needs have become top priority, and always will be.

Your body becomes a billboard, a blank piece of paper, or a mine field of color. The image creates a dream for its viewer. Light, shadow and posing become mediums, just like charcoals, pencils and paints. It's melting and molding to the environment, and pushing yourself to creative heights. Modeling is making a way out of no way, from garments and accessories that you don't have to spend a dime on. Modeling is transcending into other worlds and spaces that come from your mind, through your body, and flow through a lens. I am not just a spineless, emotionless, starving body. I am breathing, moving, adaptable art...

Naima Mora