A period during London Fashion Week is a real pain

FEW can exude cool composure like a catwalk model strutting steely-eyed down the runway. In that moment it’s almost unbelievable that they were just seconds ago at the centre of a backstage hubbub: being poked and prodded by stylists and make-up artists as photographers snapped away. Ima gine, t hen, coping with the bloating, cravings and leaking of periods at the centre of this storm in a fast-paced industry where your body is your work and there’s little room to acc o mmodate its needs. To mark London Fashion Week , one of the most important events in the industry calendar, one runway model has chosen to smash taboos by speaking out about menstru- ating when the whole world is watching and anything short of perfection is unacceptable.

Nineteen-year-old Victoria Cain was first approached by a talent scout aged 13, but landed a modelling contract at 16 when she was spotted at her Saturday job in a clothing store in Surrey.

“The first time I realised periods could be a problem was at a photoshoot where I was the only girl,” the model who has worked with L’Oreal, Rimmel and Toni & Guy recalls. “I got a surprise (period) attack in the middle of the day and I had to fake a cigarette break and go to find a shop. All I could think of was ‘I can’t leak on the clothes’. It makes me stressed just thinking about it.”

Fashion Week is just castings, castings, castings, castings, she says. It involves early starts to cram in as many shows, auditions and fittings as possible before the after-parties where professional relationships are sparked and cemented.

“It can be exhausting, especially if you have your period and you don’t have time to eat properly.”

The nature of castings, where hundreds of girls can queue for up to an hour and a half and competition is fierce, means that leaking in line is common.

“It’s hard to find five minutes to do what you’ve got to do,” says Cain. While the uniform of black skinny jeans that models wear hides blood, it’s hardly ideal.

“It’s horrible because you can feel it and you can’t go to the toilet because you lose your spot. So you just put up with the leakiness.”

Recently, Cain was at a casting with a friend who was desperately trying to find a toilet after her period started. As she becomes more in tune with life constantly on the road, she packs tampons. And, like a true millennial, she uses a Birch Box-style subscription for periods called Pink Parcel to get the product delivered to where she is booked that month. “The chances are if I don’t need it, there’ll be another girl frantically looking for a tampon and I’ll come to the rescue.”

Pesky hormones, meanwhile, make Cain crave sugary food and struggle to maintain her healthy diet. And bloating can be nerve-racking when wearing clothing tailored when she wasn’t menstruating.

“The thing that stresses me out most about getting my period during fashion week is my acne-prone skin. It’s like my period is smack bang on my face.”

But thanks to taboos surrounding periods, the catwalk is where nightmares can be made as Naomi Campbell discovered when she stumbled while walking for Vivienne Westwood in 1993. And the fashion industry never forgets.

“My absolute worst nightmare would be leaking on the runway,” says Cain. “I always make sure I tuck my tampon string in when I’m on a job. Walking down the runway with the string hanging out would be a super embarrassing moment.”

Surely, though, she wouldn’t need to prepare if the fashion world was more accommodating? And yet Cain doesn’t see how it can change.

“A lot of people can’t see behind the glitz and glam of modelling. These things happen all the time. The vast majority of a models’ time is standing in line for hours for a job hundreds of girls are all competing for… I don’t see what the industry can do at all, it is what it is and it is tough at times.”

Instead, she looks to society as a whole. “I think sanitary items should be free. You can get condoms for free yet not tampons or towels? I would love to see this change in the near future.

“Periods are a natural thing. I feel that often others regard it as a taboo subject, when really it’s just human nature.” – The Independent