How a single mum from Nottingham became a swimwear superstar at 56
NICOLA GRIFFIN, a size 16, single mother from Nottingham, with grey hair and a finely lined face, doesn’t look like your average swimsuit model. But last month, she stunned the fashion world by appearing in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition: a fashion institution since the Sixties known for showcasing scantily clad supermodels. Not only was Nicola significantly larger and less famous than the average Sports Illustrated model but, at 56, she was the oldest woman ever to have appeared in its pages.
Such is the power and popularity — not just in America — of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition that, since Nicola’s photoshoot appeared (as part of a body-positive Swimsuits For All advertising campaign), complete strangers have recognised her in the street. Indeed, when I meet her in a crowded restaurant, sensibly dressed for the wintry weather in a Phase Eight sweater and Gap jeans, she draws double-takes from other diners.
She finds the body scrutiny very weird. ‘ I’m shaped like a plank!’ she protests. ‘I’m straight up and down, no waist.’ At 5ft 10in tall and curvy, she says she had always avoided bikinis, so the prospect of wearing a metallic, gold one in one of America’s most popular magazines was ‘horrifying’.
So how does a single mum from t he Midlands become an i nternational supermodel?
It all began three years ago when Nicola was standing in a queue at her local bank with her twin daughters, Tabitha and Elly, now 21.
A female scout for a company specialising in hair products for grey hair asked if she would do a test for the company’s forthcoming campaign. At the time, Nicola was taken aback.
‘It came completely out of the blue, but the girls said, “Go on, Mum, do it,” so I did. I’ve always kept my hair in good condition so I was comfortable when I went into the studio.’
The grey hair modelling quickly led to other beauty work, then a lingerie shoot. She was signed to London-based modelling agency Milk Model Management when they spotted her on Facebook. Then came the call from Sports Illustrated, resulting in a bikini photoshoot, which took place over two days in the Caribbean.
Heartily relieved to find that the nowfamous gold bikini was supportive enough for her 36F breasts, Nicola says she was surprised to find she wasn’t at all self-conscious.
‘I felt sexy, how weird is that?’ she says, still clearly going over it in her own mind. Her daughters sent texts to boost her confidence — and to remind her to shave her legs. ‘As if I’d forget.’
In fact, says Nicola, even before the Sports Illustrated shoot, she felt pretty comfortable in her own skin — flaws and all. ‘I’ve got lines,’ she says, pointing to the space between her eyebrows that so many women treat with Botox, and shrugging.
‘My body’s not perfect in any shape or form, but so what?’ Her trademark flowing, grey hair is the result of giving up hair dye at the age of 42.
SHE CHOSE to stop being a ‘slave to hair’, as she puts it. ‘ I was spending wads of money on it — £70 for a colour and cut — which was a lot for a struggling mother of two [Nicola ran a business organising student exchange trips] and it didn’t even look that great. It was dyed dark and it looked dull and heavy.’
Going back to her natural colour was a rocky process. ‘It took about two years and it was horrible; at times I had to wear a hat,’ she shudders. ‘Then, one day, I was having coffee with a friend and she said, “Your hair’s beautiful”, and I turned round, thinking she must be talking to someone else.’
Nicola’s hair is certainly amazing. With tones of dark grey, light grey and silver, it is one of the reasons she is in such demand as a model. She cuts it herself and washes it one day and styles it the next.
‘I think women who are dyeing their hair constantly are doing themselves a disservice because underneath some of those heads is beautiful silver hair. As we get older, we make the mistake of trying to keep our hair looking young and it ages us too soon.’
She is not against cosmetic surgery, although she has yet to have anything done herself. ‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with nips and tucks to help you as you get older,’ she says. ‘I wouldn’t rule it out.’
Her whirlwind schedule — she is in New York for a publicity tour — is a far cry from the quiet life she used to have in Nottingham. Brought up in a close Irish Catholic family — her dad was a baker, her mum a nurse — she and her t hree si sters had a happy and uneventful childhood.
‘We lived in a three-bedroomed semi my dad bought for £2,000 and it was a lovely childhood, full of banter, quite religious,’ she recalls. ‘We didn’t have a car so we never really went anywhere, but we were as happy as can be.
‘We always ate around the table and at Christmas we got one present each. We were brought up to respect the police and our teachers — they were the authority figures and we never dreamed of disrespecting them.’
Nicola, the second eldest, left school at 16. ‘We didn’t have choices in my day. We were told you could choose between being a nurse or being a teacher or getting married and having babies. I didn’t know anybody who went to university.’
As a young woman, she was ‘clothes
and make- up mad’ and had crushes on David Bowie and Bryan Ferry. ‘I wanted to be one of those girls on Roxy Music’s album covers,’ she sighs.
She tried modelling in her teens and early 20s, doing fashions shows for local colleges and a photoshoot for Nottingham lace products. But the pinnacle of her career when she was younger was posing as a promotions girl at the Birmingham Car Show.
‘Once, I was promoting CDs, which were new at the time, and I presented one to Prince Michael of Kent,’ she laughs.
She had a long relationship with her partner and gave birth to their twins when she was 35. But after the couple split, Nicola found herself a single mum at 43. It was a tough time, she remembers.
‘I hadn’t been working and I had to start, but when your back’s up against the wall, you can be very resourceful.’
She became an agent for a French language school, matching students who come to the UK for English lessons with host families. She even rented out rooms in her own house to some of the students. There was no room for romance.
‘No, no,’ she shakes her head. ‘Even when the girls were with their dad at the weekend, there was always work to do.’ Her advice to women who worry they’re not getting any younger is to be confident and to realise you can be beautiful at any age.
‘Show off your best bits, whether that’s your legs or your bust or your hair,’ she advises. ‘Find something you’re passionate about and do it — if you feel good about yourself, it shines through in your face and in your body language.’
Nicola certainly does not think she is old. ‘I think 80 or 90 is old. Once I got to 50, past the menopause, I just thought: “I’m going to go for it now and grab everything that comes my way.”’ The chance to model came at the right time, she adds, because her daughters were about to go to university — Tabitha to do an economics degree and Elly to study paediatric nursing.
‘I was an empty-nester. I was l ooking for opportunities and suddenly I had this new career knocking on my door.’
So might she be looking for a new relationship, too? ‘Absolutely,’ she laughs. ‘The girls are independent now and standing on their own two feet. I’m a free agent. I’m looking.’
Last year, she was able to stop working for the language school and concentrate on modelling. She has just signed for the Wilhelmina modelling agency in New York, and will next appear as the new face of British fiftysomething clothing range Hope — f ully dressed, this time.
Nicola is clearly thrilled at the unexpected turn her life has taken. Her phone beeps constantly. ‘Oh, it’s [popular U.S. entertainment show] Access Hollywood,’ she reveals, slightly awed, as she peers at a message from the producers of the television programme.
‘It’s a new chapter in my life and I’m loving every minute.’