I’m the 63-year-old plus-size lingerie model for the new M&S bra fit campaign – why are people still so shocked by a normal body?

•  Nicola Griffin is one of five models picked for the modelling campaign
•  Read more: So should you ever schedule sex? Femail asks the experts

It happens every time I’m in a prominent modelling campaign.

Someone somewhere, in the media or online, will criticise me for showing my tummy roles and cellulite, shaming me for my grey hair and wrinkles.

Most importantly, they will condemn me for daring to show off my body in a confident and positive manner.

They feel, I presume, that only younger women with six-packs and glowing skin have a right to be semi-naked. Everyone else like me with a normal ageing body should be out of sight and, presumably, out of mind.

The campaign encourages women to have their breasts measured correctly – whether it be in store or over zoom. 

Nickola Griffin, 63, is one of the five models featured in Marks and Spencers new bra fit campaign

Of course, even though I am confident about my body, I find negative comments hurtful. But they are nothing new.

The fact is I have faced a backlash since I launched my modelling career a decade ago.

Then aged 53, I was in quite a difficult place. My twin daughters, Tabitha and Elly, were 18 and about to leave for university.

I was working in business, but struggling with empty nest syndrome and what came next in my life.

Then, as I was cashing some money in my local Barclay’s branch in Nottingham, I was approached by a scout.

Nicky pictured on her Instagram account in January. She says it is a privilege to get old and we should all love our bodies  

Nicky took this photo behind the scenes at one of her fashion shoots – she is known for her long silver hair 

Nicola Griffin, 63, is a size 16 and a single mother originally from Nottingham but now based in London. Here she is pictured in the Swimsuits For All advertising campaign, which appeared in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and helped launch her career

Nicky pictured with her twin daughters Tabitha and Elly at Christmas 2022. They were the ones who first encouraged her to be a model and reminded her to shave her legs for swimsuit photos

She said she loved my long white hair and asked whether I’d be interested in modelling for a hair shampoo.

Initially I thought nothing of it, but my daughters encouraged me to follow it up, so I did, launching a modelling career I never thought I’d have.

I then gained representation with modelling agency Milk. 

And before I knew it, in 2016, I was wearing a gold bikini for a shoot for Sports Illustrated, a magazine that’s huge in America – alongside Ashley Graham, a very well-know model out there.

The magazine had only ever featured your typical size eight model so my inclusion caused a media storm around the world.

Nicky, featured in the new campaign to get women to buy a properly fitting bra says someone will also criticise her appearance but most comments are positive

While not doing fashion shoots, Nicola spends time keeping fit at the gym or walking – but it is for health reasons 

Nicola – then 59 – appeared in a 2019 valentines day campaign by JD Williams in 2019, just as a survey came out that found 77 per cent of men found older women sexy 

Since then, I have featured in countless adverts, from a JD Williams’ Valentine’s Day lingerie range to Charlotte Tilbury and Mac cosmetics.

I’ve also featured on the front cover of Grazia and Harper’s Bazaar magazine. But it is my shoot for M&S which caused this most recent stir.

My images – along with those of four other models – are now in high-street stores across the country.

But I stand out, for as well as being the oldest, I am also the bustiest, with un-died silver hair, a real curvy body and the odd age spot.  

But – and this is the crux of the matter – I also resemble the vast majority of women who come to M&S to buy bras.

Stand in the queue for any fitting room and you won’t see stunning twenty-something year olds with six packs like model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who also features in the campaign.

They are older women with large busts in need of support, or breastfeeding mothers, or self-conscious teenagers with small chests – and they don’t want to be made to feel bad or ashamed about how they look.

Instead, these women need to know they deserve nice underwear and don’t need to be hidden away just because men – or other women for that matter – only want perfection.

Perhaps that’s what I am proud about most in this campaign – showing a normal, ageing body that women can relate to.

And I think this comes from my general positive attitude towards myself and how I look. 

Of course, sometimes I glance in the mirror and think ‘What has happened to me?’.

But I adore being tall – I am five foot ten – don’t mind my 34F boobs and would even go so far as saying I love my cellulite.

Yes, I go to the gym, but it’s mainly for my mental health and to ward off heart disease.

Nicola frequently posts selfies and her professional shoots on her Instagram page which has a strong following

She says that younger women need to know that growing old is okay – and that they won’t have their looks forever

But – having been ill a while ago with pneumonia – I am so grateful to have a body that is in good health and works.

Growing old is a privilege and nothing to be ashamed off. And I think younger women, especially, need to know this. Thankfully, things are changing.

Over the past decade, I have seen shifts in the modelling industry. Mannequins have got larger, and older women like me are getting more work, particularly in America.

Yet still the change isn’t fast enough – perhaps because there is still the idea that we should pander to the male gaze.

I am still described as a plus-size model, when in fact I am size 14 to 16 and the average size for a UK woman is 16.

And shops too can fall short on stocking for bigger sizes. Why can I never find a size eight shoe?

But largely, I feel – despite the negative comments which always arise – there is such growing support for these images.

All we need is for me, or someone like me, to appear on the front cover of Vogue. Then we know we’ll have cracked it.

Source: Read Full Article