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Have you ever heard a better suited name for a runway model than Cleo Glyde? She certainly did glide down many a high fashion catwalk!!

Cleo Glyde is a delightful former international fashion and runway model that worked professionally during the 80s & 90s and was represented by top agency City (Paris). At 6'2", she quite literally stood out from the crowd and her flaming red hair cemented her as truly unforgettable. Today she is a Freelance Travel Writer, Journalist, and 
Lifestyle & Beauty Director & Editor, working commonly for Marie Claire magazine.

"With eight days to go till the Bill Blass show, I was deep into a green-grape diet (three for breakfast, two for snacks, six for binges). How else was I going to fit into my assigned skintight showstopper? I was a model on a mission. But given that I was also a robust 6'2", wedging myself into munchkin minis was no picnic. Somewhat inevitably, I collapsed in New York's Chelsea Hotel and was carried past the jaded bohemians to the nearest hospital. That was a lot of dress sizes ago. Today, 15 years later, the debate is heating up: Has the tyranny of the super-skinny silhouette gone too far? Last August, when 22-year-old Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos died of anorexia-related heart failure between costume changes, Spanish authorities decided that models under a certain weight might need medical help, not a gig: They declared that 5'9" catwalkers must weigh a minimum of 125 pounds....
...I signed up for modeling by accident, not design, when I was discovered at 17 in Paris on a study tour in the late '80s. Soon enough, I was in the hands of a team of bookers whose job it was to turn me into a robotic goddess onto which fashion fantasies could be projected. Of course, every new girl had to have a gimmick -- mine was flaming red hair and goofy, coltish height. Show week is a ritualistic mini Olympics that defines the fashion calendar. We queued up at the casting calls, the funnel that sifts out everybody who doesn't have the look du jour: "Give me a storm-trooper blonde"; "Give me a jolie laide"; "Give me retro"; "Give me that slack-jawed junkie look." What constituted fabulous morphed from season to season, but one rule never changed -- you must adhere to a body ideal that is way taller and thinner than average. An Italian greyhound spareness, topped by a wilting asparagus neck and lolling head that accentuates the clothing, not the woman. Fabric hangs beautifully till it pools on the floor; it's all about the dress. Bottom line, if you couldn't achieve the look, you weren't in the game. So we played -- smoking to kill our appetites and wringing ourselves out in steam rooms. Of course, plenty of models ate what they liked and simply threw it all up later. My dilemma: those pesky Celtic warrior genes that kept me from looking "Park Avenue fragile." Some girls are meant to be slim-hipped and tiny; I'd watch them wolf down burgers and mud cake without gaining a gram. It's being unhealthily thin that's the bitch. At the beginning, I thought cutting out the crème caramels of life would be enough. Dream on. At a certain point, my photo got past the gatekeepers of a god-like Italian designer. I was summoned into his presence and made to put on a pair of putty-colored shorts in exquisite, feather-light fabric. My heart sank when I saw how my grandmother's hips filled them to the brim, pushing the pleats apart instead of letting them hang limply. As I filed past, the maestro remarked to his staff, "molto," not unkindly. But you don't need to have read Dante to translate. I was mortified. A pear-shaped woman like me in a gamine's job -- clearly I'd have to start smashing square pegs into round holes. Why? I couldn't resist."
-Excerpt from SFGate.com (link below)

Additional links about Cleo:
https://www.modelscomposites.com/getlist.php?list=wld&choice=Cleo+2&year=all&id=
https://www.instagram.com/cleoglyde/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/CleoGlyde
https://www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/quot-My-11-Grape-Diet-quot-A-Model-Confesses-2479173.php
https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/advice/a311/dressed-excess/

Height 6'2"
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Nationality: Australian
 

a.JPG b.JPG c.JPG d.JPG e.JPG f.JPG g.JPG

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What a stunning redhead :heart:

 

From Cleo's twitter:

 

Quote

#fridayflashback

'90s fashion shoot with ever effervescent @mariotestino

We had dinner afterwards at Chez Natasha, a legendary patroness famous for living in a ménage à trois. #ninetiesnostalgia #1990s #FlashbackFriday #ninetiesbaby #onsetphotography #90spolaroid #modelmemories

 

 

Cleo Glyde by Mario Testino.jpg

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