The team here at Models Direct were thrilled to see that Boden have used seven-year-old Holly Greenhow to model in their new mini boden campaign. Holly was born with athetoid cerebral palsy and although she is unable to walk or talk she has completely shone in this childrenswear campaign.
“Holly has a beautiful smile and modelling is not all about being perfect, so we thought why shouldn’t she be considered,” said her mother Fiona, 42.
“There are lots of things she can’t do and will never be able to do because of her disabilities, so it was really nice for her to have this experience.
“I hope it will help the image of disabled children and also open people’s eyes to the fact there are lots of children out there who aren’t perfect.”
Holly, who is from Cambridgeshire, uses a wheelchair to get around and has recently started to communicate using a special computer system operated by her eyes – similar to the one used by Steven Hawking who suffers from Motor Neurone Disease.
She loves clothes and so her mum Fiona, a trade manager for Tesco thought she might enjoy modelling them!
“My mum suggested it as Holly loves pretty clothes and particularly likes wearing those designed by Boden.
“Holly has so many things against her and as her mother I just wanted her to be able to do something that any child could or would love to do, given the chance.
“She went for a casting in April and did the shoot in the summer holidays with lots of other children at a studio in London.
“Holly really enjoyed it and loved being the centre of attention and we’re really pleased with the finished results.”
Zena Botha, the studio shoot and model manager for Boden, said the company ‘was delighted that Holly made the cut.’
She added: ‘We are always happy to invite our Mini Boden fans along to model castings and we were delighted that Holly made the cut.
‘Holly was charming and we’re very pleased with the shoot, which is live now on boden.co.uk.’
Matt Jackson, head of campaigns at the disability charity Scope said: ‘There has certainly been a lack of diversity in kids modelling campaigns to date, which means that disabled children are often not represented.
‘The fact that Holly has cerebral palsy and will feature in Boden’s advertising will certainly help to challenge some of the misunderstandings and prejudice that can make life difficult for so many disabled children.’
It is great to see big brands using more models of diversity and Holly follows in the footsteps of child start Seb White, who has Down’s Syndrome and modelled in M&S’s Christmas campaign last year.
Models Direct is a pro-diversity modelling agency, if you would like to be considered for work with us you can apply via our website.