Models Direct has read a revealing report in the Telegraph’s fashion section this week. In an interview alongside Mary McCartney – photographer and daughter of Sir Paul McCartney – former model Sophie Dahl shared some shocking facts about her experience as a model.

Dahl was discovered by Vogue stylist Isabella Blow when she was 18 years old and may be best known as one of the fashion industry’s first hugely successful plus-size models. She has appeared in campaigns for many highly respected designers including Alexander McQueen, Versace, Patrick Cox and Gap; featured in magazine editorials for publications such as Vogue, Elle and Harpers Bazaar; and achieved notoriety when she appeared naked in an advertisement for Yves Saint-Laurent’s fragrance Opium in 2000.

However, in recent years Dahl has moved away from the modelling industry. At 34-years-old, the beautiful former model is now married to the incredibly talented Jamie Cullum – with whom she has a daughter named Lyra – and spends much of her time these days focusing on a passion for cooking. It was while discussing her new cookery book ‘From Season to Season’ at London’s Words in the Park literary festival that the subject of modelling came up.

When quizzed about the relationship between food and the fashion industry Dahl explained that one of the reasons many models were forced to stay so slim was due to the ‘samples’ of clothing provided by fashion houses. “The small sample thing is ridiculous. They are too small,” she said. “They are like children’s clothes.”

She went on to reveal that, while in France it was usual to stop shooting for lunch, in London and New York this wasn’t the case – and that the relationship between fashion and food varied depending on which country you were in. Alexander Shulman raised similar concerns around clothing samples in 2009 when she stated that: “Nothing has changed monumentally about sample sizes and I am disappointed as it would be a good starting point.”

Booking agents at Models Direct can only hope that with the increased number of plus-size models entering the industry right now, a healthier approach to sample sizes will soon follow.