Simple trick for supermodels of today: smile

Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss. Photo / Getty Images

From Kate Moss to Cara Delevigne, their faces have been plastered across magazines, advertising bill boards and every catwalk the fashion industry can muster.

But the supermodels of today are lacking one important thing, according to a veteran of the industry: a smile.

Daphne Selfe, who is the world's oldest working model at the age of 87, said the models of the 21st century looked too "sullen".

Ms Selfe said she could not understand why today's crop of models tended to strut down the catwalk without smiling. Instead, she suggested, the young women should aim to look "pleasant".

She told an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival that her generation had begun their modelling careers with lessons on good manners, deportment and how to get into a sports car "without showing their knickers".

She has now called for similar classes to be reintroduced, to give young models more "confidence".

"I like prancing on a catwalk," she said. "But they all look so sullen now, don't you think? Why is it they're all so miserable? I always enjoy it. I don't think you should grin at the audience, but I do think you should look pleasant.

"Speaking of her own training as a model, after starting her career in 1949, Ms Selfe said: "You had to walk properly with a book on your head, which gives you a good carriage. You'd have to learn how to do all your make-up, how to do your hair - nobody did it for you in those days."

Ms Selfe's autobiography, The Way We Wore: A Life in Clothes, is out now.