Lisa Snowdon reveals she was sent home from Milan by ‘savage’ designers for being ‘too fat’ at 19

Lisa Snowdon reveals she was sent home from Milan by ‘savage’ designers for being ‘too fat’ at age 19… after they made her strip off in the toilets to tell her where to lose weight on her body

Lisa Snowdon has hit out at ‘savage’ fashion designers who once humiliated her into stripping in a toilet then telling her she was too fat for the catwalk.

The 48-year-old model recalled being left ’embarrassed’ when she turned up for an extravagant fashion show in Milan, Italy, but couldn’t squeeze into any of the flimsy clothes at age 19.

Admitting she used to be ‘tiny’, industry moguls cancelled her bookings after she refused to cower to their demands to lose weight.

Ludicrous! Lisa Snowdon has hit out at ‘savage’ fashion designers who once humiliated her into stripping in a toilet then telling her she was too fat for the catwalk [pictured in 1994, age 22]

Speaking on Vicky Pattinson’s The Secret To podcast, the radio presenter said: ‘I’d gone to Milan and they told me I was too fat basically, and when I look back, I was like a little stick right.

‘I was tiny, the only thing that were big on me were my boobs. I wasn’t that curvaceous, I’m more curvaceous now, back then I just had a pair of boobs. I wasn’t that super curvy or voluptuous.

‘I’d get booked to do fashion shows and I’d turn up and look at my rail and there’d be something and they’d be “put this on”. It was like a wisp of a hair band and I was like “that’s not even gonna go over my f**king wrist let alone my whole body, that’s not gonna work!”‘

Still got it! The model recalled being left 'embarrassed' when she turned up for an extravagant fashion show in Milan, Italy, but couldn't squeeze into any of the flimsy clothes at age 19 [pictured in March, age 48]

Still got it! The model recalled being left ’embarrassed’ when she turned up for an extravagant fashion show in Milan, Italy, but couldn’t squeeze into any of the flimsy clothes at age 19 [pictured in March, age 48]

Starting out: Admitting she used to be 'tiny', industry moguls cancelled her bookings after she refused to cower to their demands to lose weight [pictured in 1994]

Starting out: Admitting she used to be ‘tiny’, industry moguls cancelled her bookings after she refused to cower to their demands to lose weight [pictured in 1994]

Lisa went on: ‘So then they’d cancel me and go “go home, go home”. It was savage but high pressure – they’re about to put on a fashion show, a model turns up and she doesn’t fit any of the clothes – so I got cancelled.

‘In Milan they were like “we need to see you”, so I took my clothes off in the toilet, which is really embarrassing, and stripped down.

‘And they were like “you need to lose weight on here” and I was like “how do I do that? Like what, I starve myself and then you can dictate where the fat falls off? That’s not gonna happen!”‘

Radio presenter Lisa said: 'I'd gone to Milan and they told me I was too fat basically, and when I look back, I was like a little stick right. I was tiny, the only thing that were big on me were my boobs' [pictured in 1995]

Radio presenter Lisa said: ‘I’d gone to Milan and they told me I was too fat basically, and when I look back, I was like a little stick right. I was tiny, the only thing that were big on me were my boobs’ [pictured in 1995]

Ridiculous! Lisa was told she was too large to appear on a Milan Fashion Week runway [pictured on the Britain's Next Top Model catwalk in 2006]

Ridiculous! Lisa was told she was too large to appear on a Milan Fashion Week runway [pictured on the Britain’s Next Top Model catwalk in 2006] 

She mused: ‘Even then, at 19, I had a really good head on my shoulders to say “no that’s not going to work for me”. So I came home and called my agent and said “it’s not working!”‘

Lisa ended up forging a successful career as a fashion model, regardless of this knock-back.

She got her big break at age 22, modelling The Ultrabra by Gossard in 1994, and swiftly got snapped up by various swimwear brands.

'Tiny!' 'In Milan they were like "we need to see you", so I took my clothes off in the toilet, which is really embarrassing, and stripped down,' she recalls [pictured in 1995]

‘Tiny!’ ‘In Milan they were like “we need to see you”, so I took my clothes off in the toilet, which is really embarrassing, and stripped down,’ she recalls [pictured in 1995]

Lose weight where? 'And they were like "you need to lose weight on here" and I was like "how do I do that? Like what, I starve myself and then you can dictate where the fat falls off? That's not gonna happen!"' she said [pictured in 2003]

Lose weight where? ‘And they were like “you need to lose weight on here” and I was like “how do I do that? Like what, I starve myself and then you can dictate where the fat falls off? That’s not gonna happen!”‘ she said [pictured in 2003]

She retained a successful career throughout the 1990s and 2000s, eventually being made the face of Britain’s Next Top Model in 2006 as the UK’s counterpart to supermodel Tyra Banks.

Lisa typically acts as a fashion presenter these days, but still models too.

She’s a regular fixture on the This Morning presenting team, hosting segments about fashion. 

Beauty! Lisa typically acts as a fashion presenter these days, but still models too [pictured this week]

Beauty! Lisa typically acts as a fashion presenter these days, but still models too [pictured this week]