A former catwalk model has described how she had to starve herself on just three apples a day and cans of zero-calorie Pepsi Max to become one of the fashion world's most sought-after names.In a new memoir lifting the lid on the pressure to achieve a super-skinny frame, Victoire Dauxerre, now 23, from Paris, explains how she weighed just seven stone when the likes of Dior, Chanel and Alexander McQueen were booking the 5'10 teenager.After being scouted at the age of 17, she earned £10,000 in eight months flying all over the world, but her eating disorder has left her with lasting health problems and at one point she was told she had the skeleton of a 70-year-old.She would take laxatives and enemas after eating and did not menstruate for six months while starving herself as a model, something she claims has left many of her friends permanently infertile. Victoire Dauxerre, now 23, from Paris, reveals how the pressure to lose weight saw her eat just three apples a day and cans of Pepsi Max as her eating disorder left her with the skeleton of a 70-year-old
Miss Dauxerre (pictured now) said agents literally 'applauded' her as she became even more dangerously underweight In a new memoir lifting the lid on the pressure to achieve a super-skinny frame, Victoire Dauxerre (pictured now at the age of 23 and a size 10) explains how she weighed just seven stone at the height of her career She is a different woman to the one who would take laxatives and enemas, pictured at her thinnest, after eating and did not menstruate for six months while starving herself as a modelAnd while she was literally 'applauded' as she became even more dangerously underweight, she was also told to shave her arms and thighs, which had become hairier as a natural response to keep the body warm after severe weight loss. But she was so unhealthy that the hair on her head started to fall out. Now a size 10, Miss Dauxerre, who was once named as one of the top 20 models in the world, has broken the 'code of silence' on the quietly encouraged starvation that she claims models are still forced to endure today.'It is pernicious.
They don't tell you "you have to lose 22lbs in two months". What they say is "you need to be this size to fit into the clothes, otherwise you don't get any work". Then each time you come back into the agency and you are skinnier they literally applaud you," she said.And despite being at the height of her success, flying all over the world working in the glamorous industry, she was far from happy. 'I just wanted to vanish so that it would all be over,' she said.Miss Dauxerre was just 17, finishing school, and had recently come out of a relationship when she was spotted on the streets of Paris by a scout who told her she could be the next Claudia Schiffer. Miss Dauxerre (pictured, left, at her thinnest and, right, now) was also told to shave her arms and thighs, which had become hairier as a natural response to keep the body warn after severe weight loss She described how she had to starve herself on just three apples a day, pictured on a shoot, and cans of zero-calorie Pepsi Max to become one of the fashion world's most sought-after names
Her new memoir, Size Zero - My Life as a Disappearing Model - has already rocked the fashion world and is due for release in February. Left: Miss Dauxerre at her thinnest when she was a model The model has penned Size Zero - My Life as a Disappearing Model, which is out on February 9 The model, from Paris, is pictured at her thinnest whilst on a casting. She has shared the images in her new memoir She signed with one of the premiere agencies in the business, Elite, when she was already thin but says she felt a silent pressure to drop even more weight, going to extreme measures to do so.Miss Dauxerre believes that agencies deliberately pick young, teenage girls because they are more impressionable and less likely to stand up to the dangerous demands of the industry.She added: 'They take you on when you are at your most fragile - 16 or 17. They want the bodies of little girls.' Keen to impress and 'naive', Miss Dauxerre, who was top of her class at school, also wanted to succeed in modelling and considered dropping weight an achievement so applied her considerable willpower to it.
MailOnline has contacted Elite and is awaiting comment. The model is pictured in hair and makeup on a photoshoot during the height of her success The model, left and right, at her thinnest, blames the designers, who 'dictate our image of beauty', and described how during castings they would be treated like 'a piece of fish at the market' Although seemingly unaware at the time of what she was doing to her own body, she recalls worrying that a fellow model might die after seeing her, looking like 'an invalid', green, and with her eyes glazed over She explained how there were always elaborate catering spreads at the shoots, as there still are today, but it's all a facade and the models are expected not to touch themEating three apples a day and drinking Pepsi Max, which has no calories and helps to suppress hunger due to the bubbles, she regularly hallucinated and passed out so she could fit into sample size zero outfits.She has said fashion designers 'dictate our image of beauty', and described how during castings they would be treated like 'a piece of fish at the market', were never spoken to directly and referred to by their ages and nationalities.
She is now a much healthier weight - a size 10 and weighing around nine stoneAnd during 'seedy' night castings, the teenage Miss Dauxerre - who was a virgin at the time - recalls being stood backstage in nothing but a thong. 'They wanted you to be sexy on the catwalk but at the same time they wanted you to have the body of a girl. It was so f***ed up,' she added.Although seemingly unaware at the time of what she was doing to her own body, she recalls worrying that a fellow model might die after seeing her, looking like 'an invalid', green, and with her eyes glazed over.There were always elaborate catering spreads at the shoots, as there still are today, but it's all a facade and the models are expected not to touch them, she claims - and it's all due to a silent pressure that still exists. 'Girls on the runway would say I'm lying. But they can't say anything. There is a code of silence,' said Miss Dauxerre, who successfully campaigned for a law against size zero models in France - but it has made little difference to the thin faces of fashion.