The Ugly Modeling Agency Is a Real Thing

“We like our women fat and our men geeky, we like the extremely tall and the shockingly small. No one is too abstract for our books! We are Ugly. And we are the leaders in character modeling.” Sound like something you might be interested in? Then maybe you should hightail it to London, which is the home of Ugly Models, the world’s leading character modeling agency. In operation since 1969, Ugly Models boasts over a thousand clients, ranging from 18-100 years old, (UK) sizes 6-30, tattooed, pierced, extremely tall, extremely short, etc.

“I think the number one trait an ugly model’s got to have is what I repeat over and over again -– to be comfortable in their own skin,” says the agency’s current head Marc French. “I think you could say that I am looking for at the auditions -– every kind of character you could think of -– from fat to fit, large to small, and I never know what I’m actually looking for until they come through the door. Our models have worked for everyone from Calvin Klein to Italian Vogue and there is a massive demand for them. We have open auditions and the queues go on for miles with people wanting to get on the books. It’s amazing; you have little old ladies standing in line next to Hell’s Angels all wanting to give it a go.”

Paging through the Ugly portfolios, it seems like a lot of their models are less ugly and more just unconventional, though even that is starting to change. Several of the women represented wouldn’t seem out of place on Suicide Girls or in an American Apparel advertisement (meaning they’re conventionally pretty, but also happen to be covered in tattoos) and, in some cases, “character” equals out to not being sample sized and having bigger boobs than what you’re used to seeing on a runway.

There are a fair share of extra unique individuals, however. Model Sultan Kosen, at 8’1”, is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest man in the world. Prince Albert, who got his first piercing at 75, has now been pierced a total of 241 times and Elaine Davidson has over 2,520 piercings.

Ugly models have been cast in everything from Skittles ads to Marks and Spencer campaigns to James Bond movies. Looks like there’s a place for everyone, my friends.