Eunice Olumide visits GCU London to talk about diversity within the fashion industry.
Supermodel and GCU alumna Eunice Olumide visited GCU London recently with an inspiring tale to tell.
Her career as a fashion model began at the age of 15, when she was spotted by Select, but chose to eventually sign to Model Team Scotland, an agency on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street.
Since then, she has been signed to Ford, Viva, Mega and AMQ, and was twice nominated for Model of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards. In 2013, she was awarded Best Contribution to Fashion and Media at the SAF Awards Scotland, in line with the academic route she took with GCU. Eunice graduated from the University studying BA (Hons) Communication and Mass Media.
“I had a very positive experience as a student,” she says. “I found the staff in particular to be very supportive, and enjoyed the cultural diversity on campus.
It was definitely the best place to study due to the practical focus of my course.”
However, it was diversity within the fashion industry that proved to be the main focus of Eunice’s GCU London conversation, where she told students and staff that designers are still reluctant to use models from a broad range of cultures.
Eunice, together with the evening’s host, Senior Lecturer in Luxury Brand Management Matteo Montecchi, also discussed the role of ‘digital’ in the fashion industry and the way some brands are “protecting themselves from user-generated content in an image-conscious industry”.
“Eunice’s contribution was illuminating and inspirational,” says Matteo. “She carried out a clever and in-depth analysis of current issues affecting the wider fashion system and gave British School of Fashion students highly relevant recommendations on how to achieve their career aspirations.“
Eunice has worked all over the world with top designers such as Vivienne Westwood and has walked runways for Mulberry and Henry Holland.
She has also turned her hand to acting, and is set to appear in the upcoming films Star Wars Rogue One and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
She lends her support to numerous charities close to her heart including Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, The Well Foundation and Love Music Hate Racism, and is a passionate environmental campaigner for Zero Waste Scotland.
In 2013, she became an ambassador for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, alongside Kate Moss, Twiggy, Sharon Osbourne and others.