Quote · The Louis Theroux Podcast
S8 EP4: Cara Delevingne discusses getting sober, engagement rumours, and being Karl Lagerfeld's muse
Where this was said
Being Scouted and the Rise of a Model
At 10:36 · chapter starts 5:55
When Louis asks how the modelling career took off, Cara paints an unlikely picture: she was first scouted at 16 at a rave, but dismissed the idea because she thought of herself as a 'feral Chucky doll'. She dropped out of school with depression, her parents insisting on employment as the condition of leaving, and joined Storm — the agency that also represented Kate Moss — via her sister. It was never a passion; she describes it as a job she worked hard at, not something that creatively fulfilled her. The industry wasn't instantly receptive either. At 5'7.5" — below the 5'10" runway standard — her card was listed at 5'8" or 5'9". The breakthrough moment was Burberry, which she credits with catapulting everything. Even so, the comparisons to Kate Moss felt both exciting and impossible to live up to.
Cara joined the Storm modelling agency at age 17 after dropping out of school, following in her sister's footsteps and needing a job as a condition of leaving.
Cara stood 5'7.5" in an industry where runway models typically need to be 5'10", meaning she defied the standard physical expectation from the start.
