Well this just shows that all those people that used to make fun of people for hos they looked in high school or college, you may wish you did not burn those bridges. Sometimes that ugly duckling becomes a swan.
A teenager who endured years of bullying over the severe acne marking her face has had the last laugh after being booked as a model at New York Fashion Week.
Size 4 Cassandra Bankson shot to fame last year after releasing a ten-minute YouTube video revealing the special make-up tricks she used to hide her spots.
But now after conquering her skin condition with the help of a dermatologist, the 5ft 11in brunette’s confidence has returned and she is set to hit the catwalk showcasing items from U.S. label Boy Meets Girl’s spring / summer collection.
Until recently Ms Bankson,19, from California, was so ashamed of her looks she had stopped attending school to avoid the constant heckling.
But thanks to her YouTube video which has attracted almost 40 million hits worldwide, she has been signed up by a number of modelling agencies across the U.S. posing for brands including Bebe and Range Rover.
Commenting on her first runway assignment, she told the New York Post: ‘It feels like a dream to be here during Fashion Week… I am a different person from who I used to be because I’ve got so much more confidence now,’
Ms Bankson, who was diagnosed with cystic acne at 14. says her skin condition is about 70 per cent improved since she first hit the web.
Since posting her YouTube video she has shared more of her tips on her You Tube channel ‘diamondsandheels14’ and via a blog. Her dream is to create her own skin care range.
Ms Bankson said the response to her first video was overwhelming. ‘It was a real eye opener,’ she told Good Morning America. ‘It (acne) is such epidemic for adults as well as teens.’
At the start of her video, which was shot in her parent’s lounge,she is seen wearing full make-up and looking picture-perfect. It’s only as she starts stripping back the expert layers of primers, foundation, powders and setting sprays, that the true extent of her pimpled and blemished skin is revealed.
The teen, a horse-back riding and hiking fan, returns to the camera in a bathrobe at her ‘most insecure,’ with bare skin and looking a very different person.
‘I feel really disgusting,’ she admits, adding ‘this is probably the most nerve-wracking thing I could possibly do because it is my biggest insecurity… But this is my face.’
She goes to show the extent of the problem as the acne has spread to her neck, shoulders and back.
It is a far cry from the modelling portfolio shots that can be seen on her YouTube channel, where the striking brunette lounges on car bonnets, takes to the catwalk and poses in cut-out swimsuits with flawless skin.
The teen, then takes viewers on a step-by-step lesson on how to achieve her look by applying foundation.
‘I have extremely oily skin,’ she says, giving tips about the primers and oil-reducing tricks.
Applying liberal amounts of cosmetics, Ms Bankson seems well ahead of her years, confident and knowledgeable about the complex potions upon which she relies.
She is frank, even wry, about her spots: ‘I always carry everything down my neck because, well, I have acne there.’
She has become something of a skin expert, with other videos explaining the physiology of skin and acne and the treatments that best target the skin condition.
By the end of the video, Ms Bankson is transformed – her flawless complexion giving no hint of the severe breakouts
‘Voila! I have somewhat clear looking skin,’ she tells the camera. ‘I hope that you guys enjoy this. I hope you can have flawless skin too.’
Ms Bankson will star at the Boy Meets Girl show tomorrow at STYLE360 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea.
By LUCY WATERLOW and SADIE WHITELOCKS
