Alicia Amin doesn&rsquo;t shrink back from adversity &mdash; she is resilient and&nbsp;courageous enough to face challenges head on and keep going after them.

I first met Alicia Amin a few years ago. That was our only&nbsp;meeting. As such, when I arrived in the studio at 9 o&rsquo;clock in&nbsp;the morning and noticed her in the makeup chair, I figured&nbsp;I should reintroduce myself to her just in case. &ldquo;We met&nbsp;before John,&rdquo; she chuckled. Yes, that&rsquo;s the Alicia I recalled&nbsp;meeting, I thought to myself. Direct and straightforward but&nbsp;emanating tremendous warmth and genuineness whenever&nbsp;she cracks a smile. I excused myself to enable the hair and&nbsp;makeup team to perform their magic, and Alicia almost&nbsp;instantly collapsed back into the chair and stopped chatting&nbsp;&mdash; and then the caffeine from her hot oatmilk matcha set in.&nbsp;&ldquo;For fashion shows, I always take my oatmilk matcha and&nbsp;duffel bag to the quietest corner and make it my home,&rdquo; she&nbsp;later shared with me, and added, &ldquo;For photoshoots, once my&nbsp;coffee or matcha kicks in &mdash; as you saw today [laughs], I start&nbsp;singing and dancing and keep my energy up throughout the&nbsp;shoot,&rdquo; And no, she wasn&rsquo;t exaggerating since that&rsquo;s exactly&nbsp;what she did.

What is the most important lesson you&rsquo;ve learnt about yourself&nbsp;through your modelling career?
I&rsquo;ve learnt that I&rsquo;ve got incredibly thick skin and that I&rsquo;m a&nbsp;lot more flexible, both physically and mentally, than I ever&nbsp;thought I could be. I&rsquo;ve been constantly surprised and forced&nbsp;to adapt to many situations, and if I could show my 15-yearold&nbsp;self what I have pulled off, I think she would be amazed.

Do you feel that you have achieved what you want as a model yet?
My answers to these questions seem to change daily [laughs].&nbsp;Lately, I find myself on the fence between graciously stepping&nbsp;down and focusing on my acting career or giving the&nbsp;international circuit one last shot.

How do you think the industry can better address issues of cultural&nbsp;appropriation?
When we include more people from diverse backgrounds and&nbsp;their stories and feelings, we become more sensitive to their&nbsp;struggles and the deeper meaning behind their culture. Having&nbsp;these conversations and considerations makes it easier to avoid&nbsp;making light of something that traditionally, in another&rsquo;s&nbsp;culture, is sacred or carries more weight than we can imagine.&nbsp;Also, learning how to respect and honour these limitations&nbsp;forces us to be more tasteful and creative in our delivery. It&nbsp;makes real diversity come to life and is not just a performative&nbsp;measure to keep up with changing times.

What is your opinion on the current state of body positivity in the&nbsp;industry?
I think one of the best examples of proper body positivity is&nbsp;Savage x Fenty as they&rsquo;ve left no one out. Locally, we have&nbsp;a few amazing plus-size faces, which is a win, but we are&nbsp;still lacking in the love for mid-size models. I still hear cruel&nbsp;whispers about someone gaining weight or models getting&nbsp;older. It bothers even me; I am constantly worried about my&nbsp;age and the natural progression of a woman&rsquo;s body, so I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;think Malaysia has achieved it, but hats off to the brands and&nbsp;bookers who are changing with the times and holding space&nbsp;for all bodies.

How do you think social media has impacted the modelling industry?
I&rsquo;m a model who has benefited from social media. Sometimes&nbsp;you have to force people to see you, and social media is just&nbsp;that tool. It gives models the opportunity to show themselves&nbsp;and earn extra money. Even for bookers and photographers,&nbsp;you can come across new talent just by scrolling through your&nbsp;phone. Social media doesn&rsquo;t account for one&rsquo;s skill level because&nbsp;some people are good at taking their own photos but can&rsquo;t pose&nbsp;for a photographer, but it&rsquo;s less tedious than stopping someone&nbsp;on the street.

What is your definition of beauty?
Beauty is anything that moves me. It gets me excited and&nbsp;makes me not want to look away. Watching a sunset, watching&nbsp;animals play on an open field, every photo a creative director&nbsp;selected of me, my friends when they are happy, or even my&nbsp;reflection in the mirror after a good cry &mdash; they&rsquo;re all beautiful&nbsp;to me.

How do you think the industry can better support models&rsquo; mental&nbsp;health and wellbeing?
Pay all models on time. Pay all models fairly. If you&rsquo;re putting&nbsp;us on a billboard, it&rsquo;s chargeable monthly in the thousands.&nbsp;Brands make so much money from our work; we work hard&nbsp;and long and are subjected to such shallow scrutiny. Give us the&nbsp;monetary compensation we need to eat properly, exercise, and&nbsp;see therapists if necessary. Model call-times should be within&nbsp;reason. Food and water should be provided at shoots and shows&nbsp;if we are standing by for long hours. Models will take care&nbsp;of themselves if the resources are given to them. Yes, all the&nbsp;current brands, bookers, and publications I work with do this.&nbsp;But I will never forget my early days, where I was subjected to &nbsp;terrible working conditions and unfair compensation simply&nbsp;because I didn&rsquo;t know any better.

What is your opinion on over Photoshopping &mdash; and the effects it&nbsp;may have on the models and society?
On one end, Photoshop helps sell the fantasy. We will not&nbsp;achieve the whimsical nature of Tim Walker or the colours&nbsp;of David LaChapelle without Photoshop, and fashion is&nbsp;a fantasy. On the other hand, if you dive too deep into that&nbsp;fantasy, reality becomes a bad place. I&rsquo;m not sure about other&nbsp;models, but for myself personally, when I look at a heavily&nbsp;retouched photo of myself, I just accept it as part of my job as a&nbsp;model. That was the vision. I am not personally offended. I do&nbsp;not wish to look like that either.
Now we have apps and all these controversies surrounding&nbsp;celebrities editing their photos on Instagrams with filters. It&nbsp;gets to us. Someone out there is prettier; they&rsquo;ll get booked,&nbsp;not me. That&rsquo;s the thought process, and it hurts.
As models, we need to stay true to our snaps. The one who&nbsp;gets booked is the one who rocks up to that casting or turns&nbsp;up to that shoot in a rush at 6 a.m. with hair still half-wet out&nbsp;of the shower. If we can somehow learn to remember that as&nbsp;often as we can, we will manage to keep our sanity. Besides,&nbsp;every time a makeup artist touches our face, we kind of look&nbsp;different anyway. If you can&rsquo;t fight it, keep an open mind, and&nbsp;give yourself a lot of pep talks; that&rsquo;s my advice and how I&nbsp;survived it.

How do you think the industry can better address sustainability and&nbsp;environmental concerns?
Although I think everyone plays a part, the larger corporations&nbsp;in the world should do more for the world in terms of&nbsp;sustainability and the environment. I&rsquo;m sure everyone already&nbsp;practises some form of &ldquo;green&rdquo; living. However, I think there&nbsp;needs to constantly be conversations about sustainability to&nbsp;encourage these larger corporations to make a change. We can&nbsp;only recycle and upcycle so much, you know!

What is your opinion on the pressure to conform to certain beauty&nbsp;standards in the industry? Do you have any personal experiences&nbsp;that you won&rsquo;t mind sharing with us?
Yes, I am so afraid of gaining weight now [laughs]. Like,&nbsp;FEARFUL! During my younger years, I was called out for&nbsp;having chubby cheeks and thick thighs. On AsNTM, they&nbsp;tried to make flawsome a thing, but thinking back... Why&nbsp;are my thighs even a flaw? Why even use the word &ldquo;flaw&rdquo; to&nbsp;describe them? I was a 55kg, 175-cm-tall, 21-year-old girl.
I understand the requirements of being lean and fitting into&nbsp;a sample size, and proportions make all the difference in&nbsp;photographs, but my pear-shaped body is no longer my worst&nbsp;enemy; I just learned how to utilise it. I had an extremely&nbsp;stressful time back then, but my life is in balance now. I&nbsp;have a system that allows me to eat whatever I want while&nbsp;maintaining the figure and stamina needed for my work.
I am aware that not everyone&rsquo;s story ends happily, and many&nbsp;people experience body dysmorphia and eating disorders&nbsp;because of these experiences. I think times are different&nbsp;from when I was younger, and the media representation of&nbsp;the female body is much healthier now, but it does cause an&nbsp;imprint, especially in young girls, as it did with me.
I managed to pull away from it because I managed to focus on&nbsp;other aspects of my modelling: ideas, shapes in poses, how I&nbsp;handle clothes, etc. I stayed away from typical poses, always&nbsp;trying to bring something new. When I was convinced that my&nbsp;value as a model was in how I made the final image look with&nbsp;my skills and extensive study of pose and not simply the shape&nbsp;of my body, my own relationship with my body improved. I&rsquo;m&nbsp;28 years old, and what happened 13 years ago still sits there&nbsp;rent-free in my mind. It&rsquo;s not great, but it&rsquo;s better.

What is your opinion on the use of models as brand ambassadors&nbsp;and influencers?
Models as brand ambassadors are pretty much like being the&nbsp;face of a brand plus a little more work. If we are compensated&nbsp;fairly for our experience, it should be advantageous to us. If&nbsp;a model can develop the skill set of an influencer as well, go&nbsp;for it. It&rsquo;s an expansion of the skills we already have. We lose&nbsp;nothing and possibly gain more. To each their own, but there&rsquo;s&nbsp;nothing wrong with doing or not doing it in my opinion.

You staged an extremely brave solo protest at KL Fashion Week for&nbsp;delayed model payments last year. What is your opinion on the role&nbsp;of experienced models not only in promoting change in fashion, but&nbsp;also social and political?
Malaysia has a long way to go before being able to be a fashion&nbsp;capital. Many large brands and companies take advantage&nbsp;of models and talents by lowballing them and offering fair&nbsp;pricing only to celebrities or those who have the privilege of&nbsp;management.
Because of this status quo, it forced me to elevate my identity&nbsp;as a model into that of an actress a couple of years ago in hopes&nbsp;of gaining some celebrity status to demand a fair wage. I will&nbsp;never not be a model; I will never forget my roots, and because&nbsp;I care so strongly about the industry that made me who I am&nbsp;today, I have done and will continue to do whatever I can in&nbsp;my power to improve the landscape. The protest was one of my&nbsp;ways of giving back.
While I wish others took this stance, it&rsquo;s difficult for me to&nbsp;criticise others who aren&rsquo;t or weren&rsquo;t able to make the decisions&nbsp;I made. Post KLFW, many senior models and celebrities stood&nbsp;by me, albeit silently, and while I understand the Asian culture&nbsp;of not stirring the pot, we do need to improve as a community&nbsp;when it comes to calling out those who exploit and mistreat&nbsp;as a way of supporting the new generation and improving the&nbsp;working conditions.
This responsibility shouldn&rsquo;t fall on any specific group of&nbsp;people, I think the whole industry should work together to&nbsp;assure fair compensation, fair treatment, and being paid on&nbsp;time. If it happens to one of us, it&rsquo;s happening to someone else,&nbsp;so please learn how to watch each other&rsquo;s backs.

What is the most common form of workplace misconduct &mdash; and how&nbsp;do you think the industry can better address issues of misconduct?
Bad paymasters, low rates, and unfair cancellations or&nbsp;withholding of payments. Since the KLFW incident, youngmodels and talents have messaged me to ask for advice on&nbsp;handling situations. I think models need to learn how to read&nbsp;contracts collectively. All of us need to be stricter with what&nbsp;we sign. Having the fear that &ldquo;if I don&rsquo;t sign this contract as is,&nbsp;someone else will&rdquo; is only a detriment to our industry.
While I condemn people who take advantage of models&nbsp;or freelancers, we need to learn how to protect ourselves.&nbsp;Unionising is something that has crossed my mind, but as I&rsquo;ve&nbsp;said before in my press statement about this issue, it is a heavy&nbsp;burden to bear, and while I do care, I am not able to drop&nbsp;everything to handle it on my own. It&rsquo;s a communal effort;&nbsp;everyone must step up together.

How do you stay motivated and focused in such a competitive&nbsp;industry?
During the early days, when I wasn&rsquo;t getting booked because I&nbsp;was simply &ldquo;too edgy&rdquo;, I flooded my book with &ldquo;pretty&rdquo; shots.&nbsp;When someone said maybe Alicia can&rsquo;t pull off a certain idea,&nbsp;I would do a test shoot with that exact concept and post it&nbsp;online. Now they say &ldquo;Ah, it&rsquo;s you; anything I put on you, you&rsquo;ll&nbsp;figure it out&rdquo;. The combination of teenage angst to prove people&nbsp;wrong and developing my discipline and professionalism is my&nbsp;deadliest weapon.

What is your fondest memory of your career so far?
I&rsquo;ve done some pretty hardcore stuff in my 13 years, but my&nbsp;best feel-good memory was when I walked a show where Bella&nbsp;Hadid was a guest. Bella Hadid watched me walk, and we&nbsp;even took some pictures together afterwards.

How do you handle criticism or negative feedback?
There are only five people in the world right now to whom&nbsp;I&rsquo;ve given the power to dictate some of my actions, words, or&nbsp;appearance. If they don&rsquo;t like something, I&rsquo;ll do something&nbsp;about it. But for anyone else, I&rsquo;ve learnt to graciously hold&nbsp;space for people&rsquo;s opinions while not taking them personally.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a&nbsp;career in modelling?
No matter what, keep your chin up and listen to your body.&nbsp;The mirror is your best friend but also your worst enemy; learn&nbsp;how to tell the difference. If you can&rsquo;t walk, keep walking&nbsp;until you can. If you can&rsquo;t pose, keep practising until you don&rsquo;t&nbsp;realise you&rsquo;re doing it. Also, Study of Pose is your bible.

You&rsquo;re also as passionate about acting as you are of modelling. Is fulltime&nbsp;acting your ultimate career goal?
I&rsquo;ve hit the glass ceiling in Malaysia as a model; my dreams&nbsp;need to be carried over to Milan, Paris, New York and&nbsp;London if I want to try and grow. I care a lot about my&nbsp;newfound passion as an actor. I don&rsquo;t know if my talent and&nbsp;hard work will get me to the world stage, but I know that&nbsp;acting is where I want to end up. Will I give up modelling?&nbsp;Perhaps; it&rsquo;s difficult to say.

Our May 2023 "Freedom" issue featuring Alicia Amin in Fendi will be available in selected major bookstores and newsstands in Malaysia and online on <a href="https://www.magzter.com/SG/AMTD-Digital-Media-Solutions/L%27OFFICIEL-Malaysia/Fashion/">www.magzter.com</a>.

Cover Credits:
Photography&nbsp;Chee Wei Lock Creative Direction &amp; Styling&nbsp;Colin Sim Makeup&nbsp;Sharman Yee, PLIKA MAKEUP Hair Juno Ko Hair Colourist Maeda Riko, HAIR MOVEMENT BY DICK CHIN 
All Clothing &amp; Accessories&nbsp;Fendi

Cover Story: Alicia Amin is free from fear (featuring Fendi)

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