Underwear model claims she's refused work because she looks TOO young

Being told you look young would be deemed a compliment by many women.

But for Carolyn Brennan, 49, her youthful appearance is posing a real problem - as it's actually stopping her from getting work as a model.

The underwear model has been modelling bikinis and hosiery for over 20 years, but in the last 12 months work has dramatically dried up.

She's now launched a blistering attack on the fashion industry after a string of top agencies refused to give her work - telling her she looked too young.

Despite modelling for Harley Davidson in the early 90s and being a catwalk model at dozens of NEC trade shows for Peugeot, Carolyn has repeatedly been refused work from modelling agencies.

So she relaunched her career as a freelance model and approached advertising agencies on her own - only to be told she was "not suitable" for work because she looked younger than her years.

And in a cruel twist, Carolyn, from Leicester, said she's unable to get work for the younger fashion market because she is considered too old.

She said: "Because of my age and my looks I am trapped in a no-go zone for women because I am neither young enough or old enough to model.

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"I have always modelled in some capacity at trade shows, magazines and for big names like Harley Davidson and Aspire magazine and have always looked after myself.

"When I decided to go freelance I started approaching agencies for work but I was told on more than one occasion I would struggle to find work because I looked too young.

"One agency told me I looked in my 20s. The irony is that I won’t even be considered for younger modelling projects because of my age."

Carolyn, who's a slim size 10 and works out five days a week to keep her nine stone figure in shape, blames the stereotyping of women in the fashion industry for her career blip.

She said: "Magazines and modelling agencies want young women to look young and more mature woman to frankly look old.

"Just because a woman is in her late 40s doesn’t mean she can’t be sexy or wear underwear. Not everyone has the figure I have but an awful lot of women do and what’s wrong with that.

"Modelling is very competitive and I understand, obviously, that appearances matter and being told by agencies that you’re too old because you are too old is fair enough."

She continued: "I find it quite shocking that the fashion industry seems to have forgotten a huge swathe of women who are middle-aged but not ready to wear cardigans just yet.

"Why should I wear shapeless dowdy clothes just because I’m nearly 50?"

The 49-year-old also seemingly revealed her secret to staying in such good shape - the lack of a man in her life.

She said: "I exercise a lot with stretches and running but I also think one of the reasons I stay young is a lack of a man.

"I think very often women can look older when they get in a long term relationship.

"I think this could be another reason why women of my age with my figure are frowned on by society because for some reason we are expected to be married and our bodies gone south a bit."

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