Hemel woman to represent England at Miss Europe pageant in Italy

A woman living in Hemel Hempstead has achieved her childhood dream of appearing at London Fashion Week.

Chantelle Rance, is also representing her country at the Miss Europe pageant in Italy next month, which will be broadcast on global streaming platform, Amazon Prime.

She was inspired to pursue her dream after seeing other people’s success stories on social media during the pandemic.

Previously, the model, who also works as an actor, had been reluctant to join the industry, which at times has been accused of only promoting women with very specific features.

Chantelle said: “I am absolutely ecstatic to be doing [London Fashion Week]. I always had the ambition when I was younger to want to do it, and as you get older you wonder, ‘will I ever get the chance’.

"During lockdown and what-not, I thought, ‘you know what? Life’s short. Let’s go for it. Give it a go. So I applied for a few different things, and kept myself in tip-top condition as much as I could.

"I know there’s a lot more diversity which is what really got me. I was so ecstatic to see more mixed race models of different shapes and sizes.

"I’m quite a petite model as well. So the fact that I’m petite and mixed race, now there’s going to be people like me who see me and go: ‘you know what, if she can do it so can I’.”

Chantelle was also keen to flag that money raised from next month’s model search event will go towards the Top Model foundation. The performer living in the Felden area of Hemel Hempstead has set up a Justgiving page which can be accessed here.

The Top Model Foundation is a volunteer-led project which supports sick children.

She commented on how social media inspired her to rededicate herself to the fashion world, saying: “I was acting, and well, that whole world shut down.

"And TikTok kicked into gear and the whole social media world really kicked off. I was seeing all these different people taking that opportunity and taking their chances.

"And I thought, ‘you know what I’ve got time on my hands now. I can put time and effort into research and practice’.

“Rather than look at the negativity and down points, I thought, ‘no, this is it, this is the time you’ve got’. I went and had a look at all the different fashion worlds, got all the different magazines. I could just sit there, flick through the magazines, and note every bit of detail that I could, and that would help take me forward.”

Whilst becoming a model was a lifelong goal, it is only in recent years that Chantelle decided to enter pageants. She added: “Two years ago I was watching Miss Great Britain, and you know what? They’re all beautiful women of different shapes and sizes. And they all look fabulous. And you can see the confidence in them.

"It has changed it used to be a very different world, but there’s a lot more diversity, a lot more inclusion, a lot more acceptance.”