[ot-caption title=”Cara Delevinge strutting down the runway at London Fashion Week in 2014. (via Walterlan Papetti/commons.wikimedia.org)”]

Cara Delevingne is not your archetypal 23-year-old girl. In recent years, the famed British fashion model has quickly made a name for herself by traveling the world and modeling for countless high-fashion advertisement campaigns for luxury brands such as Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel.

With over three million followers on Twitter and over eighteen million followers on Instagram, Delevingne, a model since age 11, has an enormously supportive fan base that dub themselves as “Delevingners.” Not only is Cara currently one of the “it-girls” in the fashion industry, but she also broadened her horizons, starring in the 2015 film Paper Towns, based off John Green’s, Paper Towns, featured on the New York Times’ bestseller list. She is also set to star in the upcoming 2016 film Suicide Squad alongside Academy Award-winning actor Jared Leto and other renowned actors including Will Smith, Viola Davis, and Margot Robbie.

The young model and actress has recently made headlines when she confirmed she would be quitting modeling to pursue her acting career. This announcement came as a shock to many and even angered some fans. In the 2015 July issue of Vogue Magazine, the model-turned actress accredited her leave from the fashion industry to the thrill she gets from bringing characters to life on the big screen. In her interview she remarked negatively toward modeling; she stated, “Modeling is the opposite of real. It’s being fake in front of the camera.” Delevingne also revealed how the fashion industry had taken a toll on both her mental and physical health.  She recounts a time when she was asked to lose weight, despite being a size two, and acquired psoriasis as a result of work-induced stress. The pressures placed upon her in the fashion industry have slowly driven her to retire from the catwalk for good.

Also known for her striking eyebrows, bubbly personality, and many silly faces, Cara Delevingne says the modeling industry makes her feel sick and is saddened by sexism in Hollywood and in the media. Declaring herself a feminist, Delevingne criticized some of the provocative poses she and other young women were told to do solely for the sake of fashion.

Sophomores Ana Simon and Nicole McEwan, both fans of Delevingne, had contrasting views on her decision to leave modeling. Ana commented, “I respect Cara’s mature choice to switch careers, and I look up to her even more after she revealed why she quit modeling.” On the other hand, Nicole Mcewan argued, “because Cara is such a large fashion icon, I don’t think it was good judgment to leave her modeling career seeing that she is not a very experienced actress.”

Although the fashion industry may have lost one of the most globally recognized faces in modeling, many can agree that Hollywood has definitely gained a talented star in the making.  There is a lot more to come for Delevingne, and we will all be along for the ride.

Source: Huffington Post