STYLE IN-DEPTH
“AFTER WINNING MISS MALTESE BEAUTY AND MISS WORLD MALTA, I NEVER LOOKED BACK.” JOY over the past couple of years, the modelling industry has got better, but unfortunately payment hasn’t. Many people still expect models to work for free without realising that taking care of your looks can be expensive. I’ve also studied anatomy and physiology for body therapy and am CIBTAC qualified. I now specialise in semi-permanent make-up and hair loss micropigmentation. It’s something I really enjoy and I am very much looking forward to the challenges ahead. When it comes to my careers – being an aesthetician and a model – I’d have to say they’re both very ‘me’!
With a career that spanned 15 years, XANDRU GRECH became one of Malta’s most recognisable faces and names, but it was health and fitness that would ultimately claim his undying devotion, and he recently opened his second Move Fitness Centre. I actually started out as an athlete, but then someone suggested I should model and I did. I was 13 at the time and my career, if you want to call it that, lasted until I was 28. Some of the key moments included working for Weekend Moda, Noelene Miggiani’s TV show Gallarija, and doing fashion shows for Next, but my proudest moment was the international advert I did for Sky TV to promote Malta. I think that, nowadays, things have become very serious, but back when I was in it, the
modelling industry was different. People had a lot of heart and time, but today it’s much more professional in terms of photographers and props – before it was done for fun: ‘let’s take a shot!’ and that was it. I used to find modelling very artistic, but I could never do a stiff fashion show. In fact, I remember once modelling when we had to go down a flight of steps; I missed one and went tumbling to the bottom! It was funny for everyone else but me, obviously. Nowadays, I own my own chain of fitness centres, with outlets in Sliema and Ta’ Xbiex. Running a business is a totally different thing to modelling, particularly because I live my job day and night. Then again, my career has allowed me to be financially independent and, as cliché as it may sound, has also given me the chance to make my dreams come true.
“MY PROUDEST MODELLING MOMENT WAS THE INTERNATIONAL ADVERT I DID FOR SKY TV TO PROMOTE MALTA.” XANDRU 27