There are so many young girls in this business who are always crying — they need a childhood: Malaika Firth on modelling

Even the model being lauded as “the next Naomi Campbell” fell victim to the Mean Girls at school. Malaika Firth, who has posed for Prada, Burberry and Vogue, and walked almost every show of note in New York, London, Paris and Milan, says she was bullied about her “chicken legs”. She became so insecure about her skinny pins that she wore legwarmers every day.

“If I didn’t have the legwarmers, I wouldn’t want to go to school — my Mum would have to force me,” the 19-year-old recalls. “The girls would call me ‘anorexic’ too. It was horrible.”

She’s certainly shown the bullies now. “Yeah, I wanted to model to prove them wrong because I realised I was beautiful. You can’t judge a person by their legs.”

I meet Firth at the offices of her agency, Premier Model Management. She’s wearing the uniform of the off-duty model: black leather jacket (All Saints), skinny trousers, a long tee and ankle boots, with a beaded bracelet that spells “LOVE”. She looks even more doll-like than in photos, and speaks softly and slowly, taking care over her words.

Although Vogue has dubbed Firth the “model least likely to be spotted rolling out of a club at 3am”, she was up the previous night partying — and didn’t get home ’til 4am. In news that will further rile those bullies, it doesn’t remotely show. Nor does her less than perfect diet — Firth confesses to a weakness for McDonald’s Big Macs and Nando’s: “I’m naturally slim. I can eat what I want and I don’t gain weight. But I’m trying to eat more healthily now as I tend to get spots here and there.”

Kenyan-born, Barking-bred Firth has enjoyed a rapid rise up fashion’s ranks. When she was growing up she would watch Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model, and told her mother she’d be on the series one day (Firth does a perfect “smize” — Banks’s signature “smile with your eyes” expression).

But it was another reality show that was the catalyst for her career: The Model Agency, a Channel 4 docu-drama about Premier. After watching it, Firth — then a shy 17-year-old — turned up at the agency. She was seen twice and then swiftly signed. Premier’s founder, Carole White, has said she was drawn to Firth’s “almond eyes, caramel-kissed skin tone and unruly locks”.

Back then, Firth knew little about fashion. She had practised posing in the bathroom mirror and had to learn how to walk in high heels: “My mum never wore heels so I bought really high stilettos. I was so scared at first — I thought there was no way I’d do runway, that I’d have to stick to commercials.”

Yet she was soon cast in the catwalk show for Beyoncé’s label, House of Dereon. Firth, who adores the singer, admits she was too nervous to meet her. “I was so overwhelmed that I just quickly went home afterwards.”

Since then, she’s donned her wings on the Victoria’s Secret catwalk (her name means “Angel” in Swahili so “it was fate”), was hailed as the first black model cast in a Prada campaign for two decades (although she’s actually mixed race) and has been photographed by Mario Testino for Burberry. So what does she make of the “new Naomi” tag? “It’s a compliment — [Campbell’s] a very strong person. She’s managed to stay in the industry so long, and is still doing well.”

Firth has now fallen in love with the catwalk because “you can turn into a different character”. At Paris Fashion Week she starred in Nicolas Ghesquière’s debut show for Louis Vuitton — “There was such an air of excitement and afterwards, everyone was making so much noise” — and Karl Lagerfeld’s take on supermarket sweep for Chanel: “Some of the models took sweet packets but I wasn’t naughty enough.”

The fashion industry has often been accused of racism, with models such as Jourdan Dunn campaigning for greater ethnic diversity. But Firth, whose father is half British, a quarter Seychellois and a quarter Ugandan, while her mother is half-Swiss and half-Kenyan, says she hasn’t been held back in any way. “Designers are using me — I haven’t faced any discrimination. Obviously if I did come across that I’d speak out.”

She does, however, believe that models under the age of 17 should be banned from the catwalk. “You’re treated like an adult in this industry, and we need girls to be allowed to develop their character — so when you start you can stand up for yourself. There are so many young girls who are always crying. They need a childhood.”

At times, Firth herself seems too gentle for fashion, but she’s clearly growing in confidence, and you sense the shyness may mask a steely core. She’s certainly bolder with other models now. “At the beginning, I’d see Jourdan Dunn or Joan Smalls doing their hair and make-up and I couldn’t even talk to them. Now I realise they’re just human beings.”

Although they seem opposites personality-wise, Firth’s a Cara Delevingne fan too: “She’s a bold spirit and has this energy and charisma that people want to see more of.”

Her own fanbase is growing: “I’ll come back from some of my shows, and these girls — 13 or 14 — scream my name. They ask for a picture and they’re shaking. Because of social media they feel they know me. I think that’s really cool. But there are some men out there too [on social media] — one or two perverts. Like really old guys — 50-year-olds.” Do they ever overstep the line? “Yes, some of them do, but you just have to ignore it and block. I don’t try to take that bit seriously — I just delete and move on.”

Firth’s family moved here from Kenya when she was seven. She still lives with her (very proud) parents — her father is an engineer at the Four Seasons hotel and her mother used to be a personal assistant but now runs Firth’s career. “She comes to every show. She’ll wait for me and I go to her if I ever feel down or nervous. She’ll speak to me and pray for me and the other girls. The other models love her.”

Firth is a Baptist, and that informs her career: “I definitely wouldn’t do nudity. I believe that is something only for my husband — if I get married — to see. I would wear something sheer, but never nothing.” She is also single. She recently listed on Twitter what she wanted in a man: “Confidence but not too cocky,” “[He’s] gotta believe in God,” and he needs to “respect his Mamma”. She giggles when I bring this up: “Those men are hard to find! I’ve never had a boyfriend so I need not to be too strict with myself — strict, but not too strict.”

After modelling, Firth says her dream is to act: “Modelling could take me anywhere. If it takes me to acting, I’ll be more than happy.” But she has another ambition too: a Nando’s black card (the chicken chain doles them out to famous fans so they get free wings). “I love the wings,” she giggles. “I’d be in Nando’s every single day then.”