Cara Delevingne was a 'dwarf' before she hit the giddy heights

Cara Delevingne’s career suffered an early knockback when she was dubbed a dwarf

She’s one of the most photographed, talked about and in demand models of the moment, and at 5ft 9in tall, she is well above average height for a UK woman, but Cara Delevingne’s career suffered an early knockback when she was dubbed a dwarf.

Yesterday Katie Grand, editor of fashion magazine Love and one of Delevingne’s loudest cheerleaders, revealed that she had wanted to help give her a leg up because her height had been mocked by Marc Jacobs, the fashion designer.

“I suppose it came about because I felt bad,” Grand told The Sunday Times’ Style magazine. “I was trying to get her in the show, but it was the show in which everyone was very tall and very long. I remember Marc looking at me and saying, ‘Why is that dwarf in here?’, and me being devastated... I apologised to her afterwards.” Delevingne’s not the first to beat such a debilitating obstacle: indeed, Kate Moss overcame the fact that her 5ft 7in wouldn’t be deemed sufficient for lesser models.

Modelling is one of a decreasing list of professions with height requirements. While the police force used to insist the recruits measured up to a certain height, these no longer apply.

Five feet is the minimum height for entrants to the Navy, while the army demands its recruits are 4ft 10in (drivers need to be taller).

In 2005 a Swedish woman won damages from Volvo after being turned down for a job from three of its factories for being too short. At 159.7cm (around 5ft 2in) she was 3.3cm under what the company deemed was the required height to work for them.

Which may lead aspiring Caras, to think about the legal route when they are turned down for being too short.