Nine from 172 cm upwards
Nine women stand at 172 cm or above, which is a third of the roster and a good deal more height than this book expected to end up with. Every measurement below is taken flat, standing, in the room where the pictures were made, so a pair of heels puts most of these names well past six foot on the night.
What they have in common is not the number. It is that none of them is apologetic about it: flat boots, long coats, a stride that does not shorten to match anybody. Heels are a choice rather than a duty, and if the evening wants them, say so when you write.
Statuesque, on the board
Angelika
24 · Mayfair
Karolina
27 · Covent Garden
Michelle
27 · Shoreditch
Milena
25 · Hoxton
Patricia
28 · Bethnal Green
Samanta
27 · Bow
Stacy
22 · Liverpool Street
Vanessa
25 · Bethnal Green
Violetta
30 · Whitechapel
178 cm
Violetta is the tallest name in the book, tall and slender, black hair long and sleek, dark brown eyes, and dressed in a column of dark fabric with flat shoes because at her height the alternative is theatre. She walks the Mile End Road the way other people walk a gallery, stopping at things. Thirty this year, unhurried, and abroad until the nineteenth of October.
176 and 175 cm
Stacy is 176 cm and slim, near black brown hair worn long, and has the stillness of somebody who worked out early that she would be noticed regardless. She stands a clear head above Bishopsgate at six and is back on the third of October. Milena is 175 cm, curvy, black hair to the waist, and the tallest thing on Kingsland Road on most nights she works it.
174 cm, twice
Karolina is 174 cm and slim, black haired, and carries the height the way people do who stopped minding it years ago: flat shoes, narrow trousers, sleeves pushed back. Samanta is the same number, slim, dark brown hair long, and lighter on her feet than the measurement suggests. No shoulders up, no apology in the stride, and long lines in everything she wears.
173 cm, twice
Michelle is 173 cm and curvy, dark brown hair straight, brown eyes level with yours, and calm in a way that lowers the volume of a room by a couple of notches. Vanessa is the same height and slim, sandy brown hair lifted with balayage, hazel eyes, and stands very straight, which she blames on a decade of being told to.
172 cm, twice
Angelika is 172 cm and athletic, black hair straight past the shoulder blades, with a long stride and no patience for a slow room. Patricia is the same height and slim, auburn brown hair long, with a level gaze and a talent for the long table. Between them they cover Shoreditch and the Hackney Road side of Bethnal Green.
What the numbers do not settle
How the evening goes. Height is measured here, never scored, and nobody on this page is described against anybody else on it. Two of the nine are the quietest company on the roster and two are the fastest, which is the sort of difference that actually shows up at a table.
Where they also sit, and holding an hour
Six of the nine are on slim and slender, two on curvaceous and four on raven haired. Several of them are the names the desk suggests first for a work dinner, where a composed arrival matters. Write to booking with an hour and an address; figures begin at £250 on rates.
Other shortlists
The trains stop. We do not.
One message with the date, the time and the postcode, and the rest of the night is arranged quietly, anywhere from Hoxton down to the basin at Limehouse.