D’Angel Says She Was Insecure About Being 5’10”

Standing at five-feet-10, D’Angel calls herself the “long and lean doll” who gives fellow elongated women confidence. 

“Mi tall already; weh mi a go do?” D’Angel questioned in a recent Kizzy TV interview. “Tall and elegant and fierce. When I enter any room, it lights up, so I give tall women confidence.”

But there was a time when the Blaze artist was insecure about her height. 

“When I was much younger, I was saying I was too tall – like 12 and 13 and dem age deh,” she said. 

As an all-rounder at St. Catherine High School, D’Angel, whose given name is Michelle Downer, saw the benefits of her height while playing sports like netball. However, it was her foray into modeling that rid the reservations she felt about her statuesque, long-legged frame. The Stronger singjay started modeling professionally in the 1990s after relocating from St. Catherine to Kingston. 

“When I started out modeling, those things give me confidence, so I always tell people, love what you do from you’re young and build on everything that’s your talent,” she said. “Don’t lose your personality of who you are. Build on that because that’s what people know you for and you can do many things, because when I entered Miss Jamaica Fashion Model pageant, I won ‘Best Legs’…”

She went on to strut catwalks abroad like the popular New York Fashion Week. 

“I had also entered the Barbizon high fashion model competition in Philadelphia in 2002 and placed second among 350 white contestants,” D’Angel told the Jamaica Observer last year. “I was the only black competitor and that remains a major milestone for me.”

Modeling paved the way for her fashion business ventures, from her once-operational Angel’s boutique to her current Xposed lingerie line.

The entertainer made her music debut in 2005 with Uptown Living, but the influence of her first love pervades in heels forming part of her signature aesthetic, her elaborate photoshoots, and even her controversial stint on subscription-based platform OnlyFans.

D’Angel underscored that modeling has also made her a more confident performer. 

“Modeling has definitely helped me to be confident, helped me to be competitive, so I really compete with myself… It taught me to walk in heels because I have to walk in heels, stand in heels all day. I don’t feel comfortable in flats when I’m performing.”

To that end, she initiated a grooming class in 2020. 

“I can perform and stand in heels from morning till night cause I was trained in terms of posture, poise and how to carry myself as a lady, so I’m looking forward to that class,” she told BUZZ at the time. “Proceeds from my grooming class will go to my foundation. People a starve all over Jamaica and it breaks my heart, so this will definitely help to benefit somebody.” 

Maintaining that she’s the model who will never retire, D’Angel is a staple headliner at annual events held by prominent local modeling agency SAINT International.