Models often tell other peoples' stories, but they rarely share their own. The Forum is where models tell it like it is. We publish first-person essays and interviews about various aspects of the industry from the models' perspectives.
-- Sara & Jenna
In July of 2008, I was just finishing up a two-month contract in Shanghai. Coming from a smaller city in Canada, and leading a somewhat sheltered life, the prospect of going to Shanghai on a modeling contract seemed exciting and novel. [...]
Eric Kee, a PhD candidate in computer science at Dartmouth, has helped to develop a revolutionary software tool that measures how much fashion and beauty images have been altered. In light of recent efforts by lawmakers to regulate the digital manipulation of photographs, I interviewed Kee about the new software, how it might be applied, and how this could give models more control over their images — and their work. [...]
My name is David Tibolla, and as a professional makeup artist and independent contractor, I am proud to step up in support of the the Model Alliance and their partnership with the Freelancers Union to help pass the Freelancer Payment Protection Act.
I have been working in the fashion industry for sixteen years, and like many of my colleagues, have had my fair share of issues regarding payment and lack of support or protection. I truly hope that with enough support, this bill will be passed and provide all of us with recourse under the law.
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“I’m already being generous,” the agent says, visibly exasperated. She’s just measured my waist and hips in a room filled with my bookers and I’m trying to keep it together, though I know she’s not happy with my proportions. I’m 24 and I finally like my body, but I feel that familiar panic pressing down on my chest — I’ve let myself go, I’m a looming colossus in a world of ethereal teenage beauties, I’ve submitted to carbohydrates. [...]
I’ve photographed celebrities and top models the world over, from Amy Adams to Coco Rocha, but I don’t feel comfortable writing this under my own name. Such is the tenuous …
Working as a model, there were numerous times that I had trouble getting paid the money I was owed. While working with the Italian agency Paolo Tomei in 2002 and 2003, I had perhaps the most successful show seasons of my career. I was walking the runway for many of the top Italian fashion houses, averaging 26 shows per season, and in that period I amassed earnings of over €240,000. I had yet to receive any payment when I learned the agency was declaring bankruptcy. [...]
I am proud to announce that the Model Alliance is collaborating with the Freelancers’ Union to pass The Freelancer Payment Protection Act, a proposed law which would legally protect models and other freelancers in New York from deadbeat clients. It’s already passed the New York State Assembly; but we need your support to insure it passes in the Senate. [...]
As a woman of color, I am very familiar with the stigma attached to my hair type and its supposed limitations. It is “unruly” and “difficult to manage.” As a small child, my mother would struggle to straighten it on Saturday mornings. I would scream and cry, disrupting the entire household and upsetting my father, who would angrily predict that the damage being done to my hair was not only physical but emotional as well. It wasn’t the pretty picture on the box of chemical relaxer my mother would purchase from the beauty-supply store; it was an ordeal. The pressure to fit into a European ideal of beauty by straightening my hair is inescapable, and in fashion it’s become the norm. [...]
The day I signed with a modeling agency in New York, a manager sat me down to explain the terms of our working relationship. I was excited to be there, even a bit giddy to be signing a modeling contract, but not so much as to miss the crucial terms: in exchange for exclusive representation and a “standard” 20% commission from my earnings, the agency would promote and manage my modeling career. In this self-employment arrangement, agencies arrange opportunities for models to work in exchange for a cut of their success, but they are not liable for models’ failures. The manager explained as much as he handed me the contract, stating, “Here’s where we don’t promise you the moon and the stars, but we’ll do our best to get you there.” [...]
Recently I found myself engaged in a passionate conversation with Sara Ziff, fellow model, founder and director of the Model Alliance. With great relief and enthusiasm, I learned that the Model Alliance was organizing and working against the sexual harassment and abuse I’ve been trying to expose. For decades the industry seemed silent and deeply guarded about what goes on behind the camera and during my crusade of educating others, I was often met with disbelief that models might receive anything but “star” treatment. The outside perception was that most models lived a glamorous, protected life.[...]
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