At our most recent event, Coco Rocha sat down with budding young models to talk about the ups and downs of working in this idustry.  She spoke openly about the people to watch out for and also the situations to stay away from.  While starting at an early age, Ms. Rocha has maintained a level head while working in one of the most sexualized industries.  Speaking fondly of her fellow models, she talks about the sisterhood that many don’t get to see.  ”I started modeling at 15 so I feel like I went through fashion High School with girls like Behati Prinsloo, Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini and Hilary Rhoda who I still consider my dear friends nearly 10 years later. The girls who last in this industry, the Behati’s, Doutzen’s and Hilary’s, recognize that modeling is a profession, not a lifestyle. They show up on time, work hard, are respectful to everyone they work with and demand the same respect in return.”
 

Read the full article

Children working in entertainment are uniquely vulnerable and need protection. That’s why child actors, dancers, and singers are all protected by Department of Labor regulations. But fashion models–and only fashion models–are excluded from these protections. We’re asking you to sign this petition that child models be included in the same regulations that protect all other child performers in New York.

Read the full petition

A panel discussion will follow with Advisory Board member Rachel Blais, who is featured in the film, Nancy Schwartzman, Outreach Director of Girl Model, Paula Viola, Esq., a former model and current Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and Director of the Model Alliance Sara Ziff. The panel will be moderated by Matthew Branch, Academic Programs Coordinator at the museum.

The event is free with museum admission, but advanced admission purchase is recommended. For more information and to reserve your tickets, visit:

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/calendar/event/6164

Upcoming event on 2/25, 7pm: “Inside The Modeling Industry: A Conversation About Health And Beauty,” sponsored by the Model Alliance, Pace University and the National Eating Disorders Association. Registration for this event is full.

A live stream will be available for tonight’s event.  Please follow these instructions for viewing: 

1.       Use a computer that has Windows Media Player installed

2.       Open up the Media Player from your Programs list

3.       Go to the Library tab at the top and Right Click it

4.       Scroll over the File command and you will see a command “Open URL”

5.       Click on “Open URL”

6.       In the text box that opens, copy in the address:   mms://realserv.pace.edu/liveny

7.       This will automatically open up the video feed to the event.

Enjoy!

Modelling is a seemingly glamorous profession, and models are certainly not the people you picture when you think of bad working conditions. But wipe off the sheen and another reality emerges.

At 30, I’ve worked as a model for over half my life, since the age of 14 when a photographer scouted me on the street one day after school.

I’ve been very lucky in my career and have worked as the face of major brands. I enjoy modelling, a job that not only pays my bills, but also allowed me to put myself through school and made me financially independent.

For the most part, the work itself can be really fun. So I have no reason to speak negatively about an industry that has given me so much.

And, yet, a few years ago I decided I could no longer stay silent about some of the systemic abuses that my peers and I had experienced first-hand.

Read the full article on the BBC’s website here.

“I was working with all these people I’d seen in the magazines — Gisele and Tyra Banks — and they were so nice to me,” Lemons says. “Most of the girls at the top of the profession are smart, driven, and educated.”

Read the article

This happened 20 years ago – and Moss, of course, went on to have a phenomenally successful career, becoming one of the most powerful models, and remained close to Day.

Other models, though, say the industry is not much different now. “Nothing has really changed,” says Victoria Keon-Cohen, a model and founding chair of Equity’s Models’ Committee, which now has around 800 members. “Until we started the union there wasn’t any recognition of this kind of treatment in the industry. We wanted to help young models assert themselves and understand what rights they have. Unfortunately what Kate is talking about does still happen and has happened to me.”

“It is not uncommon for models who are children to be asked to take nude or semi-nude photos,” agrees Sara Ziff. “I started modelling at 14 and there were several occasions where I was put on the spot to take topless photos.” Ziff founded the Model Alliance union in the US to set standards, and doesn’t think “significant change is going to happen until there are laws that protect child models in the way other child performers are protected”. In a previous interview, she described how, when a 16-year-old model complained that a 45-year-old photographer had propositioned her, “her agency said she should have slept with him”.  Read more…

Model Alliance director Sara Ziff with board members Doreen Small and Alan Gordon at the New York State Dept. of Labor

On September 20th, 2012, Model Alliance director Sara Ziff testified before the New York State Department of Labor advocating for child models’ inclusion in the Department’s proposed regulations for child performers. Below is a transcript of her testimony.

My name is Sara Ziff and I am the director of the Model Alliance, a non-profit labor group for models working in the American fashion industry.

I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the New York Department of Labor’s proposed new regulations for child performers. As we all know, children working in entertainment are uniquely vulnerable and need protection. But unfortunately, according to these proposed regulations, not all child performers can expect equal protection under the law. While child models who engage in “television broadcast or performance” are included in the current definition of “child performer,” all other child models – namely those who do print and runway work – have been conspicuously left out.

Like many models, I believe very strongly that child models deserve, and desperately need, the same legal protections as other child performers working in New York.

I am here to make the case that all children who model professionally should be included in the definition of “child performer.” Like many models, I believe very strongly that child models deserve, and desperately need, the same legal protections as other child performers working in New York.  Children who are paid to model render the same “artistic or creative services” as dancers, actors and other children who are protected by the regulations.  For example, modeling in a runway show on a stage before an audience is no different than any other choreographed stage performance in which a dancer or actor might engage.  Similarly, posing for photographs that are published in magazines and distributed to the public involves the same type of “creative services” that might take place in a television broadcast or program. Children who render these services are just as in need of legal protection for their “safety, morals, health and well-being” as the other child performers the law is designed to protect. Therefore, including them within the definition of “child performer” furthers the goals of these regulations.

Currently, the Department of Education (not the Department of Labor) regulates child models. Under New York Arts and Cultural Affairs law, child models have modest protections regarding their working hours. But these regulations are rarely observed, and never enforced, particularly in instances where models as young as 12 or 13 are hired to model adult clothing. In fact, violations of the laws governing child models’ employment are so frequent and widespread that several models have likened New York’s modeling industry to the “Wild West.”

To this day there is no policy of informed consent for jobs involving nudity and there are no provisions for chaperones.

For me, this issue is personal. When I started modeling at 14, I was unprepared for the adult pressures I faced, like shoots with photographers who put me on the spot to take age-inappropriate photos. To this day there is no policy of informed consent for jobs involving nudity and there are no provisions for chaperones. In my early 20′s, the apex of my runway career, 16-hour days were routine for me, just as they were for my 15-year-old peers. Without provisions for tutors, many young models drop out of school to pursue short-lived careers that leave them in debt to their agencies. The perception that modeling is lucrative is far from the reality for most models, who often work for “trade,” meaning just clothes, and who incur numerous start-up costs that can amount to tens of thousands of dollars of agency debt.

Unfortunately, my story is not unique.  Many child models face these same problems every day.  That’s because modeling is a winner-take-all market; thousands enter the profession with dreams of becoming the next Gisele, but few actually “make it.” In what is ostensibly an unregulated industry, pressures to engage in risky behavior are all too real. And by “risky behavior,” I mean starvation dieting, long working hours without monetary pay, forfeiting compulsory schooling, pressures to pose nude or semi-nude and giving in to sexual demands from powerful male clients. For many young models working today, bowing to these pressures can feel less like a choice than a prerequisite for employment.

In New York, models under 18 are legally required to have work permits signed by their employers confirming that they have abided by strict limitations on the hours children can work, including provisions for rest and meal breaks. Yet, in my 15 years working as a model, I have never seen a child model carrying a work permit, nor has a single agent ever insisted on one. That’s why it’s so important that the New York Department of Labor include models as child performers in the proposed new regulations.

The industry has tried self-regulation. It hasn’t worked.

The industry has tried self-regulation. It hasn’t worked. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has made efforts through its Health Initiative to promote the message that “beauty is health.” But their guidelines are more lax than New York labor laws, and they are not a law enforcement body. Last season, one 17-year-old model complained that she routinely worked without monetary pay in preparation for a famous designer’s show, which demanded late night fitting sessions extending past 4 a.m., despite legal restrictions that prohibit minors to work after 10 p.m. (This model also had an 8 a.m. call-time the next morning.)

Even if existing laws were observed, child models would still lack protections that have been proposed for other child performers, who have union representation and provisions for chaperones, tutors and trust accounts. Sexual harassment and opaque bookkeeping are problems in many industries and modeling is no exception. Modeling agencies say that they take care of their models and so union representation is unnecessary, but often those agencies are the perpetrators of such abuses. Current New York statutes need to be changed so that any entity that secures representation for models should be subject to licensing by the Dept. of Consumer Affairs.

I sincerely hope that the legislature will amend the proposed bill to finally protect child models.

The enforcement of existing laws is a great starting point, but it’s not enough. More work needs to be done to ensure child models can finish high school and enjoy basic health standards. Models under 18 deserve the same protections as other child performers. I sincerely hope that the legislature will amend the proposed bill to finally protect child models. Thank you.

Under New York Arts and Cultural Affairs law, models under 18 have modest protections regarding working hours and rest breaks, but these regulations are often violated. The Department of Education, not the Department of Labor, regulates child models and lack of enforcement has been a longstanding problem. For your reference, we have outlined the existing laws governing child models on our website here.

The Department of Labor will be receiving comments on the proposed regulations for child performers before they are adopted. Such comments must be received before October 22nd, 2012. If you wish, you are welcome to join us at a public hearing on September 20th, 2012, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm in New York City. Details on submitting written comments, and on the public hearing, are available on the Department of Labor’s website at this page.

We asked several models for their reactions to child models being excluded from the proposed regulations for child performers. Here are their responses:

“Child models desperately need to be included in these new regulations. Many children model as adults in New York and there is ostensibly no regulation of our industry. It is imperative that we give these kids legal protection, not leaving it up to an agent who might not have their best interest at heart or a parent who isn’t familiar with the business. Speaking as a former child model myself, I sincerely hope that the Department of Labor will consider including all child models in the new proposed regulations governing child performers.” – Amy Lemons

“As a model whose career spanned nearly 25 years, and now a mother of two daughters, I have a strong and certainly personal viewpoint on some of the serious dangers and often overlooked pressures within the modeling industry. While the CFDA and Vogue’s new minimum age guideline of 16 is a step in the right direction, even at 16 models are entering an adult world with adult expectations and adult problems. The fact is that very few models actually “make it,” and so many young women sacrifice education and wellbeing for the misdirected hopes about what modeling might someday bring. I believe education should come first.” – Carre Otis

“I started modeling and travelling full time at 17-years-old. A lot of harmful behaviors around modeling are normalized to the insiders and hidden from the others. Models’ stories of sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuses are real and widespread. They happen to adults, but particularly to children. It seems basic that child models who do print and runway work should have the same legal protections as any other child performer, and maybe even more. No child model should be working without a legal guardian’s presence until they are adults (18-years-old). Children should also only be depicted as children and not as adults in the media. It is important to protect these kids, especially in a celebrity-obsessed era when too many children are ready to forfeit their compulsory education and compromise themselves in order to try to achieve fame.” – Rachel Blais

“I started working as a model at the age of 15. I know first-hand the acute vulnerability of being a child working in an unregulated adult industry. It was not uncommon to be put in situations where I was asked to do things by adults in positions of authority to whom an answer “NO” would put my job at risk. For instance, during show seasons, there were many times I slept on a fitting room floor until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, waiting to fit a dress, with an 18 hour work day ahead of me. At the time, I had no recourse available to protect my basic needs for food and sleep. It seems obvious to me that children should be protected in any work environment they participate in, and child models are no exception.” – Shalom Harlow

“When I started modeling at 15, there were no provisions for tutors on set and so I dropped out of school. By the time I was 16, I was living in Milan and had been put in some very compromising situations.  At that point I wanted to quit the industry, go back to school, and then on to university. However I was thousands of dollars in debt and two years behind in my studies. I was forced to continue in hopes of making some money to get myself out of the predicament I was in.  I was lucky to go onto be successful, but as a child I should never have been put in the situation where I had to make that choice.  I would never let my teenage son model with the lack of child labor laws that exist today in the modeling industry. Thousands of young girls and boys aspire to be models. Whether successful or not, many of them will sacrifice their education and be put in very adult situations that are unregulated.” – Trish Goff