“We believe that models, like all workers, deserve to be paid for their work,” Ms.
Sara Ziff, an American model and filmmaker, recently initiated the Model Alliance to protect and enforce models by devising a Models’ Bill of Rights. Some are unpaid or paid only with clothes, and some find themselves in debt - which makes them vulnerable to predation. However, even here in the United States, it’s astonishing how vulnerable young models are to exploitation. Indeed, some young Russian models find international success - as evidenced on the catwalks of New York Fashion Week. Masha’s fate is currently unknown our recent efforts to contact her have not been successful, but her Facebook page suggests she is still an aspiring model. Arbaugh initially approached us and suggested we make a film, which became a feature-length documentary, “Girl Model.” She wrote to us: “I have been traveling and documenting in Russia and Ukraine the journey of these young girls that become prostitutes and fashion models, or the foggy lines that exist between both.” Our feature documentary, from which this Op-Doc is adapted, traverses these foggy lines. When we filmed Masha in 2009, the scouts said that these girls - often poor in a society of extreme income inequality - are desirable not just for their looks but because they are malleable and easier to guide and direct. The Op-Doc also introduces Ashley Arbaugh, a former American model turned international model scout, who seeks out teenagers with her Russian comrades. Rural Siberia is a thriving location for scouts hoping to recruit teenage girls as young as 12 and export them overseas. Sometimes hundreds of girls audition at these model castings other times a few dozen show up. Some young models are often skinny because they’re still growing up, but many adult models admit there should be some rules concerning models’ age.In this Op-Doc video we present Masha, a 13-year-old aspiring model who attends an open casting call in Siberia, Russia. But a girl who has no curves, you can on put the clothes, and they just fall well,” she says. However, French model Aymeline Valade said most designer houses often use models without curves for fitting reasons: “You’ve got to know that they don’t have time to perfectly fit the clothes and on a girl with curves, it’s hard to fit them because it takes time, it takes at least 24 hours for just one look. France wants to introduce an amendment banning excessively thin models. Pressure has mounted to move away from the ultra-slim look. And more important, to feed them,” says designer Diane Von Furstenberg. And in terms of the youth, we encourage not to have girls under 16 on the runway. “I think that the important thing is that we don’t encourage young girls to be too thin, so that’s the health. The fashion industry has often been accused of promoting anorexia when using underweight models. Some designers insist that the real issue is not age but health. We think that’s really important, we work closely with the agencies, if there’s a young girl that’s here for the first time, certainly they’ll be chaperoned,” says British Fashion Council Chief Executive, Caroline Rush. ‘‘So all of the designers that are contracted to London Fashion Week, the models must be 16 or over. The British Fashion Council has introduced new guidelines as has New York state. However, there have been industry moves to change things, notably during the biannual catwalk shows. Kate Moss was scouted when she was 14 and Naomi Campbell when she was just 15.
The use of young models in fashion is not new. I’m an opportunist, a fashion opportunist, but there’s nothing bad about that because that’s our business,” he says. That’s the girls of the moment, fashion is about the moment. They can identify even if it’s not the same age group. Chanel recently recruited 16-year-old Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis for its eyewear campaign.Ĭhanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld is pragmatic: “The public wants to see them (clothes, glasses) on girls like this.