Girl Model: In Context

POV

12 years ago

Finance and Career Longevity

Girl Model explores the supply chain providing Siberian models to the Japanese fashion market. The global industry has long practiced self-regulation, so there is little official information on standards and practices for either region, and only recently has the U.S. fashion industry become proactive in finding ways to benchmark itself.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median pay for models in 2010 was $15.83 per hour or $32,929 per year. Average earnings are difficult to predict, however--salary ranges can vary widely within a single modeling agency, where there may be one model making $100,000 a year and another who is $20,000 in debt to the agency.
In the 2012-2013 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the U.S. Department of Labor predicts that the employment of models will grow by 14 percent from 2010 to 2020.
Modeling agents and managers typically receive a 10 to 20 percent commission on each model's earnings.
Sociologist and former model Ashley Mears writes in her 2011 book Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model that a day-long fashion shoot for the magazine Vogue pays a model $150.
According to The New York Times, a fashion model typically has a career that lasts for three seasons.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation reported that in 2011 the city's fashion industry employed 165,000 people and generated $9 billion in wages, $1.7 billion in tax revenue and $55 billion in sales.

Caption: Model casting in Siberia.
Credit: A. Sabin

Sources:
» Aleksander, Irina. "Expanding her efforts to be a role model." The New York Times, August 31, 2012.
» Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Occupational Outlook Handbook."
» Krupnick, Ellie. CFDA Health Guidelines for Models Released, Focus on Age & Eating Disorders." Huffington Post, January 27, 2012.
» Mears, Ashley. Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model. University of California Press, 2011.
» The Model Alliance. "Child Models."
» New York City Economic Development Corporation. "Fashion."
» Nikas, Joanna. Documentary Is Another Voice in the Underage Model Conversation." The New York Times, April 9, 2012.
» Schama, Chloe. "The Skin Trade." New Republic, September 19, 2011.
» Springer, Sarah. Can There Ever Again Be an All-American Beauty?" CNN, April 6, 2012.
» Wilson, Eric. "Checking Models' IDs at the Door." The New York Times, February 8, 2012.

Age Restrictions

Child models are currently regulated underthe U.S. Department of Education, not the U.S. Department of Labor.
The advocacy group Model Alliance surveyed 85 female fashion models in the United States in 2012. The average age of respondents was 26, indicating an older-than-average pool of models. The survey showed that the majority of models begin working between 13 and 16 years of age.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is a not-for-profit trade organization for top fashion designers in the United States. While the CFDA recommends that designers not use models younger than 16 (and suggests that designers check ID to verify age), it does not have the power to enforce this guideline, which means many designers continue to employ underage models. One of the guidelines under the CFDA's health initiative reads in part:
- Support the well being of younger individuals by not hiring models under the age of 16 for runway shows; not allowing models under the age of 18 to work past midnight at fittings or shoots; and providing regular breaks and rest.

Caption: Nadya, the 13-year-old model sent to Japan in Girl Model.
Credit: A. Sabin

Sources:
» Aleksander, Irina. "Expanding her efforts to be a role model." The New York Times, August 31, 2012.
» Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Occupational Outlook Handbook."
» Krupnick, Ellie. CFDA Health Guidelines for Models Released, Focus on Age & Eating Disorders." Huffington Post, January 27, 2012.
» Mears, Ashley. Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model. University of California Press, 2011.
» The Model Alliance. "Child Models."
» New York City Economic Development Corporation. "Fashion."
» Nikas, Joanna. Documentary Is Another Voice in the Underage Model Conversation. The New York Times, April 9, 2012.
» Schama, Chloe. "The Skin Trade." New Republic, September 19, 2011.
» Springer, Sarah. Can There Ever Again Be an All-American Beauty?" CNN, April 6, 2012.
» Wilson, Eric. "Checking Models' IDs at the Door." The New York Times, February 8, 2012.

Health and Body Image

The 2012 Model Alliance survey of 85 female fashion models in the United States in 2012 also showed:
- Nearly two thirds of models have been asked by their modeling agencies to lose weight.
- Anxiety or depression affects 68.3 percent of models.
- Of the 85 models who responded, 28.8 percent do not have health insurance.
In 2011, Allure magazine polled 2,000 men and women across the country to find out what they thought was beautiful, and 73 percent of female respondents said curvier bodies are more appealing now than they have been in the past ten years.
The CFDA has undertaken health and well-being initiatives in the pastfive years and updated guidelines to include clearer language on age requirements and proper nourishment. In 2012, the National Eating Disorders Association released a statement thanking the CFDA for doing a better job to encourage good health among runway models.
Sociologist and former model Ashley Mears writes in Pricing Beauty that the average body measurements of a female model are: five feet nine inches tall, a 34-inch bust, a 24-inch waist and 34-inch hips.

Caption: Nadya and her roommate, Madlen, another young model, in Tokyo.
Credit: A. Sabin