How the modeling industry exploits young and vulnerable workers
Stolen pay. Sexual harassment.Months without a paycheck. Outrageous fees and expenses that eat away at earnings. And no one to turn to for help.
Models allege that labor abuses like these run rampant in the modeling industry -- leaving many workers feeling more like indentured servants than the glamorous high fashion icons young girls around the world dream of becoming.
While the industry often comes under fire foreating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse and unwanted sexual advances, its problems go far beyond that.
From an analysis of pay stubs and financial statements, interviews with dozens of current and former models, attorneys, labor experts and even a former agency executive, a CNNMoney investigation has found that the fashion world often treats its models in ways that would be unheard of in many other industries. And due to a significant lack of regulation, these abuses can be completely legal.
Jessie Hail & Asphyxia Noir
"It's not an easy industry, you're not going to have a nice lush lifestyle," said Emily Fox, who started out as a model at age 16 and has appeared in Italian Vogue and walked on runways all over the world.
Now 25 years old and still working in the industry, Fox says that most years she earns less than $20,000 before taxes. "You're going to really struggle and you'll be really poor."
Model Emily Fox says most years she earns less than $20,000 -- before taxes.Of course, as in any creative and competitive industry, not everyone is going to make it. But models argue that industry practices are a big part of what keeps them from finding success -- especially financially.
One model claims she was forced to relyon her father, a blue collar worker in Ohio, to pay for groceries -- even after gracing the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Another, from Britain, resorted to working illegally as a bartender at an Irish pub in New York City to make ends meet. An 18-year-old who entered the business last summer and has already appeared on a number of European runways claims she has yet to receive a paycheck. And a Jamaican model ended up receiving only a few thousand dollars over three years of work in New York -- despite being promised a $75,000 annual salary on official visa documents. (Her agency disputed any wrongdoing, calling the salary a "guesstimate.")
Some situations are downright dangerous. In Florida, a number of young womenwere so desperate formodeling work that they fell victim to a fake business that allegedly drugged them and used them to create pornographic films.
Welcome to the dark side of the modeling industry -- the one that goes beyond the glossy magazine covers, designer labels and world famous runway shows.
"When you're a supermodel like Giselle or Christy Turlington you're treated like royalty, but 99% of models are treated like garbage," said Carolyn Kramer, a former agency executive who compared the industry's labor abuses to those faced by young factory workers at the turn of the century.
A cutthroat industry
For decades this world has operated in the shadows -- blatantly taking advantage of its young, mainly female workforce. Many models are thousands of miles away from their families, while foreign models often speak little English and are trapped in immigration programs that make them that much more vulnerable. Others aren't in immigration programs at all, but are instead encouraged by agencies to come to the United States illegally.
In many cases, models say it's the agency (or management company, as some call themselves) that takes advantage of them. While they say the designers and brands they pose for can also be part of the problem, models interviewed by CNNMoney were more concerned about agency practices and didn't single out clients.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/04/news/runway-injustice-modeling/index.html
Stolen pay. Sexual harassment.Months without a paycheck. Outrageous fees and expenses that eat away at earnings. And no one to turn to for help.
Models allege that labor abuses like these run rampant in the modeling industry -- leaving many workers feeling more like indentured servants than the glamorous high fashion icons young girls around the world dream of becoming.
While the industry often comes under fire foreating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse and unwanted sexual advances, its problems go far beyond that.
From an analysis of pay stubs and financial statements, interviews with dozens of current and former models, attorneys, labor experts and even a former agency executive, a CNNMoney investigation has found that the fashion world often treats its models in ways that would be unheard of in many other industries. And due to a significant lack of regulation, these abuses can be completely legal.
Jessie Hail & Asphyxia Noir
"It's not an easy industry, you're not going to have a nice lush lifestyle," said Emily Fox, who started out as a model at age 16 and has appeared in Italian Vogue and walked on runways all over the world.
Now 25 years old and still working in the industry, Fox says that most years she earns less than $20,000 before taxes. "You're going to really struggle and you'll be really poor."
Model Emily Fox says most years she earns less than $20,000 -- before taxes.Of course, as in any creative and competitive industry, not everyone is going to make it. But models argue that industry practices are a big part of what keeps them from finding success -- especially financially.
One model claims she was forced to relyon her father, a blue collar worker in Ohio, to pay for groceries -- even after gracing the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Another, from Britain, resorted to working illegally as a bartender at an Irish pub in New York City to make ends meet. An 18-year-old who entered the business last summer and has already appeared on a number of European runways claims she has yet to receive a paycheck. And a Jamaican model ended up receiving only a few thousand dollars over three years of work in New York -- despite being promised a $75,000 annual salary on official visa documents. (Her agency disputed any wrongdoing, calling the salary a "guesstimate.")
Some situations are downright dangerous. In Florida, a number of young womenwere so desperate formodeling work that they fell victim to a fake business that allegedly drugged them and used them to create pornographic films.
Welcome to the dark side of the modeling industry -- the one that goes beyond the glossy magazine covers, designer labels and world famous runway shows.
"When you're a supermodel like Giselle or Christy Turlington you're treated like royalty, but 99% of models are treated like garbage," said Carolyn Kramer, a former agency executive who compared the industry's labor abuses to those faced by young factory workers at the turn of the century.
A cutthroat industry
For decades this world has operated in the shadows -- blatantly taking advantage of its young, mainly female workforce. Many models are thousands of miles away from their families, while foreign models often speak little English and are trapped in immigration programs that make them that much more vulnerable. Others aren't in immigration programs at all, but are instead encouraged by agencies to come to the United States illegally.
In many cases, models say it's the agency (or management company, as some call themselves) that takes advantage of them. While they say the designers and brands they pose for can also be part of the problem, models interviewed by CNNMoney were more concerned about agency practices and didn't single out clients.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/04/news/runway-injustice-modeling/index.html
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