At What Cost is the Fashion Industry Embracing Underage Models?
Fashion’s newest crop of buzzy models have one thing in common: They’re under 18. Ranging from the daughters of supermodels to modern day “Cinderellas” plucked out of poverty, it appears that being underage is seen as a plus factor instead of a point of alarm (their ages are not being obscured by agencies or fashion houses) — a stark contrast to the protective measures against underage modeling that the fashion industry claimed to champion just a few years ago. But good news may be on the horizon in the United States: as reported by The New York Times, there is a new federal bill introduced to the House by New York congresswoman Grace Meng, which would extend already-existing federal workplace safety protections to young professionals, including models. “Working as a child model or actor can be an incredible opportunity and lead to success for a lifetime,” Meng told the Times. “However, the work can come with much risk. Although there are a patchwork of disparate state laws, these regulations offer inconsistent protections. That’s why we need a national standard.” Currently, labor regulations for performers under age 16 are handled by a state-by-state basis. This new bill, which is currently with the Committee on Education and the Work Force, would make the protections national and consistent. “When most people think of models, they think of supermodels who command large sums, but most working models are not supermodels. Most begin their careers as children, and work in debt to their modeling agencies,“ Sara Ziff, founder and executive director of the Model Alliance and former face of Stella McCartney told the </>Times."A unified national floor of standards would protect child performers wherever they engage in work across the country.”
Currently, these teenage girls of pedigree and good fortune are being heralded as “ethereal,” “gorgeous,” and “jaw dropping” by the media and fashion industry alike: Sofia Mechetner was handpicked by Raf Simons to be the face of Dior at age 14 (she walked the runway in a sheer dress), Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp became the face of Chanel eyewear at age 16, and Cindy Crawford’s daughter landed a modeling contract with IMG Models at age 13 — not to mention Cara Delevingne, now age 22, who began her modeling career at 10 years old in a Vogue Italia shoot. The concept of using underage models and even capitalizing on their underage sexuality is not new in the fashion industry; at age 15, Brooke Shields posed for Calvin Klein Jeans commercials saying, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” This caused furor across the nation, but Shields, who played a prostitute at age 12 in Pretty Baby, told the New York Post, “[T]his was like being in winter gear,” without denying the sexual implications.
On Instagram, Crawford’s lookalike daughter Kaia Gerber has over 148,000 followers so far, while Depp and French pop star Vanessa Paradis’ daughter Lily-Rose has over 647,000 followers so far. These teens are growing up in the age of social media and know how to use it to their advantage — a fact brands are already capitalizing on. Social media supermodels (like Gigi Hadid, for example) can become bigger-than-life influencers, so why not sign them officially to an agency and make a career out of it? While these young models may be exceptions to the rule, their young prodigious ages and prepubescent bodies are glorified, which has been shown by both the Vogue Health Initiative and the British Fashion Council to have negative consequences on the health of fashion models, underage or not. Even British supermodel and icon Kate Moss has spoken out about her regrets about modeling at a young age. In regards to posing nude as a teen, she told Vanity Fair, "I see a 16-year-old now, and to ask her to take her clothes off would feel really weird. But they were like, ‘If you don’t do it, then we’re not going to book you again.’ So I’d lock myself in the toilet and cry and then come out and do it.”
One anonymous working model who is of age tells Yahoo Beauty: “I think that it’s hard to know whether these editors are oblivious to it, or if they’re confusing the issues. Obviously it’s an inherently superficial business so they tend to think in terms of aesthetics and not labor issues. People really try to roll with things in the industry. It’s obviously a highly creative field where, in a way, it’s a self-collecting group of people who go into fashion. They don’t want an office job. They want the freedom to be creative and not have too many rules to go by.”
Model and activist Dunja Knezevic told the Daily Mail: “They get these girls who are just entering puberty, [who] haven’t even developed hips or breasts yet and they’re the perfect figures for them.” In the 2011 documentary, Girl Model, emaciated teenage girls are plucked from Eastern European rural towns, lured by promises of fame and fortune — or at least financial security for their family — only to be thrown into feelings of worthlessness and mounting debt after not landing enough jobs.
In June 2012, in one of the most well-known and recent campaigns, the 19 international editors of Vogue pledged to commit to The Health Initiative, which is “a pact between the international editors of Vogue…to build on the successful work that the Council of Fashion Designers of America Health Initiative in the US and the British Fashion Council in the UK have already started, to encourage a healthier approach to body image within the industry.” Outlined in every edition of Vogue that month, the editors vowed to “not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder,” “ask agents not to knowingly send [them] underage girls, and casting directors to check IDs when casting shoots, shows and campaigns,” “help structure mentoring programs where more mature models are able to give advice and guidance to younger girls,” “encourage producers to create healthy backstage working conditions,” “encourage designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing,” and “be vocal ambassadors for the message of healthy body image, both within the magazine and outside.” Vogue’s Health Initiative was in public mention as far back as January 2010, when CFDA-sponsored model Kim Noorda chronicled her experience in an eating disorder clinic — illustrated by a fashion spread of herself taken by Bruce Weber. Since then, the Health Initiative has faded from much initiative, with the last effort being a collaboration with Dig Inn to provide healthy meals backstage at fashion shows in 2014.
Before the Health Initiative was launched, the British Fashion Council commissioned the Model Health Inquiry panel in 2008. The group of fashion industry professionals and specialists on eating disorders was formed to “propose changes to safeguard these young people [models] who play such a key role in the success of UK fashion.” After investigation, the panel noted that the “evidence of the vulnerability of young women in the modeling profession was startling,” especially by the “dangers inherent in employing girls under the age of 16 to model adult clothes on the catwalks.” This affects the health of older models, too: “[T]he prepubescent bodies of under-16s conform to the skinniness sought by certain designers that cannot be matched by older models without drastic dieting,” the panel noted.
On 15-year-old Gerber’s Instagram, comments like, “Wow, you’re only 15 and you’re already so gorgeous” and “Check out Cindy Crawford’s daughter!” abound, only highlighting the appeal of young girls who are so devastatingly photogenic and sample sized at ages when you’re supposed to be gawky and awkward. But being a working model in front of a camera when you are still growing and discovering your own strengths and weaknesses can take its toll and consequences — and unlike Gerber, Depp, or even Mechetner, most aspiring teenage models don’t have a safety net (or the eyes on social media) to protect them. If the Child Performers Protection Act of 2015 passes in the United States, it would send a resounding message to the fashion industry that these teenage girls may be modeling adult clothing, but they are very much still growing children.
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