You’ve seen them on billboards, magazines or at shows in the world’s major fashion cities: Milan, Paris, New York, Tokyo. Marveling at their beauty, you’ve probably thought, “What a wonderful job.”
But did you know that, according to a leading advocate for models' rights, many of them don't have workers’ compensation? And that they don't all get firm breaks for meals or rest? Or that younger ones are routinely forced to openly skirt child labor laws?
And as for viable recourses for sexual harassment and sexual abuse claims? Fuggedaboutit.
Now a group of fashion models are fighting back. On Monday, they launched the Model Alliance, an organization advocating for better working conditions and uniform standards in the industry.
The brainchild of catwalk veteran and Columbia-educated Sara Ziff, 29, the nonprofit Model Alliance hopes to rid the industry of its tolerance of workplace abuse.
“For too long, there has been a myopic disregard for the modeling industry’s systemic abuses of its workforce,” Ziff, who started modeling when she was 14, says in a statement on the organization’s website. “While I have been very fortunate in my modeling career, I have also seen firsthand how the industry often disregards child labor law, lacks financial transparency, encourages eating disorders, and blindly tolerates sexual abuse in the workplace.”
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Ziff first brought attention to the plight of the model in her 2009 documentary, “Picture Me,” which made the rounds at film festivals and won acclaim for its brutally honest portrayal of the industry. Now, she hopes others will join her. "We are not a union. We are a non-profit group working with the industry trying to establish basic rights," Ziff told the The Guardian.
In choosing New York Fashion Week, which begins Thursday, the models are taking the issue to arguably the biggest media hub in the world. Other organizations, including Fordham's Fashion Law Institute and Council of Fashion Designers of America have joined on for support.
Ziff has been trying to drum up support for the alliance for a few years now. In a 2009 interview with the Guardian, she recalled one model playing with a coloring book backstage. "It is an inherently unbalanced and hierarchical relationship when you pair a 15-year-old girl with a 45-year-old man who is trying to create a sexualized image. You are asking for trouble," she said.
The alliance has drafted a sort of bill of rights to help the industry wean itself from controversial practices.
The group, which has a Twitter account, held a launch party at New York's Standard Hotel this week which was attended by several high-profile models.
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