If fashion truly cared about women in a feminist way they wouldnāt have set impossible standards for young women to maintain and they wouldnāt have created an environment filled with abuse (Eliteās John Casablancas). But letās note that men have the most important positions in this industry.
Itās also very damaging to womenās anatomy and body type since most of them have hips and busts. Does anyone know how this standard of the 5ā11 woman with 34 hip inches came to be? Do they want to save the expensive fabric?
Until the 70s, models were much more diverse in terms of height, some were 162-172. There were also different categories, magazines had theirs, fashion houses had theirs, others worked for commerce. Girls treated it as an additional job. Sometimes a girl from London went to NY to work, but it was also connected with reports for TV/press to show a teenager who defined a given era/trend. Sometimes they tried to send models from NYC to Paris for shows, but it wasn't on such a large scale as it is today. If a photographer liked you, they could take you for some commercial work.
In the 70s, Casablancas appeared, who had a specific taste. Moreover, he was womanizer, who would get girls. He proposed to some models that they would not have to pay the agency 20 percent commission if they went to parties and dinners with him... We know very well what it really was about. He was from rich family and had a lot of rich men friends.
At that time, models increasingly started to do different things, and not have their main job for one client. Casablancas also noticed that companies in NY were able to pay higher rates for work than in Paris. He set up a branch in NY and started the so-called Models War with Ford. Then models started earning huge amounts of money because agencies created various dramas and the gossip press wrote about it, plus they realized that some models were increasing product sales and demanded more money. In the 90s they started hiring girls from South America and Eastern Europe because the rates for models from Western Europe/USA reached the highest possible level.
Year by year the rates are getting lower and lower, but it is still attractive money for a 15/16 year old.
They hire 15/16 year olds specifically, at that age it is easy to convince you that you don't have to pay for certain jobs because it will pay off one day. The vision of traveling seems very attractive, but in reality you spend most of your time in hotels. You learn this way of working and then it is hard to fight for changes. Those few days when you manage to earn e.g. 10 thousand for one day of work make you forget about the days when you worked for free. As for weight, it's a form of control by the agency and the easiest way to get rid of you when they don't want you anymore. Most smoke to keep the weight down, some have health problems, but it's taboo.
