Model's Age - How Young Is Too Young?

[tocceve]

The editorial was shot in September 2008 so yes, she was barely sixteen when she shot both of those partly rather explicit editorials by Meisel.

 

[Bezimienna]

^ I think it's because Jac has mature breasts for her age, no?

yeah, her body isn't a body of typical fifteen, sixteen year old model. she's generally looking mature.

 

[agee]

What is relevant is not the maturity of her breasts, it is the maturity of her brain. Maybe there is something in the water in my neck of the woods, but a young teenager (fourteen to sixteen) with a voluptuous body is not unheard of.

Regardless, I am totally flabbergasted that a top magazine and a top photographer would take topless pictures of a teenager. You would think that there is a shortage of 20+ year old models willing to post nude! To be sure there are models who are comfortable exposing their bodies and being in sexual situations, and the willingness to do so can come about when she is fifteen or sixteen and not change when she reaches an age that most would consider her an adult (most see eighteen as that "age of consent," others consider twenty-one as the appropriate age), and there is nothing wrong with that, but why the bleep are photographers, editors and designers so anxious to show teenagers, even if they are styled to look like adult women, nude or in blatantly sexual situations.

 

[rox_yr_sox]

^ I think it's because Jac has mature breasts for her age, no?

yeah, her body isn't a body of typical fifteen, sixteen year old model. she's generally looking mature.

^I agree with you agee. The appearance of the body is irrelevant. The model is still a minor. Having certain measurements doesn't qualify someone for adulthood, just as there is a definitive cut off for various activities (being qualified to vote, drive, to give consent for sex age is defined in years, not appearance.

I don't oppose young models working in fashion (14 or 15 onwards) on principle, just as other young people do work experience in their chosen fields or have jobs. But young people should not be treated in the same manner as adults.

As to why photographers, stylists etc. want to show teenage models "styled to look like adult women, nude or in blatantly sexual situations", I think it comes from wanting to work with 'the model of the moment', and increasingly, as the typical age of new models lowers, that model of the moment may very well be a teenager. For the most part, I don't think it is a deliberate, cultivated attempt by the fashion industry to sexualise teenagers, rather, a desire to work with the 'hot', 'now' model and forgetting that she is just a child. Of course, there is much more scope for abuse within this industry than working at the local McDonalds, so that is what worries me. Models REALLY need a union to protect themselves, get support and someone to whom they can report dodgy people without feeling like their career will be ruined.

 

[99 Apples]

Actually, I think in this case, nymag just got it plain wrong, as in, not even agency-supplied..... they are the only 'source' who say she's 14.

With Union she started out as 15 (Jan '10)... but in this video with Vogue Italia she claims to be 16 (and that was April/May '10), most likely under the instruction of Women Milan.

So it seems most likely, to me at least, that she is 15.

sooo.... what? she's not 14, she's 15. are you saying it's not perverted to have a 15 year old in sexual poses? that it's not perverted to dress a child as a woman and feature her in a highly sexual photoshoot?

 

[*Bianca*]

I was correcting her age (she turned 16 in Dec).

But you can continue putting words in my mouth.

 

[papillote]

^ I think it's because Jac has mature breasts for her age, no?

You're kidding Breasts for a model maybe but defintely not breasts for her age.

 

[papillote]

I think that being under 18 is not a problem at all (a lot of underage girls looks much older, see 12 y.o Elle Fanning), you can be confident with your body as a pre-teenager or teenager and use it to sell clothes, to me you guys are shocked by underage girls because of models standards that tends to require childlish looks, and so there are many young models that are not physically developed, to fill the demand ! and that makes people think this is normal but NO guys I was born the same year as Jac and almost all my girlfriends looks older and almost all have their "final" body I would say.Daphné is not so young and half of the girls her age are physically women, but the industy does not need them so you don't see them and forget them.

 

[Fontenrose]

OK, here's a textbook example of how to do it. She's 17 now, but she started 3-4 years ago. Her agency found her some work and some editorials in her own country, and kept her at home until she is (probably) finished school and has a CK exclusive.

She was able to keep her figure during those years and her agency invested some time in her. Now she is ready for a big career.

http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f52/svea-kloosterhof-74644.html

 

[cologne_rocks]

^I totally agree. Her motheragency Code Mgmt is incredible, for what it's worth, one of the best in Europe. I had an interview w/ Svea's motheragent Marit about her management philosophy like one and a half year ago, here's an interesting outtake.

If a girl has something we can't put our finger on straight away, of course we'll work with her and see how she develops. Personality and commitment are very important, but we're mostly working with young girls so it could take a while before they're truly comfortable. It matters more to us if the girl really likes this job because it will make her feel good, and that's what will bring out her personality as she goes along.
We do bookings in the Dutch market but essentially we are scouts and managers. Rick and I scout girls for the international high-fashion markets, hence why we have a very small roster of girls. As mother agents we carefully nurture the few we represent and when they are ready to become full-time professional models our efforts go into their business and career prospects. We advise them on every aspect of their career. They are young girls so we also travel abroad with them, it's the best way to teach them about the industry. Especially during the international fashion weeks we're there 24/7 to help them out with everything. Sometimes it's even just to put a little smile on their face. During stressful times like the fashion week people tend to treat fashion as a matter of life and death, so if the atmosphere gets a little tense we make up for that.

 

[Ochi Chernye]

What is relevant is not the maturity of her breasts, it is the maturity of her brain. Maybe there is something in the water in my neck of the woods, but a young teenager (fourteen to sixteen) with a voluptuous body is not unheard of.

Regardless, I am totally flabbergasted that a top magazine and a top photographer would take topless pictures of a teenager. You would think that there is a shortage of 20+ year old models willing to post nude! To be sure there are models who are comfortable exposing their bodies and being in sexual situations, and the willingness to do so can come about when she is fifteen or sixteen and not change when she reaches an age that most would consider her an adult (most see eighteen as that "age of consent," others consider twenty-one as the appropriate age), and there is nothing wrong with that, but why the bleep are photographers, editors and designers so anxious to show teenagers, even if they are styled to look like adult women, nude or in blatantly sexual situations.

I completely agree. No matter how sexy the girl is, I find something wrong with photographers/stylists wanting them to portray something that the girls haven't even experienced. I also think that most of the time, the girls are pressured to pose nude or to take semi-nude shots, because if they don't, they feel like they won't be booked anymore. A few years ago, Natalia V expressed her opinion on this matter and I completely agree with her. Here's the quote:

“I think people shouldn’t employ girls under 16. I mean, I had a hardcore childhood and i had to grow up very quickly, but before 16 even I was a total baby. I think it’s irresponsible to take immature young girls and make them into women and expect them to be sexy and to be on top of everything. It would also more respect and sensitivity towards these girls and to handle them like flowers because that is what they are. It shouldn’t be a meat market. We are dealing with human beings”

 

[coco24]

I hope this is the right place to post this.
Are Models Lying About Their Ages? The CFDA and Michael Kors Seem to Think So

According to WWD, Furstenberg and CFDA CEO Steven Kolb sent out a letter to members yesterday recommending that they start carding models on the day of the show (before they hit the runway) to make sure they meet the 16 year age minimum. That seems like something they should do earlier, like in the casting stages, or before their agencies send them out, but I guess better late than never?
Michael Kors recently spoke to Lauren Hutton in the new Interview (so awesome) and hinted that models started lying to him about their ages as soon as he said he wouldn’t use models under 16:
"Yeah, and the 14-year-olds are really tricky. I mean, they’re children. I said two years ago, “No models under 16.” Well, of course, right after I said that, we started seeing all of these girls from Eastern Europe, and every girl who’d walk in, you’d say, “Hi. What’s your name?” And she’d be like, “I’m Svetlana.” I’m like, “Svetlana, where are you from?” “Ukraine.” “Svetlana, how old are you?” “16.” Next girl walks in—she’s from Eastern Europe and 16. Next one? Eastern European and 16. I was like, “Was there a bus?”
he goes on to say,
"But I still think it’s a tricky thing because no matter how beautiful you might be at 15 or 16, the simple truth is that you haven’t lived enough to really know how to project anything in a photograph. It’s like a kind of blank beauty."

fashionista.com
And here's the WWD article: http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/getting-carded-5097177

 

[Fontenrose]

Obviously if the designers were serious about this all they have to say is that agencies who send over any models under 16 will not be invited to castings next season.

 

[Fontenrose]

http://www.supermodelblogger.com/2011/08/26/having-a-voice-a-models-worst-nightmare/#more-36

I started modeling in the late 90′s when the look was very androgynous and angular. Models were applauded for showing up to shoots in ripped-up jeans, t-shirts and a canvas sack for a purse looking too cool for school. And then it changed. The Eastern European influx took over the industry and the girls became a few inches taller and their hips, a few inches smaller. And I don’t have to tell you, people were outraged. We all saw the press blow up and laws were passed to save these girls. Most of the models I spoke with agreed, it is difficult for us to keep our weight down and we have no idea how we’re meant to maintain it beyond age 18. The new body standard a model must maintain is ridiculous to say the least.
And we wanted someone to step up and change the industry and make the model body normalized again. Some people spoke out but nothing changed. What we need are the models to change and then challenge the rest of the industry to keep up with us.
And then Twitter happened and Facebook Fan Pages and models started being able to put a voice to their face. Some of them were able to attach their name to their images as well. I was excited to hear what they had to say! Would all our private conversations about the current standards and environments for working in the industry be tweeted and written about?
Nope. Nothing. …or in text speak *crickets*
Here’s the fear: once a model voices an opinion there’s a younger, thinner, newer model willing to take her place. And they typically charge less. Many are grateful for those who have chosen to speak up. Natalia Vodianova brought so much hope when she shared her story.
But it’s still dark behind the curtain for a lot of these girls on the runways of Victoria’s Secret and Dior and they remain silent as it’s better to have a little than none at all or so we’ve all been told.
But, perhaps, are these girls too young to speak up for themselves?
I think this is a real problem with models who start off at 14, 15 and 16 years of age. They may be incredibly intelligent women and mature beyond their years, and I’m not a children’s developmental expert, but I would suggest that these girls are too impressionable and too easily persuaded and controllable. And when you don’t experience anything different than being marginalized it’s what you come to expect.
Much like a toddler needing approval from their parents in order to survive, when a young, impressionable girl is thrust into the upper echelons of the fashion business, their main tool of survival is to make sure everyone loves them. Often times, because a model travels and works alone, this need for approval and acceptance becomes defining to a young woman’s emotional development. There is no one there to protect their best interests. There are no handlers or parents around to make sure she finds her way. And agents are managing 20+ girls and can’t be there to field every curve ball. The environment creates an emotional arrested development and I think it’s very dangerous.
By way of example, one of my first jobs was for the Louis Vuitton World Cup campaign. I had no idea what Louis Vuitton was and tried to back out of the job. I didn’t want to model luggage. My agents were aghast. To make matters worse, the week before I had turned down a Dolce Gabbana perfume campaign with Steven Meisel because I had been asked to be comfortable with partial nudity and I wasn’t. My agents were already frustrated with me and I’d only been working for a few months.
Everyone around me explained what Louis Vuitton was and why I needed to do this job for my career. Even my parent’s friends got on the phone. Once I understood that Louis Vuitton does clothing as well, I was able to wrap my head around how to model luggage and handbags. Yes… when my agents were explaining to me that I would simply have to hold an LV soccer ball, I imagined that’s all I would be holding… and wearing. Naive? Perhaps. To my defense, I’d only realized a job called a model existed 6 months before this conversation.
I did the job and afterwards I was asked to stand naked and have my photo taken for the photographers’ personal book. They told me they’d shoot from the waist up. The makeup artists painted my nipple orange as I stood there feeling uncomfortable and exposed and then we shot the photo. It was over in 10 minutes.
Why did I shoot that photo? I’d been told, these people know what they’re doing. I’d been told, they are the best in the business. I’d been told to let them do their job and help make my career. I was told it would be artistic and beautiful. No one was there to stop the shoot-within-a-shoot and I didn’t know any better to speak up. I squirmed but eventually was persuaded. My agents were of course upset when they found out what had happened. But it was too late. The photos were already in the can and the photographers had the rights to them. I didn’t know enough to hire a lawyer. I was 18 at the time so I should have been able to take care of myself, right?
The image wasn’t p*rn*gr*ph*c but it happened when it shouldn’t have. After that experience, I became better at speaking up and saying no to shoots that happened after shoots. To avoid the discussion altogether, I often came prepared with an excuse of something I had to do after work so that I wouldn’t be asked to stay.
There must be a more supportive atmosphere for these young models to work in than the one we’ve currently created. I think that with a more supportive atmosphere, the models will be able to speak up and create a unified voice. Perhaps something much more powerful than the current dialogue about what a model is. Just be careful, they may make you accept an extra 10 pounds on their frames and a personality to go with it.

 

[Bamhutt]

Rules Are Violated, And Another Underage Girl Slips On To The Catwalk

The top international modeling agency Women has copped to an oopsie: its most promising new face of the season, a girl by the name of Valerija Sestic who has already walked for 16 of the biggest designers at New York fashion week, is underage. In a season when all modeling agencies made a pledge not to put girls under 16 forward for runway work, Women lied. Sestic is 15. And yet here she is, pictured walking in runway shows for Prabal Gurung, DKNY, and Marc by Marc Jacobs. This news will be an interesting test of the industry's resolve for change, and of the limits of its capacity for self-regulation.

A few things first: as long as there has been a modeling industry, it has been the case that most models begin their careers in their early teens. Carmen Dell'Orefice was "discovered" at age 13; in 1947, at 15, she made the cover of Vogue. Brooke Shields was 14 in 1980 when she was the face of Calvin Klein denim. Kate Moss, Patti Hansen, Niki Taylor, Kimora Lee Simmons, Bridget Hall, Gisele Bündchen, Karolina Kurkova, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington: these are just a few of the well-known models who started working at age 13, 14, or 15. More recently, Tanya Dziahileva, Chanel Iman, Karlie Kloss, Lindsey Wixson, Monika Jagaciak, Daphne Groeneveld, and Hailey Clauson have all found fame within the industry after starting young. (Of course, there are many more models who begin working in their early teens who never become well-known.)

There are some problems that arise when you have a labor force that is overwhelmingly young, foreign, and female, especially one that is in the employ of an industry dominated by wealthy, established interests. These girls work for clients that report quarterly earnings in the hundreds of millions; there are board members at these companies who have served longer than these girls have been alive. New models know that they are just one face out of the hundreds represented by their agencies. Is it any wonder that the workforce is therefore vulnerable, at least potentially, to exploitation? And this is an industry where some scouts talk openly of "grooming" their new faces.

I have long felt that the modeling industry's reliance on exceedingly young girls — children, frankly — breeds a certain lassitude. Put simply, it's system set up around the simple truth that girls — especially girls who don't know any differently, because they've never had another job — will put up with treatment that women won't. Model age isn't just an issue because a shoot for a magazine that wants to do topless or a runway changing area full of backstage photographers or any of the many, many places where someone working in fashion might encounter illegal drugs or a photo studio alone with Terry Richardson (or any of the men like him) is an inappropriate place for a young girl to be — although they are. Model age is also an issue because the way that the modeling industry profits, to a certain extent, off of the relative youth and inexperience of its workforce is a systematic problem, and one that can only be addressed by having models who are adults. As Ashley Mears wrote recently in the New York Times, "Decades of critiquing representations of bodies in fashion have not changed what we see on the catwalk; reforming the conditions backstage just might. Empowering models as workers could potentially help them stand up against other aspects of the industry, like unhealthy expectations about dieting."

So Valerija Sestic. She's from the Swiss town of Thun. Her parents are Croatian. She apparently speaks five languages. She was born, her mother Mirela says, on October 21, 1995. She modeled as a child. Her mother also models; Mirela Sestic told a Croatian-language news source in March that she was "Currently negotiating with several agencies" on Valerija's behalf, "and soon we start with the first engagement." Mirela said she has put her career "on ice" and planned to travel with her daughter. As Google translates her response when asked about her daughter's relative youth, Mirela says, "If you do not try, later might be too late. I am willing to sacrifice much to achieve, and her wishes. It's like in professional sports, if the parents at some point, in some years, do not stand behind their children and give them maximum support, it can be difficult to develop a top athlete. I would not like to later blame myself." This industry makes parents and girls believe that if they don't start at 14, they'll never get anywhere. But it's entirely within the power of agencies and clients to change that reality, should they want to.

Here's Sestic modeling some traditional Croatian crafts at an event in Germany, also back in March. And here's Sestic in one of her test shoots for Women. Clauson, whom Sestic strongly resembles (I initially mistook her for Clauson on the DKNY runway), recently sued a photographer who sold a similar shot of her to be printed on Urban Outfitters t-shirts without authorization. That would be a strange coincidence, except I'm pretty sure that these days they issue crotch-shot-on-a-motorbike photos to all newbie models at signing.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America, a trade association that represents the interests of U.S. designers, has long recommended that its members not hire girls under 16 for runway work. This season, it asked its members to card models at castings, and extracted a pledge from all the top New York agencies not to put anyone under 16 forward for shows or highlight any underage girls in their show packages.

Now that we are at the end of New York fashion week, it is plain that the honor system has had some failures. 14-year-old Ondria Hardin, who is currently a face of Prada, was in Ford's show package, and was booked by Marc Jacobs for his runway show. And after Women lied about her age, Sestic walked for sixteen designers: BCBG, Rag & Bone, Doo.Ri, Prabal Gurung, DKNY, Y-3, Carolina Herrera, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch, Hervé Leger, Rodarte, Theyskens Theory, Oscar de la Renta, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Ports 1961, and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti. (Despite her age, Ports 1961 styled Sestic in a dress with a transparent top.) Sestic skipped London — where a firm ban on models under 16 is in effect — and went straight to Milan, where so far she's walked for D&G, Anteprima, Blumarine, and Moschino.

And at least one of those clients is pissed. A spokesperson for Tory Burch said Sestic wouldn't have been booked had the company known her true age. "We are conscious not to use models under 16."

"It is true. She is 15," says Dejan Markovic, the president of Women Management. "This is never going to happen again from our company. I take full responsibility." Forgive me if I remain unconvinced of Dejan Markovic's sincerity on this score; the new face he lied about to give a start just became a breakout star.

Clearly, the honor system isn't keeping children off the runways, and even if it were effective to just ask agencies to pinkie-swear their girls are at least 16 — fashion week is just two weeks out of the year. There's a whole lot of modeling that goes on the rest of the time. What's needed is for the modeling industry to stop regarding 12-year-old girls as a natural resource. Ondria Hardin, who was 13 when she shot her Prada campaign with Steven Meisel, had already worked extensively in Asia, where clients and agencies are even more prepared to look the other way on age than they are in the West.

What would be so wrong with agencies taking a pledge not to sign any model for the adult market until she turns 16? And what if clients were to test that by ID'ing the models they hire — not just for runway jobs, but for all gigs? What if 16 were a firm starting age for all modeling work? What if the media started taking notice of, and reporting on, models' ages? It sounds like a small change, but the longer girls have to work on their educations, to grow their support networks of family and friends, and to develop in maturity and life skills before embarking on a career that can pose distinct challenges to all of the above and more, the better.

jezebel http://jezebel.com/5843336/

 

[Psylocke]

And at least one of those clients is pissed. A spokesperson for Tory Burch said Sestic wouldn't have been booked had the company known her true age. "We are conscious not to use models under 16."

If it is indeed so important to them, why don't they just ask the girls that are said to be 16 years old to show their IDs? Especially now that the CFDA encourages them to do that. It's ridiculous in the first place that fashion houses didn't get the idea to check the girls' age before, it seems like such a basic and simple thing to do. But it also shows that basically they don't actually care how old the models in their shows are.

 

[sbey]

Great article thanks Bamhutt.

Asking an industry to self-regulate when it benefits from the disempowerment of its' workforce was never going to be a solution.

 

[jiaqi]

i can think of two possible answers: a girl can start modelling 1) when a designer/photographer can make something out of her or 2) when she can make out what he - and it is usually a he - is making out of her. for the first option, there is no age limit except what is imposed by the power and creativity of his mind; the second option is bound to be meaningless most of the time because the threshold will be set way too high. while i allow exceptions for exceptionally smart girls for whom i believe the second criterion must be applied and we have a moral obligation to wait, usually we need to set no age limit except what the photographer sets for himself. now that doesn't mean all of a sudden we would be confronted with a swarm of naked pictures of six year-olds. he may see a lot of things in a six year-old but also happens to find nothing erotic to justify nudity. but the choice is his alone and the merit of the choice can be morally measured only by the degree of his aesthetic perceptivity and intellectual acuity. that said, i also accept ethical objections from him. after all, ethics is one of the most creative intellectual enterprises humanity has undertaken

 

[Simera]

So is Valerija S' birthday really in October as her mother said, but with just a different year? If so it's only a month before she would be 16 so I don't see what the big to do is, it's not like she's 13. And if her parents say it's fine for her to model that should be okay, there are a lot worse things she can be doing at 15 then becoming a fashion model.

 

[*Bianca*]

It's a bit of a slippery slope...

If one month is okay, then what's wrong with two months? three months? six months?

The CDFA guidelines said 16 by the show season, and Valerija wasn't, and that's that really.
it paid off for Women though obviously

Laura K who was a CK exclusive is also only 15.

But one awesome note - newbie Kati Nescher who walked Prada this season is 27!