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''' MODELLING -[STUDENTS]-
MUNITIONS '''
*THE BITTER TRUTH IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE* -that to be a model is to accept that you are a target for sexual predators.
''I definitely think that men have just as many labor-related-concerns as women, if not more,'' says Ziff, a longtime model.
The industry urgently needs reform. It's an industry that has escaped any real regulation for decades.''
The models and insiders the researcher spoke with for this story were often hesitant to talk for fear of reprisals, and many requested anonymity. Their insights reveal an industry struggling to safeguard some of its youngest employees.
Many of whom have very little protection are ill-informed of their rights and suffer from a culture of silence that protects the abusers within the industry who are considered too powerful to confront.
THE FRENCH LAW stipulates that model's health must be ''assessed in particular in terms of body mass index'' but with a nod to more holistic methods of assessment, including body shape and well-being.
An agency booker who fails to adhere to the law risks a fine of 75,000 euros {about $83, 623} and up to six months in prison. The law also requires agencies to signal when modelling photos have been retouched to alter body shape.
Fines of up to 10,000 euros {about $11,150} and one year in prison can await individuals ''provoking people to excessive thinness by encouraging prolonged dietary restrictions that could expose them to a danger of death or directly impair their health''.
In the fashion world, these laws have few fans -even among the models. The Three male models interviewed for this story all expressed support for the idea of limiting the weight pressures they faced but questioned the accuracy of the BMI scale as a measure.
Industry insiders also attacked the inaccuracy of the BMI when applied to those under 25 and the idea that it might penalize models afflicted by eating disorders.
*And then there's this : The majority of the countries in the world where model works have no legislation protecting these young people*.
The fashion industry is sprawling and decentralized that many industry insiders believe that the only way it can protect its young is if it decides to take on that responsibly.
Storm Models, a leading agency, says it abides by minimum BMI rules. ''Ultimately, we're just a supply chain,'' says Cat Trathen, head of the men's division at Storm. ''We`only provide what our clients are asking for.''
She says that any potential problems lie with the editors and brands booking the models she represents. And she was adamant that she and her team already do their utmost to safeguard the models signed to their agency:
''We do not have and we have never had one model -male or female- on this board who is underweight.
Trathen says it's not in the economic interests of an agency to promote models who are too thin: ''A model who is underweight is going to be ill. Ultimately, they're a commodity, and you have to look after them.
If someone is ill or too thin, they're not going to work because they're not going to look their best or have the energy to model.''
One prominent casting director, Noah Shelly of AM Casting, says he bears some responsibility for the pressure to be skinny.
''If we were to sit down and round table and say there's blame to be had. then I would definitely deserve some,'' says Shelley.
''Nonetheless, I don't feel on a daily basis that I'm responsible for unhealthy body ideals, but I'm not naive enough to suggest that couldn't be happening without my intention, and I have to take responsibility for that.''
Yet Sebastien Meunier, creative director of the Paris-based cult fashion house Ann Demeulemeester, denies that designers are doing anything shocking.
We're making clothes that are perfectly decent and acceptable,'' he tells the magazine.
''At the end of the day, ['models] are adults. There's no problem here.''
Steele, of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, believes the industry is unlikely to self-regulate in a meaningful way.
''Everyone says that they are not the ones at fault, they they are just following orders,'' she says. ''I suspect there's a lot of blame to be shared.
The casting directors and designers and members of the audience want to see thin, white, young models.
They're all at fault.''
With respectful dedication to all the Models, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW! -the World Students Society and Twitter- !E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:
''' Make The Honors '''
Good Night and God Bless
SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless
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