The cut-throat and largely contentious industry that is the fashions one yesterday passed a bill to counter a weighty criticism the industry regularly faces- only second to bitches be too thin– that child models are employed under unjust conditions.
Championed by Canadian model, Miss Thang of 2011 and Model Alliance member Coco Rocha, along with Sara Ziff, the new legislation will protect models of fewer than eighteen years under the same child-labor laws that dancers, actors, and performers of the same age receive. Cocha’s involvement was motivated by her own despicable firsthand experiences. She made a speech at a press conference on Sunday, before the bill was passed yesterday, saying:
“I will never forget being 15 years old, alone on a set as a photographer tried to harass, heckle and even threaten me into taking a semi-nude photo. I recall with sickening clarity the first time I was told (in no uncertain terms) to lose weight that I definitely couldn’t afford to lose because, as this person said, ‘the look this year is anorexia.’”
Stereotypes are often just a homogenous lense through which to easily define something, or a glorious sweeping statement that rarely correlates to reality. ‘The look this year is anorexia’ sounds like an excerpt from a satirical short film about fashion, uttered by a lisping, floppy-wristed man behaving in lewdly camp ways. Yes that’s another stereotype. And that’s exactly why that last quote is so shocking- shit like that actually happens.
The new laws demand that designers apply for certificates to work with print or runway models younger than 18, and the models themselves acquiring permits. Moreover, educational learnings will falter no more. If more than three days of school are missed, the child’s employer is obligated to orchestrate time and means for the child to study, i.e. a tutor and a desk on the job. Tiny attractive specimens under 16 must be accompanied by a chaperone.
At the tongue of fashion-law professor Susan Scafidi, the laws also enforce the following.
“Child models’ hours are already restricted by law, depending on their exact ages and whether or not school is in session, but few people who work with models are aware of the exact details. Limits under the new law would be complex but actually more flexible, though they require breaks, including meals. And no sending the models home after midnight on a school night — or asking them to return to work less than 12 hours after they’ve left”.
On and upward, fashion world.
