Month: November 2020

            No other industry requires its employees to pose in extreme temperature conditions and locations wearing uncomfortable apparels for that one perfect shot. Strenuous working hours, unnecessary strict diet, drug abuse, sexual abuse are only few issues faced by the models. The flurry of ambiguous regulations and legislations only add to the plight of the models. In such exacerbating circumstances and lack of laws and guidelines, is the modelling industry as glamorous and appealing inside as it is on the outside?

            A model is perceived to look flawless with the high-end designer dresses, on point makeup but no one really peeps deep into issues and problems these models deal with to achieve their dreams. The fashion modelling industry has become a centre for human rights abuse and allegations, where fashion models are deprived of their basic human rights and dignity. Most fashion models are considered as mannequins or clotheshorse and modelling is often considered as an easy task- just an extension of dressing up, walking through the ramp, and posing for pictures. People often turn a blind eye to the toil and turmoil faced by these models.

            Models work under constant pressure, in some sort of institutionalized dictatorship while dealing with harassment, hunger, depression and low standards of living. Often, models eat tissue and cotton balls to do away with their hunger, face discrimination based on colour and race, harassed sexually, drug and alcohol abuse, invasive backstage and non-consented photographs used for pornography, human trafficking and many more. The issues are also extended to the standard of leaving – the apartments in which these models stay are no less than prison where models are drugged without consent and raped on camera.

            When models become vocal about their needs, they face ignorance and avoidance or even lose their job. These issues and plight of models evoke basic human rights like right to physical and psychological integrity, right to health, right against discrimination, right against human exploitation, right to life and liberty, no torture and inhuman treatment. The ratification of these rights are important for the personality development of models but are usually ignored by the modelling agencies. Even when the national legislations are applied to models, the main point of concern is only the weight and age of models.

Countries like France and Israel restrict working of models below the BMI of 18 and 18.5 respectively while Italy, Spain, and Denmark limits access of work of underage models and BMI below 18.5. The justification for imposing limitations on BMI is that the fashion industry must display healthy bodies. But its pertinent to note that a model may be healthy irrespective of the fact that her BMI is lower than the imposed restriction or she has a plus size body. Thus, the mental and physical wellbeing the model must be considered, by implementing routine medical check-up of the models, rather than considering the size or age or BMI.

Other national legislations like labour laws do provide dispositions to protect models but cannot track or prove all types of abuses like sexual or moral abuse. Thus along with these laws and guidelines, creation of non-profit organization like Model Alliance is necessary to give voice to models and protect models against opaque accounting practices of modelling agencies, protect image and privacy of models, protect against abuse and degrading living conditions.