Have you ever dreamed of being a model?
Watch the video interview above, complete with working models. What is your reaction to the interviews? Is the job what you thought it could be? If so, how, and if not, why not?
In “What It’s Really Like To Be A Model”, Valeriya Safronova, Joanna Nikas and Natalia V. Osipova describe the problems of the modeling industry, before sharing interviews with individual models:
For decades, modeling was a silent profession, where women were meant to be seen and never heard.
But in February, just at the start of Paris Fashion Week, a group of high profile models – Jourdan Dunn, Edie Campbell, Leomie Anderson, Candice Swanepoel and Joan Smalls – expressed their support for James Scully, a casting director, who had taken to Instagram. to convict two colleagues, Maida Gregori Boina and Rami Fernandes, for keeping mannequins in an unlit stairwell for several hours.
“Thank you James, tell that TRUTH!!!” Ms Dunn wrote.
A month later, models.com released the results of a survey in which more than two dozen models discussed unprofessional working conditions, non-payment and abuse in the industry. And in May, an Instagram post by model Ulrikke Hayer in which she accused a casting director at a Louis Vuitton cruise show of telling her to drink only water for 24 hours, went viral. (The day after the water edict, she was informed that she would not be participating in the show.)
“Now models have social media platforms, so even if they’re not incredibly well-known, they can still have a relatively large following and express their views in ways that they weren’t able to. before,” said Francesca Granata, director of the Masters in Fashion Studies program at Parsons.
Indeed, social media platforms have become part of their sales force, often included in their measurement maps. Many use these tools to express their belief that for all its apparent glamour, the modeling industry remains overwhelmed with issues such as labor exploitation, sexual harassment and body shaming.
Students: Read the full article, then tell us:
— This article covers female models, but regardless of your gender, would you like to become a model? Why or why not?
— What are the pitfalls of the job and what aspects of the work surprise you? Why?
– Is there anything you hope to change in the modeling industry now that models are speaking out? If so, what and why?
Students 13 and older are welcome to comment. All comments are moderated by Learning Network staff, but remember that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
