Impoverished side of the modelling industry

They appear to be living the dream, walking the catwalks of Paris, New York and Milan in the most beautiful clothes money can buy.

But behind the glamour and the travel, many models are earning mere "pocket money", tied by debt to agencies and afraid to admit what they owe.

"The worst thing is that it is impossible to talk about (it) because in this industry, people want to work with only 'successful' girls," said 26-year-old Clara, who has appeared in Vogue and walked for labels including Prada, Rick Owens and Comme des Garcons.

The London-based model, who is deeply in debt to her agencies in New York and Paris, agreed to talk of the trap she and many of her colleagues have fallen into only if her name was changed, fearing she might never get work again.

Other models said they were often paid in clothes and handbags, and that they were "almost never paid" for fashion magazine shoots.

The model rights group Model Law, which was set up earlier this year in Paris, said debt is a bigger taboo than sexual harassment since the #MeToo movement lifted the lid on abuse.

The group's co-founder Ekaterina Ozhiganova, a Paris catwalk regular, said it was time "to put an end to the years of abuse, dubious practices and the flouting of labour laws".

Clara, who began modelling when she was still in school, said that on her first Paris fashion week, her agency gave her a car for castings, which she shared with other models from the big Airbnb apartment they were put in.

"It was only later that I learnt I was paying €300 euros (S$480) a day for the driver. I had signed the contract and I was €3,000 in debt" by the end of the week, she added.

"Later, I did New York fashion week. Every model from overseas starts by going into debt because the work visa is expensive.

"Then you stay in a models' apartment, which your agency charges you US$50 (S$70) a night for a room you share with three others.

"When the castings started, I got really sick and therefore missed most of them, so I ended up going home US$8,000 in the red," said Clara.

Yet, she insisted her "situation is not particularly bad".

"I am still in debt to my agencies in Paris and New York although I have since done many jobs through them. For instance, I was in a big Paris show which had a €1,100 fee, of which I got only €400. And I didn't see any of that because it was taken off my debt."

Despite her difficulties, Clara insisted that she is doing better than most models "who are 16, hardly speak English and come from poor backgrounds".

Two highly experienced US models also described being "slaves" to debt, with agencies at times talking the lion's share of their earnings.

But they said East European and Brazilian girls - who now dominate castings - are the most vulnerable to exploitation and get the rawest deals.

FEAR

Ms Ozhiganova, 26, said she hopes Model Law can help "break through" the fear of speaking out in an industry "where you are quickly labelled as difficult if you ask questions".

"People imagine models earn lots of money, but that is absolutely not true. It is only the case for 2 per cent of the girls," she said, adding that male models paid even worse.

The group said unpaid work was the bane of models' lives.

"Only rarely are people paid for modelling for magazines even though it takes hours of work," Ms Ozhiganova said.

"Okay, it is prestigious, but how are you going to pay your rent?"

Model Law, which is in talks with a French union, has already met with Synam, the body that represents French model agencies.

Synam's chief Isabelle Saint-Felix admitted that Model Law had "some justified demands", including that employment regulations should be translated into English given that most models working in Paris do not speak French. - AFP