“Kristen was a big problem with my brother at first; she was crazy!” recalls designer Donatella Versace in a new Style.com/Print profile of supermodel Kirsten McMenamy.
According to Versace, it was “like a war” anytime a new girl came on the scene, and when McMenamy arrived in the early ’90s, well, let’s just say we kinda wish fashion reality shows were around then.
Maybe Ireland Baldwin is still holding a grudge against her dad, Alec Baldwin, for that infamous angry voicemail.
The budding model, who recently signed with IMG, has chosen to do her first professional photo shoot for the New York Post–a paper with which Baldwin had a very public, and very heated, disagreement this past February (he allegedly called a Post paparazzo “a racial epithet, a “crackhead” and a “drug dealer.”)
We all know there are lots of problems in the modeling industry: racism, unfair working conditions, prevalent sexual harassment, pressure to conform to a certain body size… we could go on. But because models are independent contractors with virtually no rights (and no single employer to protect them), it’s rare for a working model to actually speak out the problems that plague her. So, thank god for people like Jourdan Dunn, who, at the top of her game, is not afraid to be honest about the industry she works in.
There’s no question Kardashian has been the target of unfair body criticism these past few months–and supermodel Helena Christensen, for one, has had enough of it.
That the fashion industry, and particularly the modeling industry, is prejudice is not a question. That the industry is improving, however, is up for debate.
One might look at the black models who have ascended the ranks recently–girls like Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, Joan Smalls–and say that the industry is moving towards a more diverse beauty standard. But the truth is that even those models, icons in the making, have had to struggle against racism and prejudice throughout their careers–something that Dunn opened up about to Net-a-Porter’s The Edit magazine, which she covers this week.
Raf Simons has done almost nothing wrong since taking up the reins at Dior. His designs have been met with critical acclaim across the board. He goes out of his way to be nice to journalists.
But there’s one area where Simons falls short, and that’s when it comes to the diversity in model casting for his runway shows.
Dior’s not the only whitewashed show. Noting that close to 90% of the models cast to walk in the fall 2013 runway shows were white, BuzzFeed reached out to five top casting agents to ask: Why?
Another celebrity offspring has landed a modeling deal.
When social media presence gets…weird.
Baby Kimye’s front row debut wasn’t the only fascinating story to come out of yesterday’s Givenchy runway show.
We’re pretty sure models are officially no longer allowed to complain about having to run from show to show all fashion week, as Natalia Vodianova literally ran a half marathon just hours before closing the show.
Yes, models work really hard, traipsing to endless go-sees and 4am call times. But there sure are some good perks–I mean, besides being blessed with impossibly good looks.
The models at the top of the heap, many of whom have become friends and muses to designers over the years, are gifted some pretty amazing swag. We chatted with the likes of Karlie Kloss, Jessica Stam, and Cara Delevingne backstage this past New York fashion week about the best freebies they’ve ever received from a designer. (Hint: Marc Jacobs is very generous.)
Prepare to be green with envy.
As part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, NEDA and the Model Alliance co-hosted a panel at Pace University last night, called “Inside the Modeling Industry: A Conversation About Health and Beauty in Fashion.”
It was a complex and personal discussion for the models present.
So this might be the coolest thing that ever happened.
