Vogue magazine pledges to use only ‘healthy’ models
[Brussels, 08 May 2012] Vogue, the global fashion magazine, has announced a commitment “to not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder”. According to the statement, casting directors will be asked to check models’ IDs at photo shoots, and mentoring programmes will be insstituted for younger models. The strategy also includes encouraging “healthy backstage working conditions”, including food options, and asking “designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing, which limits the range of women who can be photographed in their clothes.”
In a statement released last Thursday, the group recognised that there were “pressing issues relating to ill-health in the industry” and that models serve as role models for “many women”.
It said it would seek to ensure that those in its pages were “well cared-for and educated in ways that will encourage and help them to take care of themselves”.
According to former model Sara Ziff: “Most editions of Vogue regularly hire models who are minors, so for Vogue to commit to no longer using models under the age of 16 marks an evolution in the industry.”
Model Alliance, a union union designed to protect the rights of fashion models founded by Ms. Ziff in February, estimates that over 54 percent of working models start working between the ages of 13 and 16.
Cadeaux by Sharif Hamza for Vogue Paris Dec 2010 - Jan 2011. For more images: http://trendland.com/cadeaux-by-sharif-hamza-for-vogue-paris/#
The EWL lobbies for a women’s rights perspective in the work of the media and advertising industries and has produced a ressource tool for raising awareness on this issue.
