Valerija Stestic | Image Thumbnails Sourced from Google
At 15 I couldn’t care less what was happening on the catwalk, but it seems not so for the wannabe models of this world who have been introduced to this world in their childhood years. When they should be out playing in the streets, (or whatever it is kids do these days), it seems these aspiring models are career driven and focussed on the catwalk of their dreams.
“A few things first: as long as there has been a modeling industry, it has been the case that most models begin their careers in their early teens. Carmen Dell’Orefice was “discovered” at age 13; in 1947, at 15, she made the cover of Vogue. Brooke Shields was 14 in 1980 when she was the face of Calvin Klein denim. Kate Moss, Patti Hansen, Niki Taylor, Kimora Lee Simmons, Bridget Hall, Gisele Bündchen, Karolina Kurkova, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington: these are just a few of the well-known models who started working at age 13, 14, or 15. More recently, Tanya Dziahileva, Chanel Iman, Karlie Kloss, Lindsey Wixson, Monika Jagaciak, Daphne Groeneveld, and Hailey Clauson have all found fame within the industry after starting young. (Of course, there are many more models who begin working in their early teens who never become well-known.)”
So we know it happens.
Valerija made the news after it was discovered she was walking the catwalk aged 15 not the minimum 16 years of age. One image of her in particular is causing a lawsuit after she posed on a motorcycle a la the below…
So why is this unacceptable, after all her mother was a model and many others careers’ started younger than this?
Poses like this are age inappropriate. They fuel the notion which we have already stated is unacceptable of teenage pornography.
“Sestic walked for sixteen designers: BCBG, Rag & Bone, Doo.Ri, Prabal Gurung, DKNY, Y-3, Carolina Herrera, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch, Hervé Leger, Rodarte, Theyskens Theory, Oscar de la Renta, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Ports 1961, and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti. (Despite her age, Ports 1961 styled Sestic in a dress with a transparent top.) Sestic skipped London — where a firm ban on models under 16 is in effect — and went straight to Milan, where so far she’s walked for D&G, Anteprima, Blumarine, and Moschino.
And at least one of those clients is pissed. A spokesperson for Tory Burch said Sestic wouldn’t have been booked had the company known her true age. “We are conscious not to use models under 16.”
“It is true. She is 15,” says Dejan Markovic, the president of Women Management. “This is never going to happen again from our company. I take full responsibility.” Forgive me if I remain unconvinced of Dejan Markovic’s sincerity on this score; the new face he lied about to give a start just became a breakout star.
Clearly, the honor system isn’t keeping children off the runways, and even if it were effective to just ask agencies to pinkie-swear their girls are at least 16 — fashion week is just two weeks out of the year. There’s a whole lot of modeling that goes on the rest of the time. What’s needed is for the modeling industry to stop regarding 12-year-old girls as a natural resource. Ondria Hardin, who was 13 when she shot her Prada campaign with Steven Meisel, had already worked extensively in Asia, where clients and agencies are even more prepared to look the other way on age than they are in the West.
What would be so wrong with agencies taking a pledge not to sign any model for the adult market until she turns 16? And what if clients were to test that by ID’ing the models they hire — not just for runway jobs, but for all gigs? What if 16 were a firm starting age for all modeling work? What if the media started taking notice of, and reporting on, models’ ages? If instead of models starting at 13-14, and being allowed onto the runway at 16, models simply started their careers at 16? It sounds like a small change, but the longer these girls have to devote to their educations, to grow their support networks of family and friends, and to develop in maturity and life skills before embarking on a career that can pose distinct challenges to all of the above and more, the better.”
Sources:
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