Fashion Models Finally Earn Money After Pleas For Cash.
U.S. fashion designers who haven’t been paying models for their runway work for years have finally started forking over the dough.
Over the past year, high-profile models have made repeated pleas for designers to pay them for walking in their runway shows. Some designers are finally responding, paying models in cash instead of clothes for their fashion week work.
A lot of labels, like Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta, and Calvin Klein, have always paid models in cash for appearing in their runway shows during New York Fashion Week. But Marc Jacobs, a huge label in the same league, didn’t start paying models in cash until last season for his spring 2013 Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs shows, said Sara Ziff, who runs the Model Alliance, an organization that advocates for model rights (but is not an official union). Until then Jacobs had, like many labels, just paid models in trade, or free clothes. Free clothes are nice, especially when they’re expensive and beautiful, as many of these designers’ are, but they don’t pay the bills on their own — and models need that cash to not only cover living expenses, but also to avoid going into debt with their agencies.
Alexander Wang and Rag & Bone also started paying models in cash for the spring 2013 show season, Ziff said. But she said that a few big labels are holding out, including Anna Sui, Proenza Schouler, and Narciso Rodriguez — whose shows are all major highlights on New York Fashion Week’s calendar. They’re still just offering free clothes.
“If you think about how expensive it is to take out a full page ad in Vogue, which all of those companies do, you’d think they could compensate the models,” Ziff said. Reps for Anna Sui, Proenza Schouler, and Narciso Rodriguez did not return requests for comment.
