AN ARTICLE BY HUFFINGTON POST :
Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau
It’s a big day for the modeling community, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York hassigned a bill into law recognizing child models as child performers. This places them under the same labor protections as child actors, including dictating how many hours they can work, how often they can work and how late they can be kept at a job.
The law was proposed and passed in June of this year after pressure from fashion industry leaders, specifically the Model Alliance. The Alliance, a watchdog network of models and industry insiders founded by Sara Ziff, has pushed for more rights and legal protection for models, including a model union.
The bill was also supported by several outspoken models including Coco Rocha, whotestified with her own negative experiences as a young model at a press conference this past summer. “For children and young teens who just want to please, the pressure to succumb to demands from adults is often damaging and life altering,” she said at the time.
Now with this legislation signed into law, models under the age of 18 are hopefully protected from those pressures. According to the New York Times, designers wishing to hire underage models for their shows will have to submit paperwork, monitor their hours and even possibly provide them with tutors, chaperones and trust accounts.
Hopefully this will dissuade brands and designers from working with such young models, as well as providing protection to the ones who still get hired.
The law goes into effect in New York in 30 days, meaning it will impact designers and models for this coming Fashion Week in February 2014.
SOURCE : huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/new-model-law-new-york_n_4145075.html?utm_hp_ref=models
Related articles
- Sara Ziff’s Underage-Model Bill Gets Signed Into Law (nymag.com)
- New York Signs Law Protecting Child Models’ Labor Rights (fashionista.com)
- Underage Model Bill Signed Into Law in New York – Will Other Fashion Capitals Follow? (hintmag.com)
- New York Sets Work Rules for Young Models (nytimes.com)
- Protect Underage Models – Now It’s the Law (style.com)
I believe this is a good move. Children who perform, in any way, need to be protected from the vultures out there. Not all parents do the job. Hugs, Barbara
Its a good move. But I personally worry it isn’t enough. We see the damage child stars sustain emotionally playing out in tabloids all the time. I really strongly believe more has to be done to keep children – anyone under 18 – out of high fashion full stop. Even the above picture, deliberately chosen I should imagine, suggests a child being forced into adulthood.
This should have been done decades ago. There are pedophiles posing as photographers and stylist demanding that these girls and boys do sexual favors or they wont have a career is sick and should be criminalized. The young girl in the pic is gorgeous at such a young age and I hope that her parents and those of thousands of under age models will be responsible enough to follow through on their child’s career and protect them from such unscrupulous people in the industry. Seasoned, responsible models or agents should act as guardians or chaperons in the parent’s absence.
Reblogged this on wannabestylinsomething and commented:
Awesome news. They should ALL be protected at any age.