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Fit Modeling: Sort Of Like The $100-An-Hour Model Equivalent Of Sweatshop Labor
Welcome back to Modelslips, in which our anonymous fashion week model Tatiana "slips" about what it's really like trying not to "slip" while starving herself down the runways of New York's inimitable Fashion Week. Yesterday she worked a job for a Top American Designer! Sound glamorous? It was sooooo not.
People are always surprised by the number of modeling jobs that are totally behind-the-scenes. But there's a lot of paid work that will never result in lavish magazine editorials, trendy turns on runways, or even smiley-happy-well-remunerated catalog glory. I am talking about work in which nobody will ever see you at all. Why hire a model, someone whose sole skill set is her appearance, for a job in which no member of the public will actually see her, you ask? Why, to stand in for the miniscule measurements of another, more famous model, of course! And sometimes, when you've spent two days walking in a respectable but not great number of showsfor some well-regarded but not headline-grabbing designers, and you've been earning mainly clothes anyway, you'll get a call from your agency telling you to be across town in twenty minutes because you're going to spend the day working as a fit model and you'll be kinda stoked! Because that means you're getting paid. More »
As my brotha from another motha, photographer 
