It’s starting to seem like every time Fashion Week rolls around, the industry makes a lot of noise about self-regulation regarding models’ health and age, while the girls — and they are girls — remain as young and skinny as ever.
Tomorrow, however, the British trade union Equity is meeting to suggest new rules that are, at least, specific.
Here’s what they’re proposing:
- A maximum ten hour work day.
- Mandatory meals. Now, if only there was a way to make sure everyone else on set didn’t shame the models for eating said meals.
- Covered expenses for work-related travel over ten miles.
- “Respect and dignity toward models at all times” — this should already be a rule, but seems difficult to enforce in reality. And just the fact that it has to be spelled out is worrisome.
- No drastically altering a model’s appearance unless it is agreed to. Remember the bleached brows trend a few seasons back? Yeah, we felt bad for those girls, too.