A blogger friend turned me onto this post
Youth sells. Cosmetic companies know this; Calvin Klein does too. As fashion takes a departure from the ladylike looks of yester-seasons, Miu Miu presents us with children.
What we’re looking at is the juxtaposition of purity, innocence and refinement held up against the contrasting standards of high fashion images and children who just don’t know any better.
Last week a friend contacted me about his daughter who’s interested in modeling. He and I had a few long discussions about her and what it would mean for her to start working that young in the business. I’d met her and she’s beautiful and has the basic framework to make a great model. The only problem; she’s 14. Let me repeat that, she’s 14.
He had some very insightful things to say about the modeling business and the dangers therein. For someone who has never been much involved in fashion, I think he summed it up quite well.
“The problem with starting modeling too young is that when the phonies in the business tell you how wonderful you are, you don’t understand that they know nothing about you. They don’t know what you are thinking, they don’t know what you are feeling, they don’t assume that you are particularly smart. They see you as a commodity that they can market and make money off of. When you get into the business too young and get uprooted from everybody and everything you knew too early, you mistake these people for your new friends. They are not.”
Toddlers and Tiaras is a sensational hit on TV. People tune in to watch 3 and 4 year olds parade around like miniature dolls on steroids. We like to sit in our living rooms and judge the mother aghast that they would even allow their child to participate in such pageantry. But does it stop the practice? Should it?
I think the images for Miu Miu this season are gorgeous but I also don’t think people fully understand what it means to be a model and what rigors the psyche is put under to remain a blank sheet upon which images can be projected. It’s dangerous. To put it bluntly, many models lose their shit. Many actresses do too.
The only ones I’ve met who have made it to the other side unscathed are the ones who never worked in the first place. Sometimes God indeed does protect us by our rejections.
Miu Miu F/W 2011 Ads: Hailee
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