How to ascertain who the top earning models of the industry are. It is not an easy feat, especially because no agency in its right mind is ever going to disclose publicly exactly what its star models earn.
But there is an interesting device you can use to get an estimate.You can take a list of the highest paying clients in fashion, weigh the going rates these clients pay for their contracts and campaigns and then apply it against the body of models employed by those clients. Those power clients form a mercifully short list. They are Victoria's Secret (with the "Angel's contracts setting the standard), Ralph Lauren, cosmetics brands like Estee Lauder, Lancome, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon and Cover Girl as well as the many fragrance contracts in the business. Then there are the instances of big money bookings for jewelry companies, endorsement deals for clothing lines and accessories or the rare case of a clothing company (like Calvin Klein) willing to pay a high-six figure sum for the services of a model.
This list of clients obviously creates a kind of filter for a certain kind of girl. There are catalogue queens who might argue that they make as much if not more than some of the girls on this list, but the cut-off point we used was that a "Money Girl" by our definition was a former or current editorial girl who converted into a multi-million dollar proposition.