Our Top Newcomers, Supermodels Take Up the Fight and More of the News You Missed

Models.com Top Newcomers
With an intense 4.5 weeks of pre-castings, fittings, and shows finally wrapping up, Models.com rounded up the models that made an impact this season with industry selections from Katie Grand, Bethann Hardison, Jacob K, and Alastair McKimm. While the beautiful range of skin tones this season was definitely meaningful, notably absent on the runways were a mass support of a range of body types and non-binary defining faces that could have expanded the notions of diversity further. Shows like Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, and Dries Van Noten took risks but for the fashion majority it was business as usual. Simply put, there’s much to be celebrated but much more work to be done.

Shit Model Management Black List Taken Down
As the fashion industry comes to grips with its demons, models and activists are presenting rising pressure on dealing with the rampant abuse behind-the-scenes. While some avenues are aligning with legal due process, others like anonymous Instagram meme account @ShitModelMgmt, are taking more drastic efforts releasing last week a list of photographers, model agents, designers, and more that have allegedly assaulted, abused or sexually harassed models. Many like The Fashion Law have questioned the legality of such a list, accusing the document as a one-side libelous minefield, and have challenged the determining factors of it’s fact-checking process.

“Every name on this list was sent to me by other people, and I am simply reporting, after fact checking to the best of my ability, what was said to me. This is not my personal opinion, I am reporting the experiences of others. Until proven, these names are simply allegations. This does not discredit any experiences shared with me; as I am reporting what was told to me over direct messages, I’m formally stating that the claims are allegations. Take from that what you will.”

On Monday, the administrator of the list announced they were taking the list down claiming, “I’m getting too many death threats and threats to ‘find my family’ and ‘make me sorry I did this’[…]I’m still not sorry for protecting models from future negative experiences . . . I’m not the kind of person to stay silent. Creeps in the fashion industry: Be afraid. Watch yourself. Because the truth will always come out.” In lieu of the controversy, activist organization The Model Alliance has proposed a “neutral, nonprofit arbitrating entity that will guarantee accountability.”

In some respects, what we are seeing unfold on social media is a response to the failure of sexual harassment law. This is particularly true in industries like fashion and modeling that rely heavily on independent contractors, where there is no HR department or sexual harassment training that informs people of their rights and obligations. The Model Alliance is working with various industry stakeholders to coordinate efforts to address these concerns. We should be concerned about the dismissal of due process. We cannot be careless about conducting investigations and verifying accounts. The immediate response has been a rush to expulsion, and in some cases, when there have been multiple accounts of misconduct, that may be justified. But in other cases, there may be very different points of view about what transpired. Due process is extremely important. Last year, with New York State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, the Model Alliance introduced the Models’ Harassment Protection Act, a bill that would close loopholes that currently leave models open to sexual harassment on the job. Models are often classified as independent contractors, excluding them from typical employment protections. This bill would bring them under the umbrella of protection against sexual harassment. The Model Alliance also offers discreet grievance reporting through Model Alliance Support. If a model has experienced unwanted sexual attention on the job, he or she can contact us and we can refer the model to an attorney or other resources if necessary.

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Glossier Hires New Creative Director
Glossier is about to get more glossy as former Creative Director of Allure and Teen Vogue, Marie Suter, is jumping ship to the direct-to-consumer beauty empire. Magazine background aside, Suter will certainly fit right in as she joins former Conde darling and CEO of Glossier Emily Weiss on campaign visuals, creative marketing, and that coveted, millennial-friendly packaging. [BOF]

Supermodels Fight Against the Ivory Trade
With the current administration’s quiet reversal of a ban on sport-hunted trophies of elephants (the first attempt three months ago was halted after public uproar), supermodels have taken the charge to protest the assault against conservation of the already endangered species. Doutzen Kroes, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and many more turned to Instagram to demand the ban be reinstated and asking followers to contact U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to reinstate the ban.

Elle Fanning Opens Miu Miu
She’s played a Disney princess but Elle Fanning‘s latest role was a walk at Paris Fashion Week for Miu Miu. The actress and spring campaign star gave her best strut as she open and closed the show in a hair-raising beauty look and swagger to match.

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