Vogue is banning models aged under 18 from it’s iconic pages
Modelling is see as the ultimate in glamorous career paths – the jet set lifestyle, beautiful clothing and legions of adoring fan online and IRL.
However, it's also a cut-throat industry, where a 'new face' can be disposed of after a single season, 20-hour days are the norm, pressures come from drink and drug use, low weights are standard, and women can be exploited.
While in the 1980s and 90s, the fashion industry revolved around a few faces, the super models of the time, such as Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, it's not a changed landscape, with armies of models in each show and a wave of new, teenage models presenting a Fashion Week each season.
In an effort to alleviate the exploitation of young women in an industry which currently relies heavily on the labour of teenage girls, Vogue has pledged to only book models aged 18 and over.
The iconic fashion tome is hailing the rest of the industry to follow suit.
'When Brooke Shields, then fourteen, graced the February 1980 cover of Vogue, she was an outlier, writes Vogue's Maya Singer.
'Since then, models in their mid-teens have appeared in many of our fashion editorials. No more: It’s not right for us, it’s not right for our readers, and it’s not right for the young models competing to appear in these pages.'
'While we can’t rewrite the past, we can commit to a better future.'
Modelling is a highly stressful, highly physical job, and taking the pressure off teenagers from contributing to the industry can only be a good thing.
