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Age disconnect hits Australian Fashion Week
Australia's fashion industry yesterday dumped plans to use a 14-year-old model as the face of its annual showcase yesterday after fashion magazines refused to publish the girl's photo because she was too young.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:39 April 12, 2008
Canberra: Australia's fashion industry yesterday dumped plans to use a 14-year-old model as the face of its annual showcase yesterday after fashion magazines refused to publish the girl's photo because she was too young.
Organisers of Australian Fashion Week (AFW) had planned to make 14-year-old Polish model Monika Jagaciak the star of its annual fashion shows from April 28 to May 2.
But editors from Vogue magazine and Marie Claire threatened to pull coverage of the fashion events and called for organisers to follow guidelines in place in London and Paris, which place restrictions on models under 16 years old.
"Fourteen is young and extreme," Australia's Vogue editor Kirstie Clements told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
"That is a big disconnect to what you are essentially supposed to be doing, selling clothes to women, and yet you are getting them so young that they haven't even developed a curve.
"What does that mean? They are going to be washed up and on the scrap heap, which actually does happen as soon as they start to develop breasts and hips. It is ridiculous."
Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank said it was time publishers and fashion companies took a stand and lifted the minimum age of models to 16.
After initially standing by its decision on Jagaciak, fashion week organisers yesterday backed down after industry pressure.
"Effective immediately both male and female models participating in AFW will need to be at least 16 years of age and must be represented by a reputable model agency," organiser Simon Lock said in a statement.
Organisers said "industry and community concern regarding the acceptable age for models" was behind the decision not to hire Jagaciak for the job and enforce an age limit for models.
Jagaciak was to have been flown to Australia for the event starting later this month.
Clements said she had been considering Jagaciak for a cover photoshoot until she discovered her age.
"Jak was absolutely a potential for the cover, we were lined up to shoot her, but when I discovered this week that she was 14, I was like, 'Ah, no way,'" she told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.
Issue of exploitation
Clements told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that, apart from the issue of sexualisation of very young girls, underage models were often yet to develop women's bodies.
"They want them so thin they have to get them pre-pubescent," she said.
Simon Locke, who also founded the event, was initially unconvinced about the need for a minimum age requirement for models, something which has been taken up by other fashion cities such as London and Paris in recent years.
"The designers love these models as coat-hangers for their clothes," he told News Limited. "They don't want to exploit their sexuality in any way whatsoever."
But he later reversed his position following national discussion of the issue, which was also raised last year when a 12-year-old Australian girl won a modelling competition.
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