Fed-Up Models Get Lawmakers to Crack Down on Exploitation

For years, models have complained about rampant sexual and financial exploitation in their industry, from hidden agency fees and overpriced “model apartments” to unchecked sexual harassment on shoots and castings.

Now, the first legislation in the country to meaningfully regulate modeling agencies has passed in New York, ending a bitter two-year fight between models’ rights activists and the companies that represent them.

The Fashion Workers Act—which was endorsed by supermodels Karen Elson, Carré Otis, and Beverly Johnson—passed the New York Senate Thursday night and unanimously passed the Assembly on Friday. It now goes to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Karines Reyes and written in partnership with the Model Alliance, an advocacy group.

“New York has long prided itself on being the fashion capital of the United States,” Hoylman-Sigal said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “When the Governor signs this bill into law, models working in our state will finally receive the labor protections that they are entitled to, making New York the fashion worker protection capital, as well.”

Model Alliance founder Sara Ziff, who drove Sprinter vans full of models to the state Capitol to lobby for the bill over the last two years, said she hopes it will change the culture of fashion and improve the standard of treatment for models.

“I hope that with the passage of the Fashion Workers Act, models… will realize they’ve been operating completely in the dark, and with no rights or protections whatsoever,” she told The Daily Beast.

“Is it going to fix every problem? No,” she added. “But for the first time, models are going to have rights as workers. There are going to be industry standards that historically have never existed, and I think that’s a big deal.”

The bill will establish workplace protections that include mandatory meal breaks and overtime pay for jobs lasting over eight hours, and it will require agencies to implement a zero-tolerance policy for abuse.

It aims to crack down on financial exploitation by capping agency commissions at 20 percent of a model’s earnings and requiring agencies to provide copies of deals and agreements at least 24 hours in advance of a shoot.

The legislation has been endorsed by major industry players, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America, SAG-AFTRA, and the union representing workers at Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue.

But the proposals have also faced criticism from management companies who believe some of the language goes too far. Top modeling agencies—including Ford, Wilhelmina, Next, and Elite—formed a group called the Coalition for Fairness in Fashion to lobby against the bill last session and hired former Ford Models co-president Joey Hunter as spokesperson.

Hunter told The Daily Beast the agencies did not fully oppose the bill but had qualms about specific provisions, such as preventing agencies from making models sign over power of attorney. He said the Model Alliance had not consulted the agencies in his coalition on the language of the bill and that they hoped to make some “tweaks” before it went to the governor for her signature.

“I think there are a few more things that have to be tweaked, and I know we’re going to talk about them,” Hunter said. “But our problem was this bill was created without the input of an agent or a manager, and I don’t think that was fair. “

Ziff said Hunter’s coalition never reached out for a meeting, but that the Alliance heard the agencies’ concerns through lobbying efforts and made amendments accordingly. She added that the Model Alliance incorporated comment from powerhouse agency WME-IMG, which was not part of the coalition.

She also praised the models who spoke out in the face of opposition from the industry, including several she said had been threatened or even dropped by their agencies for supporting the bill.

“It’s no small thing to risk your livelihood to stand up for what’s right,” she said. “This was very much a team effort, and every model who spoke at a press conference or rode the bus to Albany or called their elected official really made this possible.”

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One such supporter is Ambra Gutierrez, an Italian fashion model who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her at a casting she was sent to by her agent. The Fashion Workers Act would requires agencies to conduct due diligence to ensure castings don’t pose unreasonable risks for their models and require them to let models bring a chaperone—policies that Gutierrez says could have prevented what she says happened to her.

“After what I experienced, I’m trying to prevent [situations like this] as much as I can, and also help models understand what they can do if something happens,” she told The Daily Beast.

Gutierrez said she thinks changing the regulations in New York will have ripple effects across the fashion industry, adding: “This city [provides the] base for how fashion should be.”

The bill passed the New York Senate last year but failed to make it out of committee in the Assembly. Since then, dozens of models have spoken out in favor of the bill in press conferences, on lobbying trips to Albany, and at a rally last month outside the famed Met Gala. Many shared personal experiences of sexual assault, racial discrimination, and financial coercion.

The bill also earned high-profile support from big names like Otis, a ’90s supermodel who has publicly accused her former modeling agent of assaulting her.

Otis told The Daily Beast it is high time the industry is regulated..

“Not only is this such a powerful moment, but desperately needed,” she said. “We need to have basic human rights in terms of financial transparency and safe workplaces free of sexual misconduct, [and to] begin to hold this industry accountable for some very, very bad behavior over the decades.”