‘Where Have All the Models Gone?’

So asks the “first Asian supermodel” Anna Bayle, displaying a bunch of covers — from Glamour, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue — with illustrations instead of real live humans. But she’s really wondering why it’s now all actresses and celebrities, and no longer models, who grace the covers of the high-end women’s glossies. Her theory, in short:

“When one group gets more powerful than the other, then the balance of things change. Every other group will react to this movement and there will be changes. I think, when a model starts earning more than fashion editors … it’s a problem. When a model becomes more important and gets more press than the designer showing…it’s a problem. So what is the state of fashion shows now? — Very young girls with developing personalities showing $80,000 garments. ‘Walking zombies’ is the phrase I always hear. I believe the fashion world is refusing to give that power to the models right now because the models (and their agents) have abused their celebrity.”

Where have all the models gone? (Anna Bayle blog)

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