The bad name fashion industry has earned over the years, apart from excessive glamorization drug abuse and low-brow high-brow things, comes somehow from unfairly paid models, interns and freelancers.
The unfair labor standards and rights which sometimes make designers (Marc Jacobs in this case) pay in form of clothing rather than money might be a thing of past as Model Alliance has collaborated with Freelancer’s Union to pass ‘The Freelancer Payment Protection Act’, a proposed law which would make models and freelancers in New York from deadbeat clients.
It would Though the law has already passed in the New York State Assembly but is still under review in the senate. To ensure it gets reviewed the collaboration put forth few examples of wage theft with the models while underlining the fact that the lack of financial transparency and accountability is a significant problem in the business of fashion. One such example is of top model Caitriona Balfe, who waited as long as a year to receive payment for her work, and staggeringly lost over $300,000 in unpaid earnings when her agency declared bankruptcy.
