FASHION Magazine
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A new film opening at Toronto’s Hot Docs this weekend peels back the often-brutal layers of the modeling industry
With designers like Marc Jacobs hiring 14-year-olds to walk in his shows, and young model Hailey Clauson’s racy photoshoots, the issue of underage models has never been more relevant. Enter Girl Model, the documentary by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon. After premiering at TIFF last year, the film has certainly gotten people talking .
Girl Model explores the dark depths of the underage modeling industry through the eyes of Siberian 13-year-old Nadya Vall who is taken to Tokyo on false pretenses and left to her own devices. And then there’s the disturbingly ambivalent model scout who found her, Ashley Arbaugh, who openly struggles with her feelings on the industry as she scours rural Russia for young girls.
In advance of the film opening at Hot Docs today (through Wednesday), we sat down with Sabin and sage/model Rachel Blais (she provides the most grounded voice in the film) to get their take on the underage modeling industry.