Meet Sara Ziff, founder of the Model Alliance. She is a campaigner for a fairer, more sustainable fashion industy in general and for the rights of models in particular.
This Episode was recorded during the Copenhagen Fashion Summit - Sara was there with model Edie Campbell and casting director James Scully to speak about the RESPECT Program. It launched with an open letter signed by more than 100 fashion models in the wake of Me Too, calling for fashion houses, media companies and model agencies to commit to “an orderly and fair process for addressing charges of abuse”, backed up with training and education initiatives.
The letter begins: “Over the past year, many courageous individuals have revealed the dark truth of sexual harassment in the fashion industry. These concerns have yet to be addressed in a meaningful and sustainable way. As models our images serve commercial purposes but our bodies remain ours.”
Proposals include stronger, enforceable workplace standards to protect underage models and ensure, for example, that they are never asked to pose nude without prior agreement; a confidential and secure complaints process; and a neutral body set up to investigate complaints. Sara says “one in five models is working in debt to her agency,” so this is not only an issue of sexual intimidation, misconduct and abuse, it’s a power issue.
This is an important topic and one the industry urgently needs to address. What's being done about it? How is Sara trying to change the fashion world, and where does the urge to do that come from in her? How did she go from walking for Chanel and Alexander McQueen to being a voice for change? All this and more is in this show, and we can't wait to hear what you make of it.
How fab is our music? THANK YOU Montaigne. She is singing an acoustic version of Because I love You.
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