Cinch

WRITER'S STATEMENT

"In high school I had my growth spurt. A male classmate would repeat to me daily “you should be a model!” My response was always “no, it’s a toxic industry” - how did I know then? Maybe it was episodes of America’s Next Top Model or articles about diets and women’s bodies in Tiger Beat Magazine.

When I moved to New York after college to pursue a career in the arts, I got scouted by a photographer.

He saw something in me. He thought I was beautiful. It felt good. We got to work on portfolio photos. After each photoshoot he would always give me advice...lose weight, pluck this, fix that. One day he took a tape measure and measured from the top of my shoulder to the middle of my breast: “your nipple is too low - it should sit here” - and he pulled my breast up to a perky, perfect spot. I believed him.

In my 30s now, I look back and think - how did that teen who knew the dangers of this industry get so sucked in to where I actually thought this photographer was helping me?"

-Arielle Beth Klein

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

The fashion and modeling industry is one of the least regulated in the world. Most modeling gigs are unpaid– whether just a day player for a studio session or walking for Gucci, Prada, or LV.

Models have no HR departments to protect them, no unions to fight for them, and the industry has made little effort in the last century to update its standards or safeguard the well-being of its artists.

Most models we’ve spoken to, of all intersectionalities, have a story of the day they were manipulated, dismissed, and dehumanized by the designers and advertisers who only see them as props, not people — living mannequins molded to fit someone else’s vision.

Our mission is to begin a long overdue conversation about the expectations models are held to.

They aren’t just unachievable- they’re impossible.

-Ally Musmeci