There's no denying that the modeling industry has seen a lot of changes in recent decades. Cindy Crawford claimed last year that the era of the supermodel is over, and she might be right.
The Telegraph recently exposed the harsh realities of trying to make it in the industry today by revealing the lack of opportunities and financial struggles that models face.
Unlike Crawford and others who forged their careers in the '90s, new models aren't able to create the same longevity. According to Binx Walton, who now considers herself a veteran after three years on he catwalk, most young girls she sees only stay around for a couple seasons.
Ashley Mears, a professor at Boston University and a former model, also found that most agents expect a model's career to last less than five years.
Unfortunately, when models are lucky enough to nab a job, they are forced to work long hours and are often paid very little or only compensated with clothes. While we do hear of models like Gisele Bündchen racking in millions, most models are in debt to their agency by the end of the season.
Crawford has attributed the fall of the supermodel to the fact that companies are now opting to employ celebrities and reality stars. This trend became evident over the past year with Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid dominating the industry.
But, being too famous has also been found to hinder a model's career, since it can distract from the clothing. Karlie Kloss shared in an interview with Vanity Fair that designers said she’s “too famous” to walk in their shows.
Nowadays, the key to becoming successful seems to lie in models ability to become a "personality" and launch additional ventures like their own product lines.
The good news is there has been recent improvements in the industry meant to benefit models. Countries like France and Israel have made health a priority by banning the use of models who are too skinny.
