RPT-FEATURE-"Half-price" fashion models tighten their belts

At the January fashion shows in Paris and Milan, a prime advertising opportunity for luxury brands, designers hired fewer models than last year. Models and agents are feeling the pinch.

CATWALK ANOMALIES

At Premier Model Management in London, an agency that has represented Claudia Schiffer, clients who used to pay a daily rate of 3,000 pounds ($4,200) are now arriving with a budget of 1,500 pounds, director Aidan Jean-Marie told Reuters.

To weather the crisis, agencies are adjusting their mix of so-called "commercial models", who attract a steady stream of low-key jobs such as catalogue shoots, and pricier "image models" who appear on catwalks and magazine covers.

"You need both sides to survive the downturn, but the balance shifts slightly towards the commercial models," said Jean-Marie. "The catwalk girls are not your day-to-day girls, they are anomalies, with measurements they had when they were 16 and still have at 18."

Karen Diamond, director at Models 1, the agency of supermodel Agyness Deyn, expects the full impact of the crisis to hit later this year since advertising budgets and show schedules are planned far in advance.

"Clients will go with established models rather than giving new faces a break, and it'll be tough for new girls," she said.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the arrival of the internet, modelling has turned into one of the most competitive and globalised job markets.