Modeling at a young age?

What are the age requirements in fashion modeling?

• My sister wants to model and she is turning 14 in May and I know that is the minimum age requirement for most agencies, however I know the Council of Fashion designers of America made some new rules. I heard supermodel Coca Rocha saying that you need to be a certain age for runway, and that you must have a parent/guardian/agent with you backstage for supervision if you're a minor. Did I hear that correctly? And is it true that you can do photo shoots at any age? I was going to take my sister to agencies as soon as she turns 14 but I don't want her being taken advantage of like a lot of young models are. I'm going to wait until she's older and better able to say "No!" to creepy photographers and whatnot.

• Answer:

  Most agencies start signing models at age 14 and many countries will not allow models under 16 on the runway. But that doesn't mean she can't model - as a 14 year old she is perfect for jobs like Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Delias catalog, etc You can do photoshoots at any age - there are toddlers in Baby Gap ads. As long as you have a parent with you to sign a Model Release form if you are under 18, then they can shoot you at any age. And if your sister is 14 then a parent would need to be with her at any shoot, casting or meeting with her agency until she either turns 18, or if she's financially successful she can become emancipated at age 16 like many models do She won't be around creepy photographers without your parents present as long as she is under 18 or is not legally emancipated But every country has different laws. If you want to see something disturbing, try to find the documentary "Girl Model" which I just saw at a private screening last week. There are Russian girls as young as 13 being sent to Japan all alone to model - no parents, no chaperone, nothing. These two 13 year olds who don't even speak a word of Japanese, and one can't speak a word of English, are living on their own in a tiny apartment and getting into debt with their agency. They are also instructed to lie about their age and say they are 15 instead of 13. It's disgusting. Luckily the US has much stronger child protection laws