Review by Mark Langabeer, Hastings and Rye Labour member
The recent decision to jail Ghislaine Maxwell for sex-trafficking offences, for assisting her boyfriend, sexual predator and wealthy financier, Jeffrey Epstein, isn’t just an isolated example of largely wealthy men sexually exploiting vulnerable girls and young women.
A three-part Sky documentary, produced by Lucy Osborne and the Guardian, gave an account of systemic sexual abuse of girls as young as 14, by some of the big modelling agencies. Scouting for Girls – Fashion’s Darkest Secrets, reveals widespread abuse by modelling agencies based in New York, Paris and Milan. The programme covers the period between 1980 up to the early 2000s, and interviews a number of women who were abused by the bosses of three major modelling agencies.
Girls would be drawn towards modelling because it would appear to offer fame, glamour, travel and for some, a good income. Some supermodels even became household names during the 1980s and 90s.
Some of the victims shown in the Sky programme were employed by a US-based agency, Elite. It had around 5,000 models and its CEO was one John Casablancas. Girls would enter a competition, called the ‘look of the year’ show, with a judging panel that included businessmen. Donald Trump was even filmed as a panellist in the programme. The ‘lucky’ ones were put ‘on the books’ for the agency.
BBC documentary pulled after legal threats
The programme recorded an interviewed with Casablancas, where he said that the agency received 40% of the income generated by the models. The company then merged with another agency based in Paris, and headed by Gerald Marie. He was married to Linda Evangelista, another famous model. He is another alleged to be a rapist and paedophile by a number of former models. In 1998, the BBC produced a documentary, highlighting the abuses committed by Gerald Marie, but a deformation suit was filed and the programme was pulled.
Why did former models remain silent about the abuse? It was because they felt trapped and if they complained about Marie’s conduct, they lost their work and their home. They were also unaware that others were also being abused. One former model said that she ended up owing the agency $20,000.
As part of their jobs, they would often attend parties with wealthy older men.
One of them dated the billionaire, Adnam Khashshoggi and she discovered that he had paid the agency $25,000 for an introduction at a party. Another agency, headed by Jean Luc Brunel, was alleged to abuse hundreds of teenage girls over a period of decades. Like Epstein, he committed suicide while awaiting trial. Osborne has documentary evidence that he supplied over a thousand girls to Epstein.
The bosses of the major fashion agencies are powerful people who are all well connected with the establishment. The Sky programme ends with around fourteen former models entering legal testimonies in Paris. Marie is now in his 70s and lives between Paris and Ibiza. He denies any wrongdoing but, like Epstein, he will face a trial and a likely conviction. Carie Otis, a former model who was one of the Marie’s victims, said that their campaign to secure a conviction was not just about justice, but was a protection for existing models and those who might enter the profession.
The fashion industry affects all of us, although it maybe not be obvious for to so many. It can be considered as part of the creative arts but like with other workers in that sector, models would be far better off if they were organised in a union. That would be the best way to prevent the of exploitation of young women and men. But it’s also an issue of ownership and control. Social ownership of agencies would also act as a barrier against sexual exploitation of young women as well as offering a more equitable distribution of the profits that are made in modelling.
Scouting for Girls, in three episodes, is on Sky Now, details here.
