Krista Henry, Staff Reporter
(Left) Laface model Neasha, now 19, started with Laface when she was 14 years old.- Contributed
(Right)Shevolee Bell, former winner of the Jamaica leg of the Pulse Caribbean Model Search, was only 15 years old when she started her modelling career. - File
Too young to vote, to drink, to drive but not too young to model. Flushed in the face, lanky, awkward and having barely reached puberty, an increasing number of the underdeveloped have tried taking their baby steps down the runway.
As models have a short shelf life, youth is a necessity for a productive career, with few modelling past age 30. The popular concept of eternal beauty that most crave is not necessarily the envious curves or thin form, but that certain impression of youthfulness. However, some are taking the concept as far as recruiting girls as young as 12 years old.
It begs the question, at what point should children be put in adult fashion magazines, wearing fashions designed for persons years older and walking in adult shoes? In a recent interview with 'Today' at www.msnbc.msn.com, the very outspoken model Janice Dickinson publicly objected to an Australian model, 13 year-old Maddison Gabriel. Gabriel raised quite an uproar when she was to strut down the runway at New York's Fashion Week. "There's lots of drugs, there's lots of alcohol, there's lots of photographers preying on these girls. Thirteen is way too young," Dickinson protested.
Dickinson does not allow any girl under 18 to model for her agency.
According to Kevin Thompson, president and CEO of Laface Jamaica, based in New York, it is not that there should be an age limit to recruiting young models but a limit at which to expose them. Thompson attests that not all models are ready for the limelight while too 'fresh'. "In the U.S. they have a kiddies section, where they do mostly photographic modelling or beauty pageants, but they don't expose them too much," he said.
Laface has just begun their own kiddies section, recruiting models who are 15 and 16. However, Thompson does not expose them to any serious adult work. Before instituting the kiddies section, Thompson only recruited models aged 18 and over.
Thompson told The Sunday Gleaner he had noticed that in Jamaica agencies recruited the girls from a very young age, but waited to groom them before exposing them to the modelling world. He cites the example of Shevolee Bell, a Pulse model and Caribbean Model Search winner who was recruited at 14 going on 15 years old, but was only exposed well after she turned 16.
Pulse CEO Kingsley Cooper may work with younger models, but only on a limited basis and under supervision. He told The Sunday Gleaner that "we generally use 15 as our lower age limit for new models. However, ever so often a 14-year-old (and very occasionally a 13-year-old) comes along with a greater level of physical and mental maturity who we may work with on a limited basis. First of all, at that age school is paramount and, secondly, we work very closely with the children's parents. Also, we only allow them to participate in activities appropriate for that age".
Cooper attests that while the market may be keen on some of Pulse's younger models, the company never initiates an international career until the model has finished high school and is old enough to travel and handle the situations they are likely to come across. This group includes Gaye McDonald, Jaunel McKenzie, Shevolee Bell and many others, going as far back as Michelle Moodie in the 1980s and Lois Samuels in the 1990s.
Thompson also confirms the need for dedication and grooming to truly make a success of a model's natural assets. "At that age modelling should be a secondary thing. Education is important," he said.
For Saint International the age of recruitment is between 14 and 24 years old. According to Deiwght Peters, Saint CEO, "if we sign models say 14 years old we will groom them (on an off school schedule) until they successfully complete school. We have models such as Venecia Bennett, who was discovered at 14 but is now 17, completed her high school and is now ready to start her contract with Elite Models New York; Chantel Lee, who we discovered at 14 and has been offered a contract with Models 1 London and was invited by Elite Milan for the shows, but we have decided not to undertake any contracts until she completes school. During the summer holidays she was chaperoned by me to a magazine shoot in Ibiza, Spain".
parental guidance
According to Cooper, when models start so young parents are often very much in the 'picture'. He elaborated that at home the models are under parental guidance and the parents are told what the modelling industry is all about and what they should later expect and prepare for, both locally and internationally.
For Saint International, they lead their models by example.
"It is my experience that young people live what they learn, so it's imperative to set a standard, provide a strong and positive role model. The agencies with a dysfunctional culture will suffer after a while. We teach our models to be confident, knowledgeable, understanding how the politics of the industry works, what situations they are to avoid. I operate like a big brother and father (and protector) to all my models and that creates a balanced and productive relationship with the models and their families," Peters said.
