Test shots by Alex Conu.
Meet Miruna, 13. She is a new model at Best Models. Yes, that is correct: thirteen! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you and it is not an editing mistake!!!! So wrong. There’s always something wrong with the modeling industry, but this just passes that ‘acceptable’ line. A lot of 14 year old Romanian girls get modeling contracts in New York, they usually go without their parents. Besides the fact that they are all alone, besides the fact that the fashion industry is harsh and criticizing, just think of the traveling, all the new people, the parties, the drugs and alcohol, the pressure to stay skinny which usually leads to eating disorders and most importantly, the teenage years, which most of the time are hard to deal with, even at home when around familiar people.
Just think of what you did when you were fourteen. I personally hated everybody at that age and had constant fights with my parents. Now, when I look back, my behavior certainly seemed silly and I was lucky to have such supportive and understanding parents. However, when you are so far away, so many bad things can happen…
13 Responses to "‘Sweet’ Thirteen"
That’s nuts. Why don’t they just put fetuses in couture at this point? It would make about as much sense. Child models should model children’s clothing!
I completely agree with you. It’s about time we have women for models that sell clothes to women. They’re essentially manipulating children to profit from the insecurities of older women. I really can’t stand this part of the fashion industry.
Wow, she looks so mature! It is indeed a shame that this is happening because as we all know, there is an age for everything and to enter the grown up’s world at only 13 is not really appropriate. I mean, your childhood ends here.
pe de alta parte daca inca mai credeti ca fetele sunt copii la 13 ani… ok, e si asta o parere. dar chiar nu e nevoie sa infantilizezi un adolescent.
mai are multe de invatat, mai are multe de exprimat, de explorat… dar nu mai este un copil.
nu e vorba de infantilizarea unui adolescent. ci de adolescenta raportata la meseria de model, mai ales pe plan international unde concurenta si meseria sunt la alt nivel.
bineinteles, depinde de fiecare persoana in parte cat de repede se maturizeaza. insa 13 ani e totusi clasa a 7a. numai ce termini scoala primara (!!!) si prezinti haine targetate femeilor de 25-35 ani, unele mai putin subtile dpdv al sexualitatii decat altele.
pur ipotetic, imi imaginez cum ar fi daca a mea fiica ar trebui sa plece in NY, singura, la castinguri si nu cred ca as putea sa dorm linistita.
cand am fost acum 2 ani in USA trei luni pot doar sa imi imaginez prin cate stari de neliniste a trecut mama si cat nopti nedormite a avut.
mai ales ca m-am si acidentat acolo la un job, din fericire am avut noroc si nu mi-a nimerit vena de la mana. Ideea e ca se pot inampla o groaza de lucruri rele, fara sa vrei. SI e greu daca la varsta aia nu ai pe cineva care sa te ajute…
It’s quite sad really. And a little bit nuts! 13 (or even 14) is just too young.
totally agree with you, that’s so wrong. I can’t understand their parents to let my 13 years old daughter working in the model industry. I’m feeling bad for her not to have the usual youth as every thirteen years old girl.
nu stiu ce se intampla cu lumea din ziua de azi!fata aceasta nici nu pare de 13 ani!
Am 17 ani si poate par incuiata dar inca ma minunez cand vad fete de 13- 14 ani (chiar mai mici) imbracate si machiate de parca ar avea 30, parca uita sa copilareasca…eu la 13 ani ma duceam in parc,ma plimbam cu bicicleta,jucam badminton,pierdeam timpul cu activitati din astea si inca il mai pierd dar intr-o oarecare masura.
Parca ar fi sub influenta unei vraji.
asta este parerea mea…
ai dreptate!! si cand de gandesti ca le folosesc si apoi de scapa de ele dupa 2 sezoane cand nu mai sunt “in”…vor mereu fete din ce in ce mai tinere si mai slabe.ma intreb pana unde se va ajunge.
mmm.. realitatea e undeva la mijloc. fetitele astea de 13-15 nu-s modele in adevaratul sens al cuvantului. pe la 16 ani intra cu adevarat in paine.
zicea nookie mai sus ca uita sa copilareasca.. chiar nu uita. sunt la fel de copile ca si altele de-o varsta cu ele care nu sunt implicate in modelling. la varsta asta nu au 1000 de sedinte foto si prezentari. se joaca, merg in parc si se dau cu rolele, la shooting-uri imi povestesc de compunerile de la scoala etc. si modelling-ul e tot o joaca.
deci, situatia nu-i chiar asa tragica precum pare din exterior.
Remember when I said nowadays designers- and therefore mothers- dress their little tots in grown-up looking clothing? And now we see 13 year olds looking like adults? Does anyone else see the correlation between these two phenomenons?! There is a general aging of childhood.
What else are these kids supposed to look like at 13 when they look like miniature grown-ups at 3 years of age? I’ve even seen toddler shoes with heels at a trade show! They even make soft “heeled shoes” for babies- BABIES!!! I wish I remembered the company to link so you can see for yourself.
I don’t think childhood is what it used to be. It seems to have lost a certain innocence, naivete and joy it used to have.
I treasure my childhood for what it was. I played, ran around and played some more. I played well into my teens- you wanna know what I was doing at 13? I was dressing my Barbies, and my Barbie look alike dolls- and so were my classmates. Our idea of fun and play was going on class trips and enjoying being out in nature for a change. We wouldn’t dream of asking our parents if we could date or have boyfriends, and if we had crushes, we’d be careful our teachers didn’t find out. Make-up wasn’t even in our vocabulary, it was certainly something one wouldn’t bring to school, and we considered “mature” the one or two girls who wore clear lip gloss- wild! Same for nail polish. I started wearing it in high school- and stopped wearing it out of college (ironically for the same reasons my mom wouldn’t let me wear it when I was too young- all those chemicals get into your body- yuck!- but now it’s cool NOT to wear it because of the ECO, and Organic movements).
Body image is not something that happens overnight. It is acquired over time. What we are exposed to does that. Now kids spend endless hours watching TV and even more so online, having access to grown-up content. Same for magazines. We didn’t have access to glossies in the 80’s- and a good part of the post- communist 90’s, maybe that’s why I didn’t feel the pressure to look a certain way (read “skinny”) growing up. I was who I was and loving it. I attribute being happy with my body and how I look today to the fact that I felt good about myself that way when I was a kid- all I can hear in my head when I think about my body now is grandma saying I had to eat more to be nice and plump. That was my standard growing up- and still is today. I love the roundness of my body- LOVE it! I don’t know if I would feel this way if I was exposed to everything kids are exposed to today.
I did however become acutely aware of this “image” that was considered the standard when I moved to NY in my teenage years- and subscribed to Vogue. I did obsess about my thighs. I did diet. Thankfully I grew out of it and came to my senses. Eventually I found a way to eat healthier and the way I look now is a result of it, not the reason- go figure, you let go of something and you get it- I’m more slender now even though I don’t do anything special than when I was counting the cucumber bites I was having for lunch. (I eat when I’m hungry, I drink when I’m thirsty, I sleep, and go about my day normally,I don’t think about it- I gain weight in the winter when I’m less active and my body decides it needs the “padding”, and lose it in the summertime when I’m out more and the days get hot. Either way I love it- I enjoy the plumpness of winter and the lightness of summer- my body has its own natural flow). I wish everyone felt good about themselves- thank you, grandma! I wish people understood it’s ok to look like yourself. It frees up a lot of time and energy you can use for other things. So that’s my take on body image- I didn’t have it when I was 13. No matter how sheltered you are, working in this industry is bound to get to you- at any age, let alone 13. Ask any model, any age about getting “fat” and “old” and see how many say it’s not something they think about because they’ll keep working regardless- sure, just not on this planet. Even naturally thin girls feel at some point they have to lose weight, especially since their bodies are just developing. Their self esteem too. They are still kids, half way playing and rollerskating and half way looking like adults.
I wish kids realized how precious childhood is and they weren’t in such a rush to grow up; makeup at 13? As far as parents go, I’m not one at the moment; how do you tell someone how to raise their children? It’s very personal, but every choice has consequences. What would those be for your child to go live by herself- in a foreign city- in a foreign country. Everyone is different. I only know what I know and my choice would not necessarily be right for someone else. The point for what I said so far (Diana, sorry to hijack your post with so much talking, but you raised an engaging topic) is that today’s 13 is not yesterday’s 13, just as the 1950’s weren’t the 1940’s, the 1980’s weren’t the 1970’s and so on, though it is shocking and almost icky to see the “baby fat” these girls still have when wearing clothes designed for 40 year olds or older women who can actually afford them, or worse, to see them baring their chest in the see- through blouses of the season. This whole industry- especially the modeling aspect of it, is very enticing, but there is a lot to deal with in terms of looking, being and acting a certain way if you want to keep working- at least in NY and anyone, please let me know if it’s different in other countries. If you don’t fit in image- wise, there are endless “new faces” that will comply with the way the system works and you’ll be “out”. I don’t like using cliches, but in this case it’s true. I had a taste of how things work and I distanced myself very fast from all the drama and the politics of it- I work on my own and look for genuine people to work with. Away from the glitz. I think we lose sight of what fashion is- it’s something that should enhance the outside to make you feel better, not worse; at least in my book. I’m only 26, but I don’t think at 40 seeing a dress on a 13 year old will make me feel good- I already feel I have nothing in common with the childish looking models I see in some ad campaigns. It’s weird.
I wish the key people who control the media (magazine movers and shakers) and the designers, casting people and agencies would wake up out of the bubble and see the illogicality it’s gotten to. It puzzles me that in an industry that worships the different facial features- the more exotic one is, the more everyone raves- is the same industry that conforms the body to a standard so removed from reality that undeveloped kids’/ teenage bodies are able to fit into. In the 1940’s and earlier the models reflected the women of the day in size and age. How did we depart from that idea to what’s going on in fashion today? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against models and I don’t believe they all have eating disorders, or that they’re all immature or dumb, or whatever stereotypes are out there. Talk to a few and you’ll see they’re just as diverse as any people are. So I’m not criticizing them. They are essentially sales people, and just as a real estate agent has to have a certain set of skills for selling houses, at any size, zero or plus size, or commercial models, they all have to have a certain set of skills to sell clothing or beauty products. I don’t agree with those who say anyone can be a model- yeah, right! Never mind your size or shape, have you tried to take a picture and project an emotion through your eyes and stance? Not easy. The good models learn how to use their physiques and “act” out what the brand is about. Do they have to be 13 though? Even if they can move and take pictures like noone else. Can’t they wait a few more years? Can’t this industry wait for them to grow up too?
Even 16 is pushing it. You can’t vote, in certain coutries you can’t drive and you’re certainly not allowed to drink. You’re not an adult- why then, dress and act like one- usually provocatively- to sell to adults (who are not supposed to look at you that way, because you’re underage, and if they did look at you that way in real life, they’d go to jail!)
If the same 13 year old was that good at modeling, and had the drive, passion and talent, or modeled because it was fun and felt like “play”, why not model age appropriate clothing? There are plenty of companies out there who manufacture and sell teen clothes and they all hire and pay well. A lot of 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 year olds etc work in that field. I don’t think the issue is kids modeling, but modeling in an adult, sexualized way and being thrown too soon into a grownup world they don’t even understand.
Intr-un fel sunt de acord cu ce ziceti voi, e o varsta tanara pt a intra in lumea modei, o lume plina de nesimtiti si prefacuti.Dar nu sunt de acord cu faptul ca in opinia voastra isi pierde copilaria.Fiecare are copilarie diferita, asta nu inseamna ca e pierduta.Si eu am facut sport de performanta si pot sa spun ca nu am avut o copilarie ca si ceilalti de varsta mea, aveam 2 antrenamente pe zi si intre mergeam la scoala.Nu aveam timp sa stau in fata blocului si sa mananc seminte sau sa injur ca la usa cortului, sau mai rau sa ma apuc de fumat,bautura sau mai stiu eu ce, cum ii vad pe copii din ziua de azi…Am avut parte de alte satisfactii si alte amintiri, zic eu mult mai frumoase decat multi dintre colegii mei.Emotile de la concursuri, distractia din cantonamente si locurile vizitate mie imi par a fi un castig,nu o pierdere.Iar daca vrei sa faci performanta, indiferent de domeniu pe care il alegi, trebuie sa faci si sacrifici,nu e nimic rau in asta..
What about the other side of the story? Have you ever thought about this from the girl’s perspective?
I would not forbid my child to go to NY just because there’s school… If you’re smart about it you can do both.
C’mon, let’s get real.It’s just look bad because is “fashion” and it is supposed to be brainless. What about kids that do not have a childhood because they are into sports? Or into mathematics? It’s the same.
The best decisions in life are the ones that are taken by themselves. Nobody can decide what’s best for me.
You don’t grow an extra brainlobe between 13 and 18…I don’t think it’s just important.