What do you think?
Rate this book
Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women
Michael Gross exposes the day-to-day business of beautiful young women, sex and drugs. Through hundreds of in-depth interviews with models, photographers and agents, he develops a flowing narrative history of the modeling industry from its birth to the present day supermodel craze. It's a story of serendipitous careers like that of industry creator Richard Powers, an out-of-work actor who created a niche for himself by providing beautiful people for the newly-developed fields of photography and advertising.
576 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1995
130 people are currently reading
1466 people want to read
About the author
Michael Gross
11 books82 followersThis book list is a work in progress. Michael Gross is recognized as one of America’s most provocative writers of non-fiction–its “foremost chronicler of the upper-crust,” says curbed.com. His latest book Unreal Estate, to be published November 1, 2011, is a west coast version of his bestseller, 740 Park, this time exposing the most exclusive neighborhoods of Los Angeles–Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel Air and Beverly Park–and their residents. 740 Park, published in 2005, is the inside story of New York’s richest, most prestigious cooperative apartment building. Built by James T. Lee, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ grandfather, and long the residence of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 740 Park is today the home of some of New York’s wealthiest and most prominent families. Fortune has described 740 Park as “jaw-dropping apartment porn.” It offers an unprecedented peek into the world of such latterday financial heroes and villains as Stephen Schwarzman, Ezra Merkin and John Thain.
In between these real estate epics, Gross published the wildly controversial expose of New York’s cultural elite Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum in 2009, setting off an extraordinary campaign by some of New York’s most influential citizens to suppress the book. It failed. The New York Times Book Review called it “a blockbuster exhibition of human achievement and flaws” and Vanity Fair said it is simply “explosive.” Why? “Gross demonstrates he knows his stuff. It’s a terrific tale…gossipy, color-rich, fact-packed …What Gross reveals is stuff that more people should know,” according to USA Today. A paperback edition was released in May 2010.
Before 740 Park, Gross wrote Genuine Authentic, a biography of fashion designer Ralph Lauren. It was acclaimed by The New York Times as a work of “impressive reporting” that “hack(s) through the hype and half-truths” of the Polo purveyor’s legend. Publishers Weekly praised his “meticulous research and artful prose…The crackerjack journalist simultaneously tells a compelling story and gives it meat enough to be satisfying.”
A Contributing Editor of Travel & Leisure, Gross has also worked as a columnist for The New York Times, GQ, Tatler, Town & Country, and The Daily News; a Contributing Editor of New York (where he wrote 26 cover stories, including the magazine’s all-time best-selling reported cover story on John F. Kennedy, Jr.), and of Talk; a Senior Writer at Esquire, and a Senior Editor at George.
In 2000, Gross published My Generation, a generational biography of the Baby Boom. It was called “wonderful” by the Washington Times, “trenchant, well-dramatized, thought-provoking and unusual” by Kirkus Reviews and “hugely entertaining…a brilliantly reported story,” by the Orlando Sentinel.
Gross’s 1995 book, Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, was an investigative tour-de-force, and a blistering expose of the fashion-modeling business. It was a New York Times bestseller, and a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club. Model, which remains in print and in demand more than a dozen years after its first publication, was also published in France, the U. K., Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and China. Most recently, an updated edition was published in Russia. Click here to read reviews of Model.
Over the years Gross has profiled such subjects as John F. Kennedy Jr., Greta Garbo, Stephanie of Monaco, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, Madonna, and Ivana Trump; fashion figures Tina Chow, Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Ralph Lauren, and Steven Meisel, and he’s written on topics as diverse as philanthropy, the theft of the internet domain sex.com, plastic surgery, divorce, the A-List, Sex in the 90s and Greenwich Village-the last in an article that introduced the phrase “quality of life” into New York City’s 1993 mayoral campaig
In between these real estate epics, Gross published the wildly controversial expose of New York’s cultural elite Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum in 2009, setting off an extraordinary campaign by some of New York’s most influential citizens to suppress the book. It failed. The New York Times Book Review called it “a blockbuster exhibition of human achievement and flaws” and Vanity Fair said it is simply “explosive.” Why? “Gross demonstrates he knows his stuff. It’s a terrific tale…gossipy, color-rich, fact-packed …What Gross reveals is stuff that more people should know,” according to USA Today. A paperback edition was released in May 2010.
Before 740 Park, Gross wrote Genuine Authentic, a biography of fashion designer Ralph Lauren. It was acclaimed by The New York Times as a work of “impressive reporting” that “hack(s) through the hype and half-truths” of the Polo purveyor’s legend. Publishers Weekly praised his “meticulous research and artful prose…The crackerjack journalist simultaneously tells a compelling story and gives it meat enough to be satisfying.”
A Contributing Editor of Travel & Leisure, Gross has also worked as a columnist for The New York Times, GQ, Tatler, Town & Country, and The Daily News; a Contributing Editor of New York (where he wrote 26 cover stories, including the magazine’s all-time best-selling reported cover story on John F. Kennedy, Jr.), and of Talk; a Senior Writer at Esquire, and a Senior Editor at George.
In 2000, Gross published My Generation, a generational biography of the Baby Boom. It was called “wonderful” by the Washington Times, “trenchant, well-dramatized, thought-provoking and unusual” by Kirkus Reviews and “hugely entertaining…a brilliantly reported story,” by the Orlando Sentinel.
Gross’s 1995 book, Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, was an investigative tour-de-force, and a blistering expose of the fashion-modeling business. It was a New York Times bestseller, and a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club. Model, which remains in print and in demand more than a dozen years after its first publication, was also published in France, the U. K., Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and China. Most recently, an updated edition was published in Russia. Click here to read reviews of Model.
Over the years Gross has profiled such subjects as John F. Kennedy Jr., Greta Garbo, Stephanie of Monaco, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, Madonna, and Ivana Trump; fashion figures Tina Chow, Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Ralph Lauren, and Steven Meisel, and he’s written on topics as diverse as philanthropy, the theft of the internet domain sex.com, plastic surgery, divorce, the A-List, Sex in the 90s and Greenwich Village-the last in an article that introduced the phrase “quality of life” into New York City’s 1993 mayoral campaig
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
July 17, 2025
The music pounds, the champagne flows. There is brimstone in the air along with poison and obsession and vendetta.it is the smell of a factory that feeds on young girls.
Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women:
by Michael Gross
Positives: I liked the Author's writing. The dark side of t he fashion industry was absolutely captured. I feel the writer is quite talented.
The negatives? What I thought I'd like best was what I wound up liking least. I had been looking forward to reading about some of the models. But aspects were way to gossipy and focused so greatly on their love lives.
I guess I should have expected it..the book is about Fashion..and Models after all! But I really wanted to know more about the women themselves, the different personality aspects that made them who they are. I came at it from a more psychological perspective .
This book wasn't BAD or anything but it wasn't as powerful as I'd have liked and honestly? After awhile , the models started to blur into each other and I got bored. I had not imagined myself being bored with a book on an industry like this but there you go. It happened.
Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women:
by Michael Gross
Positives: I liked the Author's writing. The dark side of t he fashion industry was absolutely captured. I feel the writer is quite talented.
The negatives? What I thought I'd like best was what I wound up liking least. I had been looking forward to reading about some of the models. But aspects were way to gossipy and focused so greatly on their love lives.
I guess I should have expected it..the book is about Fashion..and Models after all! But I really wanted to know more about the women themselves, the different personality aspects that made them who they are. I came at it from a more psychological perspective .
This book wasn't BAD or anything but it wasn't as powerful as I'd have liked and honestly? After awhile , the models started to blur into each other and I got bored. I had not imagined myself being bored with a book on an industry like this but there you go. It happened.
January 8, 2014
I really liked this book, which focuses on the history of modeling, from the 1920s or so up until the mid-1990s. The title and the back copy both make it seem like it's merely a collection of gossip and dirt, and while there's dirt a plenty, it's actually pretty serious. There are a LOT of names to keep track of, and I do think that in order to enjoy this book you need to have not only an appreciation for fashion but also some prior knowledge of prominent fashion photographers and models of the 20th century. My Pinterest is like 90% vintage fashion and fashion photography so I'm probably an ideal audience.
The first two-thirds of the book, which focus on the history of models and the industry up until the 1970s or so, were fascinating. The last third was a different story, because a lot of the focus left the models & photographers and instead focused on the agencies as the so-called "Modeling Wars" of the 1980s started. I have NO head for business, so the internecine conflicts within and between different agencies left me cold.
The tragic lives of many models, and the abuses perpetrated on naive young girls, are heartbreaking. It's a difficult book because it leaves you thinking, by enjoying these pictures and buying fashion magazines, am I perpetuating an abusive cycle? With art, there is always a question of, if the artist is a bad person, does that make the art bad? The addition of vulnerable human beings as the center of that art makes the question even more difficult in regards to fashion & fashion photography.
Anyway, if you have an interest in fashion and/or fashion photography, you'll probably enjoy this book. I give it four stars.
The first two-thirds of the book, which focus on the history of models and the industry up until the 1970s or so, were fascinating. The last third was a different story, because a lot of the focus left the models & photographers and instead focused on the agencies as the so-called "Modeling Wars" of the 1980s started. I have NO head for business, so the internecine conflicts within and between different agencies left me cold.
The tragic lives of many models, and the abuses perpetrated on naive young girls, are heartbreaking. It's a difficult book because it leaves you thinking, by enjoying these pictures and buying fashion magazines, am I perpetuating an abusive cycle? With art, there is always a question of, if the artist is a bad person, does that make the art bad? The addition of vulnerable human beings as the center of that art makes the question even more difficult in regards to fashion & fashion photography.
Anyway, if you have an interest in fashion and/or fashion photography, you'll probably enjoy this book. I give it four stars.
September 17, 2011
The book was amzingly researched and look how low the ratings are. I believe this book was unintentionally written for a limited audience. I think the author is really into fashion and is pre-occupied with models but he forgot that most people aren't. If you're in the fashion biz you'll know most, if not all the names mentioned in this book. If not, they'll be too many names for you to keep track of. I think this 3 star rating this book has earned overall has been unearned and given by people outside the focus and sphere of the book's intended audience. I give it 5 stars to try to counter-balance their low ratings.
November 27, 2016
Great reference, including interviews with key people in the business. Very useful, one of few books on the history of the modelling profession.
Remember looking at a brand new copy of the book in New York, just after it was published. Wanted it, deemed it too unserious (fashion, I was a literature major and a different breed of snob at the time), left it behind.
Have been pining for the book ever since! Finally bought a hardback copy on Am. Ebay - condition like new - although not signed by Michael Gross like the first one. Very useful as reference when writing my master thesis.
Goes to show - my instincts are way ahead of my intellect. I now have a master degree in Fashion Studies.
Remember looking at a brand new copy of the book in New York, just after it was published. Wanted it, deemed it too unserious (fashion, I was a literature major and a different breed of snob at the time), left it behind.
Have been pining for the book ever since! Finally bought a hardback copy on Am. Ebay - condition like new - although not signed by Michael Gross like the first one. Very useful as reference when writing my master thesis.
Goes to show - my instincts are way ahead of my intellect. I now have a master degree in Fashion Studies.
April 22, 2015
The first 25% of the book was interesting, but then it started reading like a tabloid about all the sex, drugs, and scandal. It might have been more interesting if I cared about about or even knew who more of these people were. It does deliver a good history of the fashion industry up through the 90s, but of course, it's not up to date.
September 13, 2008
Michael Gross did an impressive amount of research and numerous interviews for this book, and it shows through in an engaging treatment of the history and personalities of the industry. It gets dense and hard to follow at times.
July 8, 2009
Loves my models! This book was pretty informative to me as far as the early models & how they got their start. Sometimes it was hard to keep everything straight, but overall a good read if you are into all this nonsense. Which I am!
October 22, 2025
A pretty extensive history of the business of modelling. A lot of powerful, rich people not getting any consequences for really terrible behaviour that they continue now. I am scared for any young girl taking the modelling route. I like to read more about the personal lives and experiences of people vs the business dealings of shady people, so this book wasn’t really my kind of thing.
just-couldnt-finish-it
January 17, 2025I expected to love this, as it’s a topic I’m really interested in. But….i just could not get into it, at all. Made it about 15% in before I bailed.
July 29, 2010
UGH! What a horrible book. Long, dull, name-dropping names you don’t care about. And, the overall story – highly disappointing. The “ugly business” – not really much of a surprise. And, I’m not sure that that’s because the book was published 15 years ago.
So what do you learn in this book? Photographers have sex with the models – so does anyone else who has any sort of influence in the industry (ie, can get the model work.) They use a lot of drugs. The agencies fight with each other to get models to work for them and get the publishers to pick their models.
Not sure what’s so shocking or surprising about any of that.
There are a few bright spots – the story of Lauren Hutton is pretty much written by her with little editing by the author – a great and entertaining story. There are a few other spots like that – Cindy Crawford’s story is another I can think of – no where near enough to make reading the entire tome worthwhile.
There is an interesting mention of Roman Polanski being at a hotel room in Paris with Jack Nicholson in a room full of 14-15 year old girls. It’s not explicitly stated, but it’s strongly implied that the girls were there for sex. (Seriously – I hope Roman Polanski’s children never meet someone like him when they are not in a position of power.)
The bright spot in the book? There’s a good index. Use it to find the Lauren Hutton and Cindy Crawford stories so you can read just them.
Otherwise, this book is an insult to the trees sacrificed to publish it.
So what do you learn in this book? Photographers have sex with the models – so does anyone else who has any sort of influence in the industry (ie, can get the model work.) They use a lot of drugs. The agencies fight with each other to get models to work for them and get the publishers to pick their models.
Not sure what’s so shocking or surprising about any of that.
There are a few bright spots – the story of Lauren Hutton is pretty much written by her with little editing by the author – a great and entertaining story. There are a few other spots like that – Cindy Crawford’s story is another I can think of – no where near enough to make reading the entire tome worthwhile.
There is an interesting mention of Roman Polanski being at a hotel room in Paris with Jack Nicholson in a room full of 14-15 year old girls. It’s not explicitly stated, but it’s strongly implied that the girls were there for sex. (Seriously – I hope Roman Polanski’s children never meet someone like him when they are not in a position of power.)
The bright spot in the book? There’s a good index. Use it to find the Lauren Hutton and Cindy Crawford stories so you can read just them.
Otherwise, this book is an insult to the trees sacrificed to publish it.
December 12, 2020
This book tells the story of the modeling agency business from its inception to the present day, with a focus on the US and Europe.
Interesting fact: I was surprised to learn that the very first modeling agency was created in the US, and not in France or Italy.
The book tells about how Eileen Ford, the founder of the Ford agency, besides providing modeling jobs to her models, also wanted to act as a matchmaker between models and suitable parties, who were often rich middle-aged men.
As it turns out, people working in the modeling industry, be it photographers, agents or scouts had other ideas. Why act as middlemen when they could be themselves the suitable parties, even if they were not so much. The book singles out the European fashion scene, and in particular Italy and France. The Elite agency deserves a special, unfortunately negative, mention here.
As a result, for many girls modeling became a trap that prevented them from building their private lives, instead of being a source of better opportunities in terms of suitable parties.
In reading this book, one gets a sense of an industry where backstabbing, predatory behavior and financial tinkering are rampant. Is this rhetoric veering on the sensationalist side? One must be an insider to answer this question.
Illuminating.
Interesting fact: I was surprised to learn that the very first modeling agency was created in the US, and not in France or Italy.
The book tells about how Eileen Ford, the founder of the Ford agency, besides providing modeling jobs to her models, also wanted to act as a matchmaker between models and suitable parties, who were often rich middle-aged men.
As it turns out, people working in the modeling industry, be it photographers, agents or scouts had other ideas. Why act as middlemen when they could be themselves the suitable parties, even if they were not so much. The book singles out the European fashion scene, and in particular Italy and France. The Elite agency deserves a special, unfortunately negative, mention here.
As a result, for many girls modeling became a trap that prevented them from building their private lives, instead of being a source of better opportunities in terms of suitable parties.
In reading this book, one gets a sense of an industry where backstabbing, predatory behavior and financial tinkering are rampant. Is this rhetoric veering on the sensationalist side? One must be an insider to answer this question.
Illuminating.
June 12, 2018
It is mixed to say the least. The first person chapters are pretty good, as is the earlier part of the book, but it soon devolves into a alphabet soup of agencies, with constant digressions and timelines that are scrambles. Despite impressive research, there is little evidence of a coherant theme.
September 24, 2007
Everyone knows that the modeling industry is full of drugs, eating disorders, casting couches, and other dangerous behavior, but it's interesting to see it from behind the scenes.
November 9, 2017
super repetitive but I loved the 90s supermodel chapters
June 5, 2022
- For the greater period of early Modeling industry history, the industry wasn't standardized. The pay was poor and sexualization of the industry was rampant (and still is)
- However, star-scouts are in their best behavior when they spot someone who has a million dollar look - they don't want her to disappear. Whereas many of the model who they know wouldn't make it anyways are trashed over
- All models smoke
- Difference between Models and Supermodels: the former simply don't manage their brands. Supermodels manage their image religiously (to them, modeling is a career, not something to solve their insecurities)
- Cindy Crawford was successful because she was smart and she was unashamed to use her intelligence to manage her career in the modeling world
- Many models who don't know better cave into the fantasy world of drugs, sex and alcohol
- However, star-scouts are in their best behavior when they spot someone who has a million dollar look - they don't want her to disappear. Whereas many of the model who they know wouldn't make it anyways are trashed over
- All models smoke
- Difference between Models and Supermodels: the former simply don't manage their brands. Supermodels manage their image religiously (to them, modeling is a career, not something to solve their insecurities)
- Cindy Crawford was successful because she was smart and she was unashamed to use her intelligence to manage her career in the modeling world
- Many models who don't know better cave into the fantasy world of drugs, sex and alcohol
May 4, 2020
It is really well researched. You may find many interesting information about fashion industry, photographers, models... I enjoyed reading about Richard Avedon, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, Veruschka, French photographers, London's trio etc. I think it can be difficult to follow the story for the people that don't work in fashion or don't know fashion industry. I read one review of this book that Michael Gross will hardly drink coffee in the fashion circles again. Agree! It is a bit gossipy and doesn't celebrate fashion at all. It got
a lot of dirt, but again that makes it provocative and controversial.
a lot of dirt, but again that makes it provocative and controversial.
March 30, 2025
Gerald Ford (yes, the US president) modeled and financed a top model agency in his youth. The Kennedy’s hung around model agencies to pick up dates. And photographers were dying their hair blue and showing off naked chained women at fetishist parties in the 1920s. This and more can be found in “Model”: a detailed history of modelling in the US covering the top photographers, models, and fashion / social cultures through the decades.
July 29, 2024
Had to quit this book. I found it a bit annoying to be constantly introduced to new persons. It was hard to keep up with things. I thought this book would be more about the models themselves, rather than so much info about their bosses/photographers/assistants.
October 18, 2025
Comprehensive and fascinating. It must have taken years to compile all of this. I most enjoyed the interviews with some of the women who were models of the moment where they speak frankly about the job and their many marriages.
July 28, 2020
Excellent background on the many personalities involved in the modeling business. Fascinating and also sad.
January 31, 2021
Exhaustingly detailed.
April 29, 2023
I really wanted this to be a fun read, but it just made me sad. on top of that, there was a lot of exposition that took me out of the narrative. I might give this a chance again later.
February 23, 2025
Should have called it the Encyclopedia of Modeling
July 25, 2025
Very apropos considering our times. John Casablancas (aka The Wolf) of Elite Model Management and a pack of others.
August 18, 2025
the early history of modeling was very interesting. unfortunately this book was about 200 pages too long and repetitive.
November 17, 2025
not surprised DJT and Epstein are in this book...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2015
The fun parts are the discovery stories of all these posing beauties; also a little bit about how modeling agencies started. John Robert Powers was an out-of-work actor who found himself running a clearing house for movie extras. He suddenly thought, "Hey, there are commercial photographers out there looking for models. And I know dozens of out-of-work actors and actresses. Why not bring them together?"
The book also details the wars between modeling agencies, stealing one another's girls. In fact, too much detail. Sometimes I get the feel that every paragraph equals an author's note card (must have been 3200 miles of note cards, laid end to end) and he tells me about agents, photographers, editors, names names names of people I never knew or needed to know.
But I stuck with it.
In the '70s, everybody in the business snorted coke while they worked, although I notice that many of the real supermodels stayed away from the drugs, which seemed to contribute to the longevity of their careers. At any rate, a great deal of mischief goes on, but doesn't count as cow patties, because it is rendered such a reporter-like tone. And as the book progresses through the years, the pay rates keep going up, from $5/hr in the '30s to $25,000/day in the mid-'90s.
Even though I'm taken with the tarnished glamour of it all, I think one retired agent summed it up best when she said (and I paraphrase) We put these magazine pictures before the public and say, You will never look like this, but please try.
The book also details the wars between modeling agencies, stealing one another's girls. In fact, too much detail. Sometimes I get the feel that every paragraph equals an author's note card (must have been 3200 miles of note cards, laid end to end) and he tells me about agents, photographers, editors, names names names of people I never knew or needed to know.
But I stuck with it.
In the '70s, everybody in the business snorted coke while they worked, although I notice that many of the real supermodels stayed away from the drugs, which seemed to contribute to the longevity of their careers. At any rate, a great deal of mischief goes on, but doesn't count as cow patties, because it is rendered such a reporter-like tone. And as the book progresses through the years, the pay rates keep going up, from $5/hr in the '30s to $25,000/day in the mid-'90s.
Even though I'm taken with the tarnished glamour of it all, I think one retired agent summed it up best when she said (and I paraphrase) We put these magazine pictures before the public and say, You will never look like this, but please try.
August 27, 2010
If you're interested in the history of how modeling got started and why models can make so much money just based on their looks, this book is a decent place to start. I was surprised to see so little about Gia, comparative to what another reviewer wrote. Especially since she was not only one of the first "supermodels" - but also because of the industry's reliance on drugs, she also became one of the first female ARC deaths.
So this book is interesting but I'm also surprised it didn't go into the pedoephilia that seems to drive a lot of the industry, while still mentioning it, it does seem the author could have dug a lot deeper on these very serious issues. Especially since so many young girls are exposed to modeling as a career they would literally do anything to not only break into, but also succeed at. And this book has two supermodels that were each bedded by the same older man who not only said he would make them stars, but did so. Which will make it something that young girls will think they have to do if they read this book.
More indepth research and straightforward discussion would have helped balance the story, as it were.
So this book is interesting but I'm also surprised it didn't go into the pedoephilia that seems to drive a lot of the industry, while still mentioning it, it does seem the author could have dug a lot deeper on these very serious issues. Especially since so many young girls are exposed to modeling as a career they would literally do anything to not only break into, but also succeed at. And this book has two supermodels that were each bedded by the same older man who not only said he would make them stars, but did so. Which will make it something that young girls will think they have to do if they read this book.
More indepth research and straightforward discussion would have helped balance the story, as it were.
December 18, 2015
I really like this book, I'm not sure why this book is so lowly rated. I wonder if people somehow believe the Model business and life is such an idyllic thing but as with anything there can be a very ugly side to it. And don't forget women were once thought of as just pretty faces, to be done with as men thought was okay. This book gives a really good overview of how things were at the beginning of the Model business and how things evolved. Eileen Ford and her Husband were either loved or hated, it's so interesting reading all the varying views of them. John Casablancas, who I only knew of because of "modelling schools", is quite an interesting character/person on the early modelling scene. The iconic photographers got their start somewhere and this book gives a good background to much of their start and how they made it to be so well-loved (or not). So many of the models mentioned in this book were all the rage when I was a small child first discovering magazines and then going into all the super models of the 1990s / the famous models featured in George Michael's Freedom video.
February 4, 2013
This is only somewhat a book about models, so the title ("Model") is a bit misplaced.
Instead, this is a book about the rise of the modelling *business*, with the major stars of the piece being model agencies, around which a constellation of supporting characters--photographers, designers, models, even makeup artists--swirl. The book speaks to the expected scandals, but it also discusses very interesting themes for the postwar economy: women in the workforce; consumer representation of women; even attitudes toward race and sexuality.
Instead, this is a book about the rise of the modelling *business*, with the major stars of the piece being model agencies, around which a constellation of supporting characters--photographers, designers, models, even makeup artists--swirl. The book speaks to the expected scandals, but it also discusses very interesting themes for the postwar economy: women in the workforce; consumer representation of women; even attitudes toward race and sexuality.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews