WHY MALE MODELS GET PAID PEANUTS
They earn far less because industry is more interested in women’s aesthetics
MILAN
IT is a rare exception to the rule: the gender salary gap in the fashion industry sees female models paid more than their male counterparts for the same job.
None of the dozens of buffed and toned men parading at the latest menswear shows here since Friday can dream of earning anything like female catwalk stars, or of equivalent fame.
The likes of Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell have passed beyond the confines to fashion to become A-list celebrities, but their male equivalents, like the American Sean O’Pry or Britain’s David Gandy, remain largely unknown.
Gandy once observed: “Trust me to end up working in the only industry in the world where women get paid more than men, and treated loads better.
“In the hierarchy of a shoot, you have the photographer, the female model, the stylists, the assistants, then the male model. You are the lowest of the low.”
Frederic Godart, a sociologist who specialises in fashion’s place in society, explains: “Even if markets for designer men’s and women’s clothes generate roughly the same sales at about US$30 billion (RM128 billion), fashion remains an industry aimed at women.
“The brands and the fashion magazines are more interested in women’s aesthetics, which help to sell products better. As a result, that pushes up the value of female models,” he said.
Godart says there are around 1,000 young women who can make a comfortable living from top-end modelling.
“In this world, it’s ‘winner takes all’. Top female models tend to hit the jackpot and increase the gap with male counterparts.”
A 2013 survey by American magazine Forbes estimated that top model Bundchen had earned US$42 million last year, 28 times the amount the best-earning male model, O’Pry, could pull in.
Bundchen, however, is an exception. At the top of her game, she can command fees that exceed those paid even to the likes of Adriana Lima or Miranda Kerr by tens of thousands per show.
“The more you go down the hierarchy, the pay gap tends to narrow,” said Godart.
“The average salary of a model in the US, male or female, is only around US$30,000 a year.”
Not every one can even arrive at this modest level. Many male models live precariously and are forced to take other jobs between assignments, where sometimes employers will expect them to accept clothes as their payment. AFP