The Rise of Nepotism in the Modeling Industry

The modeling industry is a cutthroat industry. You have to have the right look, the right body, and the right personality to make it into this industry. Some of the greatest models of all time have been scouted and spotted on the street or in their hometowns by agencies. These models have to work hard in order to be some of the greatest models of all time. Now, A new generation of models has found a loophole in the modeling industry.

One word:
Nepotism

"Nepotism" is a term that has been thrown about a lot in the past couple of years throughout the modeling industry. What is nepotism? well, let me give you the exact definition.

"The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs"

Many models that use nepotism to their advantage such as Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin..etc. Use their parents' fame or their relatives fame to become models who are on top of the modeling industry and its true.

Now, I'm not bashing their modeling ability. I am just commenting on how they became models in the first place. Some of these models are actually good and are slowly improving, but I just wanted to address their out of the ordinary entrance into the modeling industry.

One way that you know you've made it into the modeling industry is to get a cover of a major magazine. There are over 1,260 international editions of major magazines produced every single year such as Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar etc. I wanted to see how many of these models covered major magazines in 2016 so I did my own research.

My Research:

38 covers were given to these models in 2016
1,260 international major magazines are produced every year
= 3% of all major magazine covers were given to these models

Now, that's a really small number and it's not that significant.

Now let's break it down even more..

Let's look at the prestigious Vogue covers...

16 international editions of Vogue are produced every month
192 editions are produced every year
22 covers were given to these models in 2016
= 11% of Vogue covers were given to these models in 2016

That's an even bigger number.

Receiving a magazine cover used to be special and it showcased so many new and upcoming models and now it's been given to girls who you can regularly see on reality TV.

According to Forbes, Kendall Jenner and Karlie Kloss were tied at #3 of being the highest paid models in 2016.

I was thinking how could Kendall Jenner, someone who has just started modeling 2 years ago, be tied with Karlie Kloss, who has been modeling for 10 years...

So once again, I did my own research...

Since Kendall has been modeling for two years, I wanted to compare her two years to Karlie's two years in Vogue covers because Vogue is such an important magazine in the modeling industry.

Keep in mind that Kendall was put into the modeling industry through nepotism and there's no denying it and Karlie was simply scouted at a local benefit runway show in her hometown.

You saw that right. In two years, Kendall has received 10 Vogue covers and Karlie has received 3 Vogue covers. This is nepotism at its finest.

It's so sad to think that some models who have worked so hard in the industry haven't even received one Vogue cover and these models have received a couple already.

In an industry that is synonymous with hard work and rejection, are they really stooping this low?
To have celebrities and nepotism infiltrate their industry?

This really makes modeling seems as if anyone can do it even if you are a child or relative of a celebrity. I hope the modeling industry wakes up and realizes that this isn't what the modeling industry is based on.

It seems as if money, fame, and your last name will give you a free pass into the modeling industry and that's a sad, sad reality.

Credits:

Image - Daily Mail

The World's Highest Paid Models 2016

Karlie Kloss: The Vogue Archives

The Fashion Spot

The Infographic was created on Piktochart