Fashion Workers Act Championed by Model Alliance Passes New York Legislature

For years, models have complained of widespread sexual and financial exploitation in their industry, from hidden agency fees to overpriced model apartments to unchecked sexual harassment during filming and castings.

Today, the nation's first legislation to meaningfully regulate modeling agencies passed in New York, ending a two-year bitter fight between modeling rights activists and the companies that represent them.

The Fashion Workers Act, endorsed by models Karen Elson, Carr Otis and Beverly Johnson, passed the New York Senate on Thursday evening and unanimously passed the Assembly on Friday. It now goes to Governor Kathy Hochul for her signature.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Karines Reyes and written in partnership with Model Alliance, an advocacy group.

New York has long prided itself on being the fashion capital of the United States, Hoylman-Sigal said in a statement to The Daily Beast. When the Governor signs this bill, models working in our state will finally receive the labor protections to which they are entitled, making New York the capital of fashion worker protections.

Model Alliance founder Sara Ziff, who has driven Sprinter vans full of models to the state Capitol to lobby for the bill for the past two years, said she hopes it will change the fashion culture and will improve the standards of treatment of models.

“I hope that with the passage of the Fashion Workers Act, models will realize that they are operating completely in the dark, and without any rights or protections,” she told The Daily Beast.

Will this solve all the problems? No, she added. But for the first time, models will have rights as workers. There will be industry standards that historically have never existed, and I think that's a big problem.

The bill will establish workplace protections, including mandatory meal breaks and overtime pay for jobs lasting more than eight hours, and it will require agencies to implement a tolerance policy zero when it comes to abuse.

It aims to combat financial exploitation by capping agency commissions at 20% of models' earnings and requiring agencies to provide copies of contracts and agreements at least 24 hours before filming.

The legislation was endorsed by major industry players, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America, SAG-AFTRA, and the union representing workers at Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue.

But the proposals have also been criticized by management companies who say some of the terms go too far. Major modeling agencies, including Ford, Wilhelmina, Next and Elite, formed a group called the Fashion Equity Coalition to lobby against the bill last session and hired Ford's former co-president Models, Joey Hunter, as spokesperson.

Hunter told The Daily Beast that agencies did not oppose the bill entirely, but had doubts about specific provisions, such as prohibiting agencies from requiring models to sign a power of attorney. He said the Model Alliance had not consulted with its coalition agencies on the language of the bill and that they hoped to make some changes before it goes to the governor for signature.

“I think there's still a few things that need to be tweaked, and I know we're going to talk about that,” Hunter said. But our problem was that this bill was created without the input of an agent or a manager, and I don't think that's fair.

Ziff said the Hunters' coalition never held a meeting, but the Alliance heard the agencies' concerns through lobbying efforts and made amendments accordingly. She added that Model Alliance incorporated comments from agency WME-IMG, which was not part of the coalition.

She also praised models who spoke out in the face of industry opposition, several of whom she said were threatened or even fired by their agencies for supporting the bill.

It’s no small thing to risk your livelihood to stand up for what’s right, she said. This was very much a team effort, and every model who spoke at a press conference, took the bus to Albany, or called their elected official truly made this possible.

One of those supporters is Ambra Gutierrez, an Italian model who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her during a casting call her agent sent her to. The Fashion Workers Act would require agencies to do due diligence to ensure castings do not pose unreasonable risks to their models and require them to let models bring a chaperone. Policies that Gutierrez believes could have prevented what she says happened to her.

After what I've been through, I try to prevent [situations like this] as much as I can, and also helping models understand what they can do if something happens, she told The Daily Beast.

Gutierrez said she believes changing regulations in New York will have ripple effects throughout the fashion industry, adding: This city [provides the] basis of what fashion should be.

The bill passed the New York Senate last year, but failed to make it out of Assembly committee. Since then, dozens of models have spoken out in favor of the bill at news conferences, on lobbying trips to Albany and at a rally last month outside the famed Met Gala. Many shared their personal experiences of sexual assault, racial discrimination and financial coercion.

The bill also gained support from big names like Otis, a '90s model who publicly accused her former modeling agent of assaulting her.

Otis told The Daily Beast that it's high time the industry was regulated.

Not only is this a very powerful moment, it is desperately needed, she said. We need basic human rights in terms of financial transparency and safe workplaces free from sexual misconduct. [and to] start holding this industry accountable for some very, very bad behavior over the decades.