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Age, Sex and Race in Modeling
The issue of race
comes up a lot in discussions of modeling, and a lot of misinformation gets
written about it. Age and sex (gender, to misuse the term as it is commonly
misused) don't get discussed much at all, but they should.
Fashion
Age:�
����������� For
the more visible fashion models (those competing for editorial fashion
assignments, high end runway work and fashion campaigns � the ones we think of
as �fashion models�) age is a very strong factor in selection.� Prime time for entry into the
industry is age 16-18, although some models as young as 13 or as old as 21 are
accepted into major fashion agencies.�
In some places fashion models must be at least 16 to work.� Many agencies have policies of not accepting
new fashion models over 21, and some specify as low as 19.
����������� That
category of fashion model, if successful, can work into her early twenties
sometimes.� A few fashion models � those
at the top of the industry, can work into their thirties and beyond.� But for those very few, it is because they
have ceased being �fashion models�, and have become brands, or celebrities,
whose face is widely recognized.� Many
of them are called by the over-used term �supermodel�.
����������� There are
other types of models who work in the fashion industry � those that we don�t
normally think of when we use the term �fashion model� � who can be well
outside those age restrictions.� Catalog
models (�commercial fashion� models) can be of nearly any age, certainly well
into their 40s, and include children.�
Fit models also can work while much older than the �fashion models� we
described above.�
Race:
If jobs were given
to models on the basis of their distribution in the population, we wouldn�t be
having this conversation. But advertisers are less interested in population
numbers than in the portion of the market for their product that each ethnic
group represents, and in how to reach that portion with their message.
The fashion world has struggled with these issues.
Fashion advertising through the
1970s and beyond mostly used Caucasian models. There are many
reasons. One undoubtedly was racial stereotyping. Fashion ads are
designed to create an association between the brand and whatever people aspire
to. Designers viewed white women as �higher class,� setting the pattern
for emulation by others, so it was natural, if not desirable, that they should
choose white models almost exclusively. They reasoned that if their
labels could achieve prestige and desirability, the ethnic minorities would be
brought along with everyone else.
Another reason was the perception
that African-Americans were not a significant market for high-end apparel,
despite their numbers in the population. It remains true that the median
household income of African Americans is substantially less than Caucasians, a
fact not lost on the fashion houses. Only in relatively recent times have
two additional demographic facts become understood: African Americans
spend nearly a third more than Caucasians on apparel as a percentage of their income;
and African Americans tend to form brand loyalties much earlier and more
strongly than Caucasians. As the advertising industry came to appreciate
those facts, the African-American market segment seemed suddenly more
important.
There remains the problem of how to
reach it. African-Americans are hardly a unitary bloc when it comes to
purchasing power. Urban/Hip Hop lines like Baby Phat and Sean John may
appeal to a part of it, but that portion of African-American consumers who
might purchase Calvin Klein, Donna Karan (or even Tracy Reese) is little
impressed by the hip-hop approach. There remains a debate as to whether
it is best to advertise through African-American oriented magazines and media,
or through more general-interest media.
In the 1990s there was an
increasing trend to use African Americans in magazine editorials and covers and
as runway models. High-profile models like Imam and Tyra Banks showed
that black models can be attractive to white audiences, and models like Alek
Wek have changed the perception that black models have to have light skin and
European features to be seen as beautiful. Even so, although there are no
authoritative numbers available, the perception remained that African-Americans
were under-used by fashion designers.
Since the turn of the century, the
fashion industry has been captivated by the availability of Eastern Europeans,
who come from countries with limited economic opportunities, and are highly
motivated to become models in the West.�
Designers have gravitated to using them, and other models like them,
overwhelmingly.� The proportion of black
and other minority fashion models in campaigns and runways has dropped as a
result.
Designers are not the only
important source of fashion advertising, though. If the designer sets the
�national� tone for use of models, retailers set the regional and local
pattern. In recent decades they have become much more willing to use
minority models in their advertising, although the distribution changes
depending on the local demographic. A mall store in Bangor, Maine is more
likely than one in Atlanta to use Caucasians in its advertising. But
overall, from about the middle of the 1990s on the number of African Americans
used in retailer fashion ads has approached their distribution in the population.� There has been considerable commentary about
this in the press, and some backlash.�
In all probability, the trend in models will change before long, as it
always does.
The situation is different in the
other �major minorities�. Hispanics are more fragmented than African
Americans, since they may share a common home country language, but they come
from many countries and different cultures. Hispanic is also not a �race�
and many Hispanics are cross-identified (or see themselves) as Caucasian.
Finally, even though they are numerically about the same as African Americans,
they spend a smaller percentage of their household income on apparel, and their
brand identification is weaker. It has been easy for advertisers to treat
them as simply another kind of Caucasian, perhaps advertise in Spanish-language
media, and leave it at that.
Asians present a different
problem. As a group they represent only a small portion of the US
population (roughly 3%). But there really is no such thing as an �Asian
group�. They are primarily Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, and each of
those differs markedly from the others. What you do to target one with
advertising doesn�t work well for the others, and using a Korean model may not
improve your label�s desirability with Japanese.
There are other issues as
well. Asians tend to be shorter than Caucasians, and to have relatively
long torsos and short arms and legs. That is precisely the opposite of
the �fashion model� mold. If Caucasian and African fashion models are something
of a rarity, recruiting slim, 5�10� long-legged Asian girls as models has
proved a challenge for the agencies. It�s hard to have a large number of
them on the roster � and when they are there to chase 1-3% of the market, it�s
hard to justify the effort. Needless to say, fashion advertising tends
not to overachieve in using Asian models.
Commercial
Print
As late as the
early 1990s, studies of print advertising found no more than 3-4% of models in
ads were African-American.� That changed greatly in the decade that followed.
In the USA, national print ads are
largely produced in New York. Not surprisingly, they are targeted at
people advertisers think will spend money on their products.� Requests to model
agencies are usually very specific about the sex, age, ethnic group and type of
person the client wants. When they aren't specific, agents ask.
The Census Bureau figures for year
2000 show that non-Hispanic Caucasians make up about 62.6% of the population of
the United States.� African Americans are about 12.3%, Hispanics 12.5%, Asians
3.0%, Asian Indians (which are asked for separately by casting directors, even
though the Census Bureau considers them �Asians�) are about 0.6% of the
American population.� About 2.4% of Americans are of �mixed� race (which, for
casting purposes, tends to get lumped into groups like �Ethnically Ambiguous�)
and another 5.5% are of other races.
We put together a statistical study
of 3,419 actual commercial print casting requests to characterize ethnic
requests as best we could. The data is from a classic New York City
"commercial print" agency that doesn't get very far afield with
"fashion" or "fitness" or "promotional" modeling
that would skew the numbers.
Here are the results presented as
statistical tables.� Each number represents the percentage of modeling jobs in
that age category for a particular ethnic group:
Adult Female
Models, Ethnic Percentages by Age Group:
|
Age:
|
Total
|
17-23
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24-29
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30-39
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40-49
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50-59
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60+
|
|
Caucasian
|
49
|
45
|
43
|
45
|
44
|
54
|
55
|
|
African-American
|
20
|
24
|
23
|
21
|
22
|
17
|
15
|
|
Hispanic/Latino
|
16
|
18
|
18
|
16
|
16
|
15
|
14
|
|
Asian
|
10
|
8
|
9
|
11
|
12
|
9
|
10
|
|
Ambiguous
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
|
East Indian
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
Adult Male Models,
Ethnic Percentages by Age Group:
|
Age:
|
Total
|
17-23
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24-29
|
30-39
|
40-49
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50-59
|
60+
|
|
Caucasian
|
51
|
44
|
44
|
51
|
53
|
53
|
56
|
|
African-American
|
18
|
22
|
21
|
16
|
15
|
14
|
18
|
|
Hispanic/Latino
|
15
|
16
|
19
|
16
|
13
|
13
|
12
|
|
Asian
|
9
|
11
|
9
|
8
|
9
|
8
|
9
|
|
Ambiguous
|
6
|
6
|
5
|
8
|
8
|
9
|
6
|
|
East Indian
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
0
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OK, I know that people�s eyes
glaze over when they are presented with columns of statistics, especially when
it isn�t exactly clear what the data mean.� So let�s give some examples.� Here
are conclusions we can draw from the tables.
- Among women, overall 49% of
commercial modeling jobs go to Caucasians.� The percentage is a little
smaller for younger women through their 40s, but rises to about 55% for
women in their 50s and 60s.
- The pattern is the reverse for
the major ethnic subgroups.� About 20% and 16% of all female modeling jobs
are for African American and Hispanics respectively, but the percentages
are higher for younger models than older ones.
- Among Asians and other
minorities, the percentages remain reasonably constant at all ages.
- The patterns are very similar for
male models.� About half of all modeling jobs are for Caucasians, but the
African American and Hispanic models take a bigger share of the market in
their younger years, and then a smaller share as they get over 40.
- The only ethnic group
systematically underrepresented is Caucasian. Hispanics, African
Americans and Asians are all asked for substantially more often than their
distribution in the general American population.
- The exceptions are the �other
races� category which collectively is less than 6% of the population, and
American Indians.� None of these groups makes up enough of a market that
national advertisers target ads at them, so the demand for models in those
categories is virtually non-existent.� The way models and agencies handle
this is to disregard what a model really is, and present him as what he
can appear to be.� There are a lot of Persian �Hispanic� or �Generic
Ethnic� models, for instance, because advertisers never ask for
�Persians.�
Now let�s take a
look at the same raw data, but presented in a different way.� This time we want
to ask ourselves the question, �What percent of all commercial print jobs goes
to any particular age and ethnic category?�� Here are the results:
Adult
Female Models, Percent of Total Modeling Jobs by Age and Ethnic Group:
|
|
All Ages
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17-23
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24-29
|
30-39
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40-49
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50-59
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60+
|
|
Caucasian
|
24.1
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5.1
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6.4
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5.4
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3.2
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2.5
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1.5
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|
African-American
|
11.4
|
2.7
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3.4
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2.5
|
1.6
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0.8
|
0.4
|
|
Hispanic/Latino
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8.9
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2.0
|
2.7
|
1.9
|
1.2
|
0.7
|
0.4
|
|
Asian
|
5.1
|
0.9
|
1.3
|
1.3
|
0.9
|
0.4
|
0.3
|
|
Ambiguous
|
2.3
|
0.4
|
0.6
|
0.5
|
0.3
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
|
East Indian
|
1.0
|
0.2
|
0.3
|
0.3
|
0.2
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
Total
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52.8
|
11.3
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14.8
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11.9
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7.4
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4.6
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2.8
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Adult Male Models,
Percent of Total Modeling Jobs by Age and Ethnic Group:
|
|
All Ages
|
17-23
|
24-29
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30-39
|
40-49
|
50-59
|
60+
|
|
Caucasian
|
23.5
|
2.5
|
4.2
|
6.7
|
5.0
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3.4
|
1.8
|
|
African-American
|
8.1
|
1.2
|
2.0
|
2.1
|
1.4
|
0.9
|
0.6
|
|
Hispanic/Latino
|
7.2
|
0.9
|
1.8
|
2.0
|
1.2
|
0.9
|
0.4
|
|
Asian
|
4.1
|
0.6
|
0.9
|
1.0
|
0.8
|
0.5
|
0.3
|
|
Ambiguous
|
3.3
|
0.3
|
0.4
|
1.0
|
0.8
|
0.6
|
0.2
|
|
East Indian
|
1.0
|
0.1
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
0.1
|
0.0
|
|
Total
|
47.2
|
5.7
|
9.4
|
13.0
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9.4
|
6.5
|
3.2
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What conclusions can we get
from these tables?� Here are a few:
- Only 11.3% of all commercial
print jobs are for young girls in the 17-23 year old category. The highest
percentage of these is Caucasian, but that still means that 95% of all
commercial print work is NOT for "pretty young white girls".�
Obviously it's very different in fashion, glamour, art, fitness and some
other specialties. But these are numbers that people ought to be aware of
when deciding that "I'm too short to be a fashion model so I'll be
commercial".
- "Prime time" is the
late 20s and 30s for women, 30s and 40s for men, and in fact the
average age asked for is 37 (35 for women, 39 for men).
- Not shown in the numbers on are
further important attributes that qualify a model for a job.� No matter
who or what you are, 93+% of all commercial castings are not for you.� Even
disregarding other things as hair color and �type�, a commercial print
agent has to get 15 or more castings in for every one that he can give to
even his most popular model.� With those other considerations thrown in,
even the most popular model may only be qualified for one job in 30 or so.
The figures and
conclusions above are for New York national commercial print ads.� It�s a lot
harder to find statistics on local ads, which could be expected to follow local
demographics rather then national.� It would be reasonable to believe (even
though we do not have data to demonstrate) that local commercial print
advertising in Seattle would be different from New Orleans.� But assuming that
in aggregate, local ads are similar in racial, age and sex distribution to
national ads, the overall opportunities should be similar throughout the
country, even though there will be areas which vary substantially from that
average.
_________________________________________________
Sampling Error and Statistics
This analysis is
based on thousands of job requests in the commercial print industry.� It would
be easy for someone who isn�t familiar with statistical analysis techniques to
see this discussion as more precise than it really is.
Anyone who has taken
a stat class knows that the statistical error of a sample of about 3,400 is on
the order of 3%. Even that assumes some things about the sample that are
demonstrably not true for our sample: random selection from the population (of
NYC or all national commercial print castings), for instance - which we don't
have, and which makes the accuracy worse.
It's worse still. All castings do
not come in nice, convenient terms that fit well into the analytical
categories. Sometimes they say something like "Women from 25-45, all
ethnicities" and we have to allocate that somehow to the groups in the
table. We made what seem to be reasonable choices, but they are not the only
possible choices, and certainly problems like that tend to fuzz things up some.
Despite our best efforts, casting directors have proved very resistant to
asking for people in a way that fits our study cleanly.
Finally, who gets asked for is not
always the same as who gets hired. These numbers reflect requests; we have
countless stories of people getting hired who are nothing like what the casting
specified.
So if anyone with better data wants
to say "No, Caucasian women in their 30s are really used 6.8% of the time
in commercial print ads" based on some better sample, we'd cheerfully
yield to them. These numbers should not be taken as absolute, or even
especially accurate. They are just the best data we have.
Still, given all that, we think
that useful impressions of the industry can be gotten from this kind of
analysis, as long as we don't take it too literally.
Want to learn more?
If you find the articles here helpful, we urge you to purchase our book: The Professional's Guide to Modeling .
This article copyright newmodels.com 2006.
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