Here’s What’s Changed and What Hasn’t
There was a time when a Victoria’s Secret runway walk, like Gisele Bündchen’s legendary 2006 strut, could cement a model’s global icon status. Back then, the “girl next door” might have been discovered sipping coffee on Melrose. Now, that kind of rise feels like a relic from another era, as today’s faces can easily be plucked from TikTok, where follower count often matters more than bone structure.
Who is to blame? The modelling industry? Well, partly. This empire, once famous for its supermodels and exclusivity, has fractured into something more democratic, chaotic, and in some ways, ruthless. How did this change play out? What progress have we seen? What problems exist? And most importantly, is this transition better for models and brands? These are the questions we will answer in this guide.
Yesteryear’s Modeling Industry vs Today’s
In the pre-social media era, modeling was a tightly gated community, with its gatekeepers being A-list agencies and a handful of other industry key players such as casting directors, magazine editors, and luxury designers. These guys decided the fate of models. The goal was clear: get scouted young, walk runways in Milan and Paris, and hopefully land a Vogue cover. Public image was carefully curated, often distant and aspirational.
But in the late 2000s, the industry’s foundation began to shift with the rise of social media. Instagram, YouTube, and eventually TikTok took off, and the power to shape a career moved away from the elite institutions and toward the models themselves. Suddenly, anyone with a phone and a following could gain visibility, and brands took notice. Traditional portfolios were no longer enough; reach and relatability became just as valuable as physique.
Supermodels like Taylor Hill became emblematic of this new era. The former Victoria’s Secret Angel builds her brand through direct engagement with millions of fans online, and reflects a growing trend of models who are part influencers, part entrepreneurs, and even part activists. Their success in this industry challenges the notion that runway bookings are the sole springboard for aspiring talents, which is a welcome development.
However, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine, as ditching agencies to fly solo means assuming the bulk of the work. Many models now need to be their own marketers, photographers, and stylists, or outsource these roles out of pocket, just to get noticed. And this isn’t the only change we’ve seen.
Other Changes in the Modeling Industry
The gradual decline of traditional supermodeling is one of the many developments. Others include:
Runway Diversity
There’s no denying that runways today look more real life than they did two decades ago. In 2019, nearly 46% of models at New York Fashion Week were people of color. Plus-size, transgender, and disabled models have also gained visibility, pushing back against the industry’s long-standing fixation on a single body type.
The AI Invasion
Imagine booking a model who never ages, never demands payment, and can be digitally altered to fit any campaign. That’s the promise or, rightly put, threat of AI-generated models. Think this is far-fetched? Aitana, a Spanish AI model, is proof. This pink-haired female influencer from Barcelona earns €10,000 a month and reportedly gets weekly DMs from celebrities hoping to take her out. And that’s just one story.
Companies like Lalaland.ai already offer hyper-realistic digital models for brands, raising a disturbing question: will real humans even be needed in a decade?
The Direct-to-Consumer Model Boom
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok, with little to no provision for traditional middlemen, allow models to bypass agencies altogether. Paloma Elsesser, for instance, landed her Fenty campaign not through a casting call, but through a viral Instagram moment. As enticing as it sounds, this new frontier has its pitfalls, one being the pressure on not-so-lucky models to take on unpaid “exposure” work. This makes it harder for them to earn a living wage.
Mental Health as a Selling Point
The 90s celebrated “heroin chic,” a look synonymous with exhaustion and fragility, but today, brands are quick to tout mindfulness partnerships and wellness initiatives. But behind the glossy campaigns is a grim reality that many models still experience severe anxiety about unstable income. So, even though the industry has rebranded its image, the pressure cooker environment is alive and well.
What Hasn’t Changed in the Modeling Industry
Here are a few things that still remain the same:
Exploitation in the Shadows
More than 50% of runway models earn less than $27,000 per year, which is significantly lower than the average annual Manhattanite salary of $144,716, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This meagre pay comes with high commissions, expenses, and fees that force many of them to be indebted to their agencies. Even worse, some of these models have to put up with late or non-payment, or payment in “trade” instead of money.
Then there’s the darker side of the industry: sexual misconduct and rape. These are issues models like Amber Valletta and Kate Upton have publicly spoken about. Their experiences with such predatory behavior from powerful key players reinforce what the #MeToo movement exposed: abuse in modeling is not rare; it’s systemic.
As heartbreaking as it may seem, some of these individuals haven’t faced the consequences of their actions.
Size Zero’s Quiet Dominance
Despite the rise of body positivity, sample sizes remain stubbornly tiny. Many plus- and mid-size models report being relegated to “special” diversity campaigns while straight-size counterparts book the major luxury gigs. As a matter of fact, these sidelined groups make up only about 4.4% of total looks in major fashion cities. Beyond size, those of color get fewer opportunities behind the scenes—a disguised tokenism many brands label as “inclusive.”
The Nepo-Baby Pipeline
The industry loves an underdog story, just not enough to stop hiring the same connected names, many of which ring a bell. Their dominance leaves outsiders fighting for scraps, only receiving major brand campaigns when they prove their worth in other fields. This phenomenon is called the “nepo baby” model pipeline, or better yet, the Nepotism Industrial Complex. Some of these nepo babies go on to become gatekeepers who wield connections to edge out talents they see as threats.
The Age Paradox
Teen discovery has stayed the same, with many fresh faces routinely signing contracts as young as 16, despite the industry’s public embrace of “mature” beauty. LVMH’s 2017 pledge to avoid hiring such underage models was a step in the right direction, but enforcement has been spotty. We still see youth castings, which echo concerns in the industry that go way back to Brooke Shields’ controversial Calvin Klein ads.
Conclusion
So, who really benefits? Models or brands? Right now, it’s brands. AI lets them cut costs, control every pixel, and sidestep contracts or scandals. And even without AI, the talent pool is already overflowing with budget-friendly faces. But for models, especially newbies without connections or digital leverage, this only makes a tough industry even harder. The fashion world now faces a choice: chase digital perfection or rediscover the power of real, imperfect human stories. The future depends on which voices get heard and who is erased in the process.
