Recently we told you about the big law suit former Next models, Anna Aleksandra Cywinska, Anna Maria Jagodzinska and Karmen Pedaru are claiming against the agency for allegedly keeping hold of their earnings. Well, things are getting worse.
Recent documents submitted in the lawsuit have been leaked, revealing how much the models were paid for certain jobs with big magazines. In a document detailing the payments allegedly being withheld from Jagodzinska includes a billing of $250 for a shoot with American Vogue and $125 bill for a shoot with French Vogue. In contrast, the model was supposed to take in $60,000 for a H&M campaign $15,000 for a campaign for J.Crew. As interesting as this is, is it actually telling us something we don't know?
Times aren't looking good for Next at the moment. Despite suingFord for allegedly taking Anna Aleksandra Cywinska, Anna Maria Jagodzinska and Karmen Pedaru from the agency, the same models are reportedly suing Next. According to court documents, the models have decided to take legal proceedings against their former agency for "collecting and converting hundreds of thousands of dollars of their earmarked compensation remitted by third parties for bookings in the United States."
Just in case that wasn't bad enough, the damages they're asking for are sky high. The Cut claims that Pedaru alleges she's owed at least $400,000 and is claiming £1million in punitive damages. Jagodzinska and Cywinska are also seeking $1million in damages but the former is reportedly owed $230,000 and the latter $30,000.
Calling all busy fashionistas...don't forget to take a couple of minutes from your schedule today to email your name and email address with the title 'The Fash Pack Competition' to fashion@talkpr.com to be in with a chance of winning £100 in Next vouchers. We're celebrating the arrival of the annual Elle Style Awards with our exclusive competition, but as the awards take place tonight, our draw ends today at 12pm noon - so you need to be fast in your fashionable tracks for a chance to win!
Head over to theElle website after entering our prize draw to vote for your pick of the most stylish people of 2010. The winners are chosen entirely by Elle readers, with last year's winners including Alexa Chung for Best TV Star and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for Model of the Year. Not long until we find out who wins this year...
Erin O'Connor is one supermodel who has always had a reputation for being a good ambassador for the industry. Since being spotted at age 15, she has experienced most facets of the fashion industry - she has graced couture catwalks, enjoyed national-treasure status as one of the faces of Marks & Spencer and currently sits as the vice chair of the British Fashion Council. She also founded the Model Sanctuary, which serves as a retreat with a full-time nutritionist available to very young models, and which sees her "play mother hen."
In an interview with the Guardian, Erin shares her impetus for wanting to take on her new SEWA project, which is partly funded by Traid. She explained, "I suppose I've had one version of the fashion industry and now I'm going out having a tweak here and there." She certainly will be doing more than tweaking the rag-trade if her ethical fashion experiment is a success. This new project sees Erin raising awareness for the All India Federation of Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) an organisation which has set up embroidery centres in East Dehli, with the aim of providing skilled home workers with considerably improved wages. "The wages paid to home workers are nowhere near even close to minimum wage," explains Sanjay Kumar a representative of SEWA.
Despite her rightfully distraught parents insisting that their daughter wouldn't commit suicide, an autopsy has confirmed that beautiful Korean model Daul Kim was not murdered. Questions arose surrounding the cause of her death after it was revealed that Kim had instant messaged her friend about her abusive boyfriend just hours before she was found hanged in her Paris apartment. Her agency finally spoke about the tragedy last week, admitting that "she was not able to live the normal life other girls did at her age", as a spokeswoman for Next told press "we suspect[ed] that she felt confused and lost after reaching the top of her career".
In sad news, it has just been confirmed that model Daul Kim was found dead this morning in Paris. In a statement, her agency Next said: "She was a top model and a great friend to all of us at Next. Please respect her family’s privacy at this time of sadness. We will all miss her very much."
Although the cause of death has not been revealed, many are already specualting that it was suicide.
She will be sadly missed.
Our thoughts are with her friends and family at this sad time.
Times are changing in fashion and I'm not simply talking about the new A/W 09/10 catwalk trends. The last year or so has seen the fashion industry slowly welcome South and East Asian models into the fashion fold. From once being unthinkable to imagine Asian models on the runway, today their presence is felt and embraced on the catwalk from New York to Paris and London to Milan.
