Michael Gross exposes the day-to-day business of beautiful young women, sex and drugs. Through hundreds of in-depth interviews with models, photographers and agents, he develops a flowing narrative history of the modeling industry from its birth to the present day supermodel craze. It's a story of serendipitous careers like that of industry creator Richard Powers, an out-of-work actor who created a niche for himself by providing beautiful people for the newly-developed fields of photography and advertising.

From Library Journal
Gross, a writer for Esquire, attempts to blow the whistle on the orgy of greed and flesh that is the modeling industry.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Originally slated as a May release, Gross' spicy but intelligent history of the modeling industry was published early to get a jump on what's sure to be a high-interest item. After all, supermodels Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell make millions for a reason. Models have become the newest form of celebrity, and they're everywhere. Serialized in New York Magazine and Cosmopolitan, this gossip-rich expose is a name-dropper's dream. It's also a surprisingly solid bit of work. Gross, a top-drawer reporter currently at Esquire, has graced the pages of many prestigious magazines and is extremely well connected. His credentials enabled him to interview all the major players and collect dozens of inside stories that confirm everything you've suspected about the glamorous and self-important modeling universe. Gross balances tales of dissipation and promiscuity with substantive history, profiling various agency directors from the "father of the modeling industry," John Robert Powers, to Eileen Ford and beyond, as well as the most influential photographers and, of course, the models themselves, from the cool and snobby "Untouchables" of the 1940s to Twiggy, Veruschka, Lauren Hutton, Jerry Hall, and Iman. As Gross tracks the astonishing growth of the modeling industry, he keeps a running tab on models' salaries, which began at $5 an hour and have escalated to $25,000 a day. Donna Seaman

Book Description

Model is the definitive story of the international modeling business -- and its evil twin: legalized flesh peddling. It's a tale of beautiful women empowered and subjugated, of vast sums of money, of sex and drugs, obsession, and tragic death. At its heart is the most unholy combination in commerce: beautiful, young women and rich, lascivious men.

Investigative journalist Michael Gross has interviewed modeling's pioneers, survivors, and hangers-on, telling the story of the greats: Lisa Fonssagrives; Anita Colby; Candy Jones; Dorian Leigh and her sister Suzy Parker; Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy; Veruschka and Lauren Hutton; Janice Dickinson and Patti Hansen; and the supermodel Trinity: Christy, Naomi, and Linda.

Taking us into the private studios and hidden villas where models play and are preyed upon, Gross tears down modeling's carefully constructed faÇade to reveal untold truths of the ugly trade in pretty women.

About the Author
Michael Gross, the bestselling author of Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women and My Generation, writes "The Word" in New York's Daily News and is a contributing editor for Travel & Leisure. His articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including the New York Times, New York, GQ, Esquire, and Vanity Fair. He lives in New York City.

ANNOTATION

Fashion insider Michael Gross strips bare the world's most glamorous industry in this scathingly honest portrait of models, inc. Here, for the first time, is the complete, often sordid story of the international modeling business--the outrageous sums of money, rape of the spirit and the flesh, sex, drugs and occasional deaths. Photos.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Model is the definitive story of the international modeling business -- and its evil twin: legalized flesh peddling. It's a tale of beautiful women empowered and subjugated, of vast sums of money, of sex and drugs, obsession, and tragic death. At its heart is the most unholy combination in commerce: beautiful, young women and rich, lascivious men. Investigative journalist Michael Gross has interviewed modeling's pioneers, survivors, and hangers-on, telling the story of the greats: Lisa Fonssagrives; Anita Colby; Candy Jones; Dorian Leigh and her sister Suzy Parker; Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy; Veruschka and Lauren Hutton; Janice Dickinson and Patti Hansen; and the supermodel Trinity: Christy, Naomi, and Linda. Taking us into the private studios and hidden villas where models play and are preyed upon, Gross tears down modeling's carefully constructed facade to reveal untold truths of the ugly trade in pretty women.

FROM THE CRITICS

Entertainment Weekly

Model...is to high fashion roughly what Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was to the meatpacking industry...[a] relentless evisceration of an industry normally swathed in more shadows and light than Cindy Crawford....Michael Gross...did a stunning amount of research. His real talent, though, is getting powerful people to go on the record with astonishing candor. Scandalous...the expos￯﾿ﾽ of record of the modeling industry.

The Detroit News

A dishy, no-punches-pulled look at the seamy underbelly of modeling's glossy surface. But where tabloid journalism would stop at such facts, Gross uses them as a starting point for a weightier analysis. He reveals the inner workings....A veritable encyclopedia of modeling that serves as a cautionary guidebook for any parent whose child is interested in becoming the next Naomi Campbell.

International Herald Tribune

A book stripping models bare has electrified fashion...Lurid stories of sex, drugs, rock and frocks.

American Photo Magazine

A sweeping account of Balzacian proportions: part expos￯﾿ﾽ, part tragicomedy. Packed with once-whispered anecdotes that have fed the fashion world gossip mill for years, Model has industry insiders quaking in their Manolo Blahniks.

Library Journal

Gross, a writer for Esquire, attempts to blow the whistle on the orgy of greed and flesh that is the modeling industry.

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