Hailey Clauson was 14 when she posed for this shot, but apparently only some of her more recent work is "blatantly salacious"

kava gorna

Another day, another tabloid scandal involving controversial fashion images of an underage model. On Friday The New York Post broke the news that American Hailey Clauson has commenced proceedings in the New York federal court against American photographer Jason Lee Parry and three US retailers, including the US streetwear chain Urban Outfitters, over the sale of merchandise featuring sexually provocative images of Clauson that were shot by Parry when Clauson was 15. Clauson, who turned 16 in March this year - and last December, told New York magazine that she still sleeps with her baby blanket - is seeking US$28million in damages. Court papers claim that although Clauson’s representation at the time, New York’s Ford Models, obtained an assurance from Parry that the images would not be published, the shots were subsequently published in Germany’s Qvest magazine and several of the images later appeared on T-shirts and other merchandise, all without Clauson’s consent. The court papers allege that “She is posed in a blatantly salacious manner with her legs spread, without a bra, revealing portions of her breasts. The image of Teen in a spread eagle position making her crotch area the focal point of the image may portray a child in a sexually suggestive manner and may be in violation of one or more federal and/or state laws”. But are we talking about the louche image, above, of Clauson with her legs spread? No. Below is the image in question in the New York federal court case, which also references another Parry shot in which Clauson is holding a six-pack of beer.

The shot at the very top of this post was taken by a photographer by the name of Kava Gorna when Clauson was just 14.

In a since deleted post on her own blog from January last year – which is still nevertheless cached on Google – Clauson herself published a selection of images from the same Gorna portfolio, stating that they were taken during the summer of 2009 for Blast magazine. It’s not clear whether this specific shot was also published in Blast, but it does appear on Gorna's website.

Also deleted from Clauson’s blog: some behind-the-scenes images of the Parry shoot.

Although Parry told The New York Post the images "got stole from me", the Styleite blog has since reported that Mitra Khayyam, the owner of the company which made the T-shirt, Blood Is the New Black, has denied this, alleging that the images had been “delivered to us … with the sole purpose of producing tee shirts and marketing them to our network of stores worldwide.” Khayyam also claims that neither she, nor Urban Outfitters, had been aware at the time that Parry did not have a release for the images or that Clauson was underage. 

Earlier today a statement signed "Team Parry" was released to a number of blogs, including frockwriter, from a production company called Shape of Content - a collaborator of Parry's, which bills itself as a "compositor" on a video of the Parry/Clauson photoshoot. [UPDATE Monday 5.36pm: The latter video has since been pulled from Vimeo. But here it is on YouTube]. 


According to the statement:

" - The model’s father was present for a majority of the shoot. He was shown photos while on set and sanctioned them long before they were published.

- Ford modeling agency assigned the model for Jason Lee Parry’s shoot. Ford approved the fashion story featured in Qvest magazine to be published. The photo in question was featured in the model’s portfolio on Ford’s site. All correspondence is documented in emails approving the shoot.

- A total of seven people were on set during the entire duration of the shoot, including three female stylists, and a female videographer. The upmost care was given to ensure the model was provided privacy while changing wardrobes and that absolutely no nudity of any kind was visible.

-There was absolutely no breasts or genitalia visible in the image in question. There is less skin observable in the image than could be seen in any contemporary bathing suit photo.

- Unbeknownst to Jason Lee Parry the image in question was selected by the t-shirt brand. He was also unaware of retail distribution of the t-shirt".

-After the photos were released the model proudly posted the images in question to her personal site.

Jason Lee Parry’s creative vision for the fashion photos in question is about a rebellious teenage girl hanging out at her father's motorcycle shop. The story captures the American working class, motorcycle culture, and highlights the designer clothing featured on the model. The model is perched on the back of a vintage motorcycle. She is sitting in a position she determined would be comfortable and relevant to the photo. She is seated in relaxed casual manner, a tough motorcycle mechanic’s daughter. It is not to be perceived in any way as overtly sexual.

Jason Lee Parry is professional photographer in every aspect of his work. His edgy contemporary photography captivates the culture he photographs and defines his generation. His photography has been featured in countless international publications and online sources. Fans, friends, and family of Jason Lee Parry’s high fashion photography eagerly await closure of these defaming allegations and lawsuit". 

Evidently there are a number of facts in dispute in this case. 

But some evidence seems incontrovertible: that at 15, Clauson posed in a sexually suggestive manner for Parry. Just as at 14, she posed in an equally sexually suggestive manner for Gorna.

In fact it is not at all difficult to find a number of other examples of underage Clausen photographed in sexually provocative poses: for the Wildfox Couture campaign, for various editorials and also what appear to be test shots taken when she was 14, as published on The Fashion Spot website in early 2009. 

Here is a selection (photo gallery best viewed on the blog):

Just a reminder that Clauson is no consenting adult. She is a minor.

If underage models continue to appear in these kinds of photoshoots , it is solely because adults have enabled them. The buck stops with them. Not just photographers, stylists and editors but model agents and yes, parents. Any model under the age of 16 is supposed to be chaperoned on work assignments. 

If Clauson’s parents don’t like their daughter posing in “sexually suggestive” positions, then why have they allowed her to do so, over and over again, for two years? 

Scouted during an open casting call in LA in 2008, Clauson’s rise has been meteoric, in spite of her age. More than one model under the age of 16 has found herself unable to work during the Paris show season, for example, due to stricter regulations in France.

At 15, Clauson nevertheless walked in 14 shows in her first international show season, Spring/Summer 2011, in September/October 2010. These included blue chip names such as Calvin Klein, Gucci, Versace and in Paris, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Christian Dior, Miu Miu and Lanvin. She then added the Gucci and DSquared2 SS11 advertising campaigns to her CV, propelling her virtually overnight into the models.com Top 50 Women rankings (at #45). She has also been photographed for W, Elle, Numéro and the Chinese, Russian, French and Italian editions of Vogue.

Since the Jason Lee Parry shoot, Clauson has changed agencies twice in New York, moving from Ford to Marilyn and then earlier this year, to Next Model Management.

photo gallery:


1: kava gorna
2, 3, 4: wildfox couture campaign via leather studded kiss
5: unknown via TFS
6: unknown via TFS
7: tony duran via hailey clauson's blog
8: tony duran via hailey clauson's blog
9. greg kadel for numéro may 2011 via models.com
10: tony duran via TFS

LOVE in the time of dysmorphia

Frockwriter thought it seemed a little odd that Britain's Love magazine removed last Tuesday's shot of Australasian model Catherine McNeil from its Twitter feed. Originally published on the Condé Nast-owned magazine's TwitPic account (a photo hosting service connected to Twitter), together with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!", the Tweet was nowhere to be found on Thursday. Coincidentally, earlier that day, we had published the original - apparently unretouched - series of digital shots of McNeil that were taken by McNeil's New York agency, Ford Models - and which had been supplied to Love earlier in the week. But while the shot slipped off Love's Twitter feed, the image had already been reposted by several web forums and blogs, including frockwriter and remains cached on Google images. Oh, and Love also neglected to remove it from the magazine's separate TwitPic feed. What's problematic about this shot? Could it have anything to do with the fact that a quick comparison of the two images suggests some Photoshop magic has been worked on McNeil's left arm? The version published by Love is on the left, above, with the original on the right. 

screen cap of LOVE magazine's twitpic

supplied by ford models

So, who retouched the image?

Difficult to say at this stage, given that neither Love editor Katie Grand nor Ford Models have responded to our communications. 

Just a reminder that McNeil, one of Australia's most high profile models, has been having a bit of a break from the modelling business for the past 12 months. According to Ford, however, McNeil is fit and high fashion-ready, having been "working really hard to get herself together. She's really determined". 

But apparently not sufficiently 'together' for Love's purposes. 

Clearly someone retouched the photo. If indeed it was Love, then of course by no stretch of the imagination would this be the only fashion magazine in the world to have manipulated an image to make a model or celebrity look thinner than she/he is in real life. It's the kind of endemic practice that has become a key focus of such charters and groups as Australia's National Advisory Group on Body Image, whose voluntary industry code of practice recommends the disclosure of all digital retouching. 

Meanwhile, Katie Grand's peers are dedicating more and more space to special body image-focussed editions. 

The June edition of Vogue Italia stars three plus-sized models and separately, Vogue Italia editor Franza Sozzani has launched a petition to combat pro-anorexia websites that encourage young women to be competitive about their body shape. The magazine claims to be attempting to promote healthy beauty standards and to help impress upon young women that being skinny does not equal being perfect.

"Catherine McNeil is iconic for her generation" - Doll Wright

ford models

Well at least one mystery has been solved regarding Catherine McNeil - one of Australia's best-known modelling exports who has been on a bit of a self-imposed career hiatus for much of the past year and who, as it now emerges, also boasts New Zealand citizenship and travels on a Kiwi passport. The photo of McNeil that was Tweeted two days ago by Britain's Love magazine, together with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!", was not part of any upcoming photoshoot for the magazine, but one of a handful of new digital shots of McNeil that have just been taken by McNeil's new New York management, Ford Models (curiously, the shot appears to have now been removed by Love). Here are the rest, supplied by Ford, which contacted us overnight for a little damage control, presumably not terribly happy with Timo Weiland's unfortunate Twitter shot of McNeil that we published yesterday. But while Love has yet to book her, newly-minted Ford Models agent Doll Wright tells frockwriter that McNeil has just shot 25 pages with a major photographer for a major international fashion title. 

Wright declined to comment on the Weiland shot, in which McNeil is holding a beer bottle and her NZ passport, with a cigarette dangling from her lips. Wright was also unable to clarify whether McNeil is actually an Australian citizen or merely has permanent residency here.

But Wright did stress that McNeil has been "working really hard to get herself together. She's really determined. You can see what she looks like".

“She hasn’t shot Love or worked with [editor] Katie Grand yet" added Wright. "But we’re thrilled because obviously it shows that the support is still there. At the end of the day, the industry, at the level that’s she’s at and the calibre of people she has worked with, they respect her. Catherine McNeil is iconic for her generation. As a model, she will always be remembered for that and people at the top level of this business appreciate and respect the hard work that she’s put in for them. She’s worked her ass off for this business, she’s travelled the world non stop. On the back of Gemma Ward she helped put us on the map and maybe she had a moment where she wanted to take some time out.

"Life is a rollercoaster and these girls go through so much, they’re worked to the bone. Some burn out or fade out and are never heard of again. Or they do have some fire in their belly and they come back bigger and better than ever before. And in the case of Catherine McNeil, that’s what it’s going to be”. 

McNeil and Australian-born Wright are not Ford Models' only new antipodian additions. 

Wright joined Ford a week ago after recently resigning from New York rival Elite Model Management. And she has taken a swag of Elite’s Australian highprofilers with her to Ford: Julia Nobis, Lauren Brown, Bambi Northwood-Blyth, Ruby-Jean Wilson and Emma Balfour, in addition to Canadian Kate King and American Hannah Holman.

all images: supplied to frockwriter by ford models

Catherine McNeil is a Kiwi

timo weiland's twitter

Catherine McNeil is one of Australia's best-known modelling exports. The winner of the 2003 Girlfriend Model Search, at age 14, McNeil debuted on models.com's prestigious Top 50 Women list at number 26 in early 2007, the year her international career was springboarded via covers of both Vogue Paris and the American V Magazine. But who knew McNeil also had New Zealand citizenship? Apparently not even some in her Australian mother agency, Chic Management, until frockwriter's phone call this afternoon enquiring about an image of McNeil that was just taken by New York-based designer Timo Weiland and published on Twitter. In the rather unflattering shot, a cigarette dangling from her lips, McNeil is holding what looks to be a bottle of Corona beer in one hand and a New Zealand passport in the other. The Brisbane suburb of Coopers Plains is clearly stated as her place of birth, which would give McNeil automatic Australian citizenship by birthright - although that said, due to changes to Australia's citizenship legislation in 1986, only if one parent was an Australian citizen or had permanent residency. According to Chic Management, McNeil's maternal grandmother is a Kiwi and McNeil's mother spent many years living in New Zealand. We await further information.  

But what of McNeil's modelling career?

We know she recently defected from Chic's New York affiliate Next Management to Ford (and sources claim she recently attempted to move back).

Yesterday British magazine Love Tweeted a much prettier image of McNeil (below), with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!" - suggesting that perhaps McNeil may be about to be featured in an upcoming edition of the magazine. 
 
If Catherine McNeil is "back", then for the moment that is apparently news to some in the industry, notably models.com. Although by July last year, McNeil had risen to the world number 12 spot on MDC's Top 50 Women list, in the interim she has progressively slipped further down the rankings, only to be totally wiped off the list altogether in recent weeks. 

love magazine's twitter

 
Australian model-turned-actor-and blogger Tanja Gacic recently asked me if models are "fair game". 

Gacic mentioned that she had first heard about frockwriter via the controversy arising over several posts which discussed the antics of several Australian models in their down time, out and about in nightclubs and at parties.

I assumed she was talking about posts such as this and this.

My response to Gacic: models are public figures. It is their choice to pursue high profile careers. This blog covers fashion news. Not all of it is going to be good. To quote a cliché, we don't make the news, just report it.

If you are a model and you going to allow yourself to be photographed off duty and you know that these images are destined for the public domain, then it's worth bearing in mind that they are likely to be scrutinised. And it's probably not a bad idea to think about your image. Because the prestige brands that you are hoping will pay you big bucks to be their ambassadors take theirs pretty seriously. 

Gail Elliott rocks it out for Little Joe's Sydney debut

Great runway debut earlier today from British model-turned-designer Gail Elliott. For anyone who is wondering why Elliott chose Sydney for the runway launch of her Little Joe line (which is not new - it's just the first time Elliott has shown it at RAFW), she is married to an Australian, her business partner Joe Coffey, her business is headquartered here and the couple spend much of the year in Sydney. Elliott launched her label with lingerie, moving into ready-to-wear after a couple of seasons. At first, I found myself making a mental note that Elliott could perhaps have left a few pieces in the showroom. Editing for the runway is often an acquired skill: every runway piece needs to sing and buyers can see the more commercial pieces upon appointment. But as the collection moved forward, set to a high energy 70s rock soundtrack, the looks got stronger. The cuffed khaki silk combats and harem pants and soft military jackets over maxi skirts lent a utility feel. But the pretty slip dresses and a knockout series of tiered maxi dresses had boho de luxe written all over the them ("sex on the beach in Ibiza" is the first thing that sprang to mind on Twitter). Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show. And here are two videos - the final walkthrough and a quick backstage chat with Elliott afterwards. To keep track of my Twitter coverage on the spot, here is my Twitter feed. And here is my Facebook page, where everything is aggregated.