Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Gross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 611 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446603465
• ISBN-13: 978-0446603461
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,074,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Gross is one of America's most provocative non-fiction writers. A contributing editor of Travel + Leisure and columnist for Crain's New York Business, he's written for Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, Town & Country,the New York Times and New York, and authored ten books, novels, biographies and social histories, among them, his latest, Rogues' Gallery, a history and expose of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the critically-acclaimed best-sellers Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women and 740 Park. His next book, Unreal Estate, a social history of the estate district of Los Angeles, will be published in November 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read, December 5, 2002

By 

dasn0wman "dasn0wman" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women (Hardcover)

This book does exactly what the title says, it reveals the ugly side of the modeling business. However, it is an older book so you won't hear any recent names. There is another book out there, "Shut up and Smile" that covers more recent models. But the writing from that book is no comparison to this one. This book is by someone that knows how to write and the stories are very in-depth which can only make the book better. The pictures are also better in this book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great History Lesson on the Modeling Business, February 16, 2006

By 

Jody (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women (Paperback)

This book was less gossipy than I thought it would be. The first 2/3rds are great. The book serves as a wonderful primer for anyone going into the modeling industry or just interested in its origins.

The book starts out with the first official models, which were generally socialites. You get to read about how modeling agencies first formed and who the first models and clients were. The book follows along as agencies and models fall out and new ones come along. Close to the chapters around the 1980s/1990s you learn more about the all out "model wars" and the switching of models between agencies. Mixed in with all this history are bio chapters highlighting the stories of specific models along the years.

The book is very interesting and makes me miss seeing the models on the cover of magazines! The book is slightly dated now but the history provided is still accurate and informative.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative historic review of modeling, April 21, 2003

By 

Anton (Summit, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women (Paperback)

The strong points of this book become easily evident if even one only looks at the several-page-long bibliography. Mr. Gross has done a commendable job of research and has presented a voluminous material, including multiple interviews, pictures, etc. From a historical standpoint, there is probably no better book written on the modeling business (particularly in the US).( There is actually and afterward to the paperback edition, which brins some current news as of 2002.)

The weak points of the book are rooted in its failure to discuss what its title promises -- "business". Yes, there are salary numbers, but that is about where Mr. Gross stops. In describing the business he talks at length about modelling agencies, magazines and the like, only it happens in a somewhat gossipy style (describing personalities, political battles, etc.), while failing to provide any financial (or any other business) information so as to give the reader an idea of, for example, of how big this business is. As a result, after reading the book, one is short of truly understanding how the business really works, including the interaction of its multiple participants, such as publihhers, designers, etc.