Customer Reviews

Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I very much enjoy following fashion and modeling, and I have to give credit to author Michael Gross for touching on virtually every aspect of the modeling biz from 1915 - 1995. However, what started out as an interesting historical perspective turned quickly into essentially a blow-by-blow account of influence peddling and [sort of] slave trading over many decades. "Ugly business" is right.

For me, the major problem with "Model" is that it reads like a massive chronology of "who's screwing whom" (literally and figuratively), and practically everyone gets an entry: agents, bookers, photographers, backers, models and the playboys who pursue them. In the author's own words (p. 494): "The model business remains, as it has always been, a seething morass of beauty and money, grace and envy, sensuality and lust, yearning and backstabbing, glamour, greed, and glory beyond measure.

The progression of the business story is well thought out. The title of each main chapter relates to a time frame associated with the prevailing modeling fees. In between the main chapters are dialogues/interviews with key models of each period (Veruschka, Lauren Hutton, Janice Dickinson, and Veronica Webb, to name a few). I would have preferred more focus on the models as the primary subject matter, but the business is huge, with many players influencing everything from an agency's viability to which models get work (or don't). For me, there were too many never-heard-of-before names in the cast of characters. One look at the index proves that Mr. Gross has undertaken an exhaustive accounting of modeling business: 14-pages of tiny type, consisting of virtually every name associated with the modeling business one can think of. Yet, in a book of 500 pages, I'm wondering why Gia Carangi's life encompassed but a couple of paragraphs.

It's tough to put a number value on "Model," so consider me on the fence with a 3. For me the soap opera-ish tone of this book detracted far too much from the exhaustive historical accounting. It's a monumental work, but I just can't recommend it to everyone.

This is very good book on the history of the Supermodels (Linda, Naomi, Christy, Cindy, etc). Also very informative on the modeling industry and the men that run it. If your daughter or son in pursuing modeling, read this book first.

As others have noted, this isn't so much a book about the current business of modeling as it is a history of the U.S. model industry up through the 90s, including interviews and other biographical sketches of many of the key players involved. It's very readable, sort of like an extended Vanity Fair feature story, and explains how modeling evolved from the use of socialites to show off or endorse fashion products, into a business controlled by agencies who promoted particular girls or "looks," eventually leading to the rise of the "supermodels". Fans of vintage fashion photography, like me, will enjoy learning more about the lives and careers of the lovely women featured in the classic shots. The proprietors of the most famous model agencies, such as Eileen Ford, Wilhelmina and John Casablancas, are also discussed. Liberal use of interview quotes and photos provide a nice documentary feel and keep the story from getting too dry.

While the book isn't super-gossipy, it's basically about the personalities that drove and shaped the modeling industry, and a little bit about the industry itself. It's not an accounting expose, nor does it cover every single important model and trend with an equal depth. For example, Gia Carangi, who broke down barriers with her dark, ethnic look, is not discussed very much in the book, perhaps because an entire book on Gia's life had come out around the same timeframe as the original publication of "Model". The author's approach to the modeling industry is critical in spots, but isn't heavily muckraking and probably won't reveal any big surprises to any readers who have the least bit of familiarity with modeling.

Buy this book if you're looking for a readable, slightly edgy history of modeling, without too much business or too much snark. It drags a bit in spots but overall is a fun, beach house (if not quite beach blanket) read.

A look inside the real world of modeling and it's past and present stars. TONS of information about the history of modeling in here. It drags on a little bit at times but is otherwise very interesting and entertaining. I'd def recommend it to anyone in the biz or interested in becoming a part of it. :)

This is a wonderful read with a perfect pace. It has a variety of viewpoints from a balanced business analysis, to a thoughtful integration of modeling into the cultural fabric to a taste for gossip which sizzles. Where else could one find out that Grace Kelly was turned down for a beauty contest because she was too thin or that Lauren Hutton chose her first name after Lauren Bacall because her first choice Laurence was too long for her Playboy bunny name tag? I was also impressed by Gross' skill at giving the reader a sense of the individual life story in just a page or two in an almost complete sense without any sense of skimping, no small feat. He covers America and Europe with a true feel for both areas, he zooms in close and also moves quickly. This is a remarkable book.

An intelligent book about the modeling business seems a contradiction in terms, but Michael Gross writes well and informatively about the models and their agents/scavengers/parasites. There are some caring agents, but the business also attracts oversexed adult men/agents whose main reason for entering the business is so they could have serial sex with 14 year old girls. If you have a 14 year old model daughter, who is going to a fashion shoot and/or show in Milan, GO WITH HER. Unless you want her deflowered prematurely, and to end up in rehab 10 years later. Yeah, she'll have enough money to PAY for rehab, but better she not have to go there in the first place. A model relates in this book how she was about 21 years old, with a friend the same age, walking through Paris, when they happened upon Jack Nicholson, who they had never met. They said, "Hi" and he invited them to a party at Roman Polanski's. Nicholson and Polanski were in their fifties or sixties. When the two girls entered the party, all they saw were 14 year old girls, and they thought, "We're too old!" (Girls in their early 20's, I remind you! ) The model took a puff on a cigarette handed to her, and passed out. She and her friend got out of there with their virtue intact. But what was Roman Polanski doing, giving something to 14 year old girls, that would make them pass out? What do you think he did with them once they passed out? Anyway, that was only part of the book, but it haunted me while reading the rest of it. These people are overpaid, overpraised (both the models and agents), often immoral, and you learn a lot about them when reading MODEL.

A big "WOW!" to Michael Gross for being able to gather and present information on such a vast and secretive industry, the modeling business. The book was huge but I enjoyed every single page and appreciated the inclusion of photographs. The only complaint I have is that the mentions of Brooke Shields and Cindy Crawford were way too small. When I was an impressionable teen back in the 90's Cindy was THE SUPER-SUPERMODEL and when i was reeeeeally little it was all about Brooke (what i'm trying to say is I was actually alive at the time so I know this as first hand knowledge) so I was surprised that they barely got any attention. But really the book was FULL of stories, it was really a fun read! I'd definitely reccomend this to anyone who loves the modeling/fashion world and especially to those girls who want to be models.