If you’ve ever fantasized that if you just had the right bone structure you could be living in a luxury loft and jetting around the world on a near-constant basis, well… you’re right, you can. But the recent lawsuit filed by Polish supermodel Anna Jagodzinska against her agency, Next (the details of which you can read here) involves the disclosure of some outstanding payments from everyone from Vogue to H&M. And perhaps it’s not entirely surprising given the whole “state of the print industry,” but jesus Vogue is cheap. FRENCH Vogue, even. (Everything is fancier and more expensive in France, FYI.) $125? That they still haven’t paid since April? Shit. Anna Wintour makes $2 million. On the flip, H&M “pays” (albeit with nine- (and counting) month delay), $60k!

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Marjorie Skinner is the Portland Mercury's Managing Editor, author of the weekly Sold Out column chronicling the area's independent fashion and retail industry, and a frequent contributor to the film and...

5 replies on “What Models Make”

  1. Vogue is “cheap”? Well, it depends on the relative fame of the client vs. the model. If merely being in the magazine is a feather in the model’s cap and adds tremendously to the resume, she can count the fact that she worked for a publication on the level of Vogue as a big part of the payday. NOW she has Vogue in her portfolio which will pique the interest of lesser publications.

  4. Obviously a “feather in the cap” is the motivation for print modeling. By supermodels. Not hand models. From the full article:

    “Among the jobs Jagodzinska was awaiting payment for were two that dated from May of 2009. You’ll see one of those deadbeat clients is Vogue Paris, which had apparently owed Jagodzinska the princely day rate of $125 for just under a year. In addition, American Vogue owed Jagodzinska two payments of $250, one from the previous October and the other from December. Doing a magazine editorial is basically volunteer work; where a model makes her money — if she makes money — is in advertising campaigns (which are rare but extremely lucrative) and catalogs (which are somewhat easier to book and generally offer day rates in the low-to-mid thousands).”

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