Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Electronic Filing System. https://estta.uspto.gov
`ESTTA Tracking number:
`ESTTA1153320
`08/15/2021
`
`Filing date:
`
`Proceeding
`Party
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`Correspondence
`Address
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`IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`91247034
`Plaintiff
`Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc.
`JORDAN LAVINE
`FLASTER GREENBERG PC
`1835 MARKET ST STE 1050
`PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103
`UNITED STATES
`Primary Email: jordan.lavine@flastergreenberg.com
`Secondary Email(s): alexis.arena@flastergreenberg.com,
`Eric.clendening@flastergreenberg.com
`215-279-9389
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`Submission
`Filer's Name
`Filer's email
`Signature
`Date
`Attachments
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`Plaintiff's Notice of Reliance
`Jordan A. LaVine
`jordan.lavine@flastergreenberg.com
`/Jordan A. LaVine/
`08/15/2021
`Opposer Seventh Notice of Reliance - Filed 8.15.21.PDF(919424 bytes )
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`IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
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`Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc., :
`Opposer,
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`v.
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`Fashion Electronics, Inc.,
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`Applicant.
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`Opposition No. 91247034
`Application Serial No. 88143621
`Mark: EVOGUE
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`OPPOSER’S SEVENTH NOTICE OF RELIANCE
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`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §2.122(e), Opposer Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc.
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`hereby gives notice of its reliance upon the attached printouts of articles from the
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`LexisNexis database. The 9 articles are representative articles published in Newsweek
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`from November 23, 1998 to March 16, 2018 in which Opposer’s Vogue trademark
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`appears.
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`These articles are relevant to this opposition because they demonstrate that in the
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`periods of time both before and after the filing of Applicant’s application, Opposer’s
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`Vogue trademark has appeared in a large number of articles referring to Opposer and its
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`products in a wide range of news and media outlets, including some of the most widely
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`read U.S. newspapers and periodicals; i.e., newspapers and periodicals that are read by
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`the general public of the United States. These articles indicate that in the periods of time
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`both before and after the filing of Applicant’s application, public exposure to Opposer’s
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`Vogue trademark is widespread, that Opposer is a recognized leader in the field of
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`fashion, style, and product recommendations (including technology accessories), and that
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`Opposer’s mark would have been familiar and well known to readers of those
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`publications.
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`8446741 v1
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`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §2.122 (g), Opposer submits that these materials are
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`relevant to the following issues in this case: (1) Opposer’s strength and ownership of its
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`trademarks; (2) the similarity in appearance between Opposer’s marks and Applicant’s
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`“EVOGUE” mark; (3) the similarity of the goods and services offered under Opposer’s
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`marks and Applicant’s “EVOGUE” mark; (4) the fame of Opposer’s marks; (5) the
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`similarity of trade channels between the goods offered under Applicant’s mark and the
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`goods/services offered under Opposer’s marks; (6) the similarity of customers for both
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`parties with respect to the goods and services offered under their respective marks; (7) the
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`likelihood that Applicant’s mark will cause confusion with Opposer’s marks; and (8) the
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`likelihood that Applicant’s mark will dilute Opposer’s famous marks.
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`Dated: August 15, 2021
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`Respectfully submitted,
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`Jordan A. LaVine
`Eric R. Clendening
`FLASTER/GREENBERG P.C.
`One Tower Bridge
`100 Front Street, Suite 100
`Conshohocken, PA 19428
`Tel: (215) 279-9389
` ATTORNEYS FOR OPPOSER
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`
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`8446741 v1
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`IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`
`Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc., :
`Opposer,
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`
`:
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`:
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`v.
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`:
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`Fashion Electronics, Inc.,
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`Applicant.
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`Opposition No. 91247034
`Application Serial No. 88143621
`Mark: EVOGUE
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`Certificate of Service
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`I hereby certify that the Seventh Notice of Reliance of Opposer Advance Magazine
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`Publishers, Inc. is being served by email on Applicant’s counsel on August 15, 2021, at the
`following e-mail address:
`
`Christopher D. Lee, Esq.
`134 E. Valley Blvd.
`Alhambra, CA 91801
`UNITED STATES
`christopher@lacommerciallaw.com
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`
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`Sincerely,
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`Eric Clendening
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`8446741 v1
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`User Name: Eric Clendening
`Date and Time: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 2:03:00 PM EDT
`Job Number: 149399511
`
`Documents (10)
`
`1. She's Still in Vogue
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`2. Syria's Fake First Family;My notorious Vogue interview with Mrs. Assad, the first lady of hell.
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`3. The Hidden Dangers of Male Modeling
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`4. New Netflix Movie Examines the Rise and Fall of Celebrity Website Gawker
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`| About LexisNexis | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Copyright © 2021 LexisNexis
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`5. Fashion's Surprising New Face;Michelle Obama's glamour has democratized fashion and given rise to an
`unlikely star.
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`6. Grief, Glamor and the Ubiquitous Black Dress
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`7. McCain's Mrs. Right;Gov. Sarah Palin came out of nowhere to win the John McCain veep sweepstakes. Well,
`not quite nowhere.
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`8. What Michelle Means to Us
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`9. Lindsey Vonn's Uphill Battle
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`Narrowed by
`Timeline: After Jan 01, 1990; Publication Type: Magazines
`& Journals; Sources: Newsweek
`
`| About LexisNexis | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Copyright © 2021 LexisNexis
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`10. Why You Should Binge HBO's 'High Maintenance,' The Most Addictive Stoner Show On TV
`Client/Matter: A1092.A1092.0012
`Search Terms: vogue
`Search Type: Natural Language
`
`Narrowed by:
`
`Content Type
`News
`
`Narrowed by
`Publication Type: Magazines & Journals; Sources:
`Newsweek; Timeline: Jan 01, 2014 to Dec 31, 2020
`
`| About LexisNexis | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Copyright © 2021 LexisNexis
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`She's Still in Vogue
`
`Newsweek
`
`November 23, 1998, U.S. Edition
`
`Copyright 1998 Newsweek
`
`Section: LIFESTYLE; Media; Pg. 66
`
`Length: 1171 words
`
`Byline: BY RICK MARIN
`Highlight: In her 10 years as editrix of the premier fashion magazine, Anna Wintour has presided over a
`provocative mix of 'mass and class.'
`
`Body
`
`ANNA WINTOUR'S FIRST COVER AS editor of Vogue in November 1988 was a model in faded jeans and a $
`10,000 Christian Lacroix T shirt. Next month's cover girl is Hillary Clinton, in an Oscar de la Renta gown. "I think
`the way she's behaved this past year has been amazing," Wintour says, using a favorite approbation. "And when I
`saw how amazing she was looking, we asked her if she would do the cover." A mildly racy sweater shot by
`photographer Annie Leibovitz allows the resurgent First Lady to show that she, as one male Hillary fan says in the
`Vogue profile, "has got it goin' on." And the cover's shrewd timing reminds Wintour's constituents that she, at 49, is
`still the unimpeachable first lady of fashion.
`
`How has she survived -- Anna, not Hillary, that is? And what has she got going on behind those big dark glasses?
`Don't ask. At least not about what she calls the "sunglasses and stilettos" caricature. "It's very unusual for me to
`read something about myself that I don't feel I've read before," she warns from behind a black desk in her office on
`Madison Avenue.
`
`The Wintour persona invites stereotyping -- and parody, envy, innuendo, worship and fear. She has made over the
`old cliche of the fashion editor (Diana Vreeland with her musts and dahlings) in her own image: whippet-thin, killer
`heels, a manner as severe as her Louise Brooks bob. And those icycold shades. "Bad vision," she explains.
`Fashion journalist Michael Gross has another theory: "I often think she wears those sunglasses as much to protect
`herself as to intimidate others." Either way, they only add to the mystique.
`
`So do tales of Wintour's chillingly efficient personal and professional style. Staffers are expected to run, not walk,
`when summoned -- in heels, never flats. After agonizing over her interview outfit, one young job applicant was
`crushed by Wintour's critique: "matchy, matchy." A colleague invited to a dinner party chez Wintour recalls the
`hostess and her husband, a child psychiatrist, leaving their guests to eat dessert without them: "She's mastered the
`art of the hearty hello and the speedy goodbye." Well aware of Wintour's influence, the sources of these stories
`would talk only on condition of anonymity.
`
`Her diva demeanor likely appeals to her boss, magazine mogul S.I. Newhouse, who models his glossy Conde Nast
`empire on the old Hollywood studio system. When she took over Vogue, circulation was 1.2 million, with about
`3,300 ad pages that year. Circulation is now 1.1 million, with 2,700 ad pages. Because Conde Nast is privately
`held, profits are unknown, but industry sources estimate Vogue is the company's No. 2 moneymaker after Glamour.
`And in the face of competition from upstarts Marie-Claire and InStyle, Vogue remains the bible.
`
`"Mass with class -- that's my mantra," Wintour says, wearing a gray cashmere Valentino dress (knee-length), lizard
`Manolo Blahnik boots and blue-gray pearls by Janice Savitt. Her look is invariably class. Her cover choices, from
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`She's Still in Vogue
`
`Page 2 of 3
`
`the Spice Girls to Oprah Winfrey, are increasingly mass. Harper's Bazaar's Liz Tilberis says of her rival: "Bazaar is
`a very cutting-edge fashion magazine. Vogue is a very commercial fashion magazine."
`
`During a meeting last week, Vogue's fashion editors -- mostly skinny young women in black sitting with their legs
`wrapped under them like pretzels -- deride a $ 900 pair of Marc Jacobs pants. "Who's gonna pay that?" says one.
`Wintour, who says very little in these colloquies, nods her assent. "Anna know her reader," market editor Wendy
`Hirschberg says afterward. Detailed research reports tell her that the reader wants "aspirational" clothing:
`unwearable or unaffordable designs by European couturiers. But not if it isn't balanced by a page of affordable gym
`bags -- and a mix of literate, nonfashion articles. Asked if the dress size of the average Vogue reader is something
`like 14, Wintour replies dryly, "I think 12."
`
`Even Oprah had to lose weight to make the cover. "I just felt she would look more beautiful 20 pounds lighter."
`Wintour says. Being thin and pretty is practically a job requirement for any "Voguette" -- a policy Wintour does not
`apologize for. "If these young women are going out to represent the magazine, I obviously expect that they should
`look a certain way," she says. What if someone were a brilliant fashion editor but weighed 250 pounds? "I would
`have a problem with that," she says. One ex-assistant says Wintour often even pronounces models "fat."
`
`Fat Wintour has never been, despite her penchant for red meat and mashed potatoes. She was athletic as a girl,
`but her father, a prominent British newspaper editor, has said she gave up running as a teenager for fear it might
`make her calves too big. (Wintour now dismisses that tale as "rubbish.") Young Anna blew off college to become
`an assistant editor at Harper's Bazaar in 1960s London, then the swinging center of the fashion universe. For the
`next decade, she bounced between London and New York (her mother is American) and finally landed as editor of
`British Vogue in 1986, where she earned the nickname "Nuclear Wintour." By 1987 she was running House and
`Garden in New York. She renamed it HG and filled its pages with so many celebrities that the magazine was
`dubbed "Vanity Chair." A year later she was in her current job, with the power to bend the $ 160 billion fashion
`industry to her will.
`
`When grunge cut into retail sales a few years ago, Wintour put her Manolo down. "Anna just said, 'No more!'"
`recalls Amy Spindler, a fashion editor at The New York Times. "She went to all the designers and said, 'I'm
`ordering a return to glamour, '40s glam and '70s glam.' And they did it. She singlehandedly flipped fashion in one
`season." She defiantly wears fur despite harassment from animal activists, who once tossed a dead raccoon onto
`her plate at the Four Seasons. And now fur's back, too.
`
`Designers she adopts -- Jacobs, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen -- owe their livelihoods to her. "They give me
`a great deal of coverage, and that's a great help to me," says Jacobs of Vogue, whose designer ego won't allow
`him to say that any one person or magazine "made" him. A current favorite is the young Brit Julien Macdonald.
`Others languish in exile. When she stopped covering Geoffrey Beene, he banned Vogue from his shows. "The
`taste level is very low," says the curmudgeonly Beene of the magazine. "Even the ads used to be quite beautiful.
`Now it's merch, merch, merch."
`
`Finding people to trash Wintour is easy. But another camp paints her as a devoted mother to her son and
`daughter, and a steadfast friend. "For those of us who fell on hard times, she's always been there," says Gabe
`Doppelt, producer of VHI's fashion-awards show. "When the cool thing to do was not to come to the show, she
`supported it and let people know she did." Wintour's trademark bob has lightened up from dark to almost blond.
`And she's backing off on the sunglasses. Maybe Anna Wintour is thawing. That would be amazing.
`
`Graphic
`
`
`
`Picture 1, no caption, DAVID N. BERWITZ FOR NEWSWEEK; Picture 2, ARMANI, DIGITAL IMAGING BY
`IGNACIO RODRIGUEZ; Picture 3, LAUREN, MAGNANI -- GAMMA-LIAISON; Picture 4, GALLIANO, DABROWSKI
`-- CORBIS; Picture 5, JACOBS, ROSE HARTMAN; Picture 6, DE LA RENTA, HARTMAN -- CORBIS; Picture 7, no
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`She's Still in Vogue
`
`Page 3 of 3
`
`caption, ROSE HARTMAN; Picture 8, KLEIN, PACE -- SYGMA; Picture 9, MIZRAHI, ROXANNE LOWIT; Picture
`10, KARAN, SPELLMAN -- RETNA; Picture 11 LAGERFELD, ROXANNE LOWIT; Picture 12 LACROIX, ABOLAFIA
`-- GAMMA LIAISON; FLAMES BY RANDALL -- FPG
`
`Load-Date: November 25, 1998
`
`End of Document
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`The Hidden Dangers of Male Modeling
`
`Newsweek
`
`June 17, 2016
`
`Global Edition
`
`Copyright 2016 Newsweek Inc. All Rights Reserved
`
`Section: DOWNTIME; Pg. 1; Vol. 166; No. 23; ISSN: 0028-9604
`
`Length: 3870 words
`
`Byline: Edward Siddons
`Highlight: It turns out being really, really, ridiculously good-looking does not guarantee you wealth, health or
`security.
`
`Body
`
`The casting director, a Dutch man in his 50s with a large paunch, looked at me, his eyes darting around my body.
`"Take off your top and show me your torso," he said. I was exhausted after 14 hours of castings, and so I did what I
`was told and removed my undershirt to reveal my rather pallid chest. After a quick glance, the casting director
`returned to his seat in the adjacent room and muttered to his stylist, "He's beautiful, but he's fat." Sound travels
`easily in a hard-floored warehouse; I had moved to the changing room, but I heard his words clearly. I felt
`humiliated.
`
`I had walked the catwalk twice at Paris Fashion Week, worked with a range of talented photographers and stylists,
`and was part of a world filled with staggeringly beautiful people. But this wasn't the first time I had been called
`overweight, despite my jutting rib cage and hips. At a fitting for a Japanese menswear show in Paris in the summer
`of 2014, a group of elderly women from the designer's team gathered behind me to laugh and lightly slap my
`buttocks as the material stretched to cover my rear. On another shoot, a stylist who had started drinking vodka at 9
`a.m. told me I was "handsome" but needed to "stop being lazy and do some fucking crunches." I didn't like any of it-
`-and I certainly didn't like being called "beautiful" but "fat." I decided then, that summer, to quit modeling.
`
`When most people think of exploitation in modeling, they think of young women and girls walking the catwalk with
`alarmingly protruding hips and angular shoulders, or they remember the lurid tales of celebrity photographers
`manipulating or coercing young women into sex acts. Muscle-bound male models with perfect cheekbones and fat
`paychecks? They do not seem like obvious victims. But as I found during my short career as a male model, men
`and boys are increasingly at risk in the odd, unregulated workplace that is the fashion world. Being a man does not
`make you safe: Male models are often subject to sexual harassment but rarely report it. And, like their female
`counterparts, they are under intense pressure to have just the right kind of body. Recent menswear trends have
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`The Hidden Dangers of Male Modeling
`
`Page 2 of 6
`
`polarized male catwalk modeling, encouraging either extreme muscularity or waifish androgyny. Want to look like
`that? It will likely make you sick.
`
`And there's another factor that makes male models more vulnerable today: Emerging East Asian economies have
`created a demand for designer clothes and consequently for models. Growing numbers of young models, both men
`and women, are heading to Asia, far from their families and support networks, and working in poorly regulated
`conditions that leave them at risk of being overworked and underpaid. It turns out that being really, really, really
`good-looking--as Ben Stiller's male model character Derek Zoolander describes himself--will not guarantee you
`wealth, health or security.
`
`Sam Thomas, founder of the U.K.-based charity Men Get Eating Disorders Too, is highly critical of recent shifts in
`the fashion industry. "There has certainly been a trend in which some male models are getting younger and
`definitely skinnier," says Thomas. The industry seems "particularly polarized right now," he says, with
`hypermuscular looks becoming increasingly popular at the same time as demand has surged for waifish male
`models.
`
`Sara Ziff, founder of the Model Alliance, a New York City nonprofit labor organization advocating for greater
`protection of models, says male models face a uniquely difficult situation. "I definitely think that men have just as
`many labor-related concerns as women, if not more," says Ziff, a longtime model. "The industry urgently needs
`reform. It's an industry that has escaped any real regulation for decades."
`
`The models and insiders I spoke with for this story were often hesitant to talk for fear of reprisals, and many
`requested anonymity. Their insights reveal an industry struggling to safeguard some of its youngest employees--
`many of whom have very little employment protection, are ill-informed of their rights and suffer from a culture of
`silence that protects the abusers within the industry who are considered too powerful to confront.
`
`At the age of 20, I fell for that world. It seemed to me like easy money and a shortcut to joining a glamorous elite.
`But after a year of dabbling in the industry, I realized it was making me miserable. Sure, I had become part of a
`rarefied world cordoned off from the public--and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed that--but to remain part of that
`elite I was expected to work unpaid to gain a degree of celebrity that never came. I had to cope with relentless
`pressure to keep my weight down, and my agency bookers expected me to attend castings for up to 17 hours a day
`in the run-up to fashion week. And there was this: The money turned out to be lousy. While a male model might
`earn a few thousand dollars for a major show and maybe in the tens of thousands for an international campaign,
`many magazine shoots are unpaid, and small shows often pay only a few hundred. I felt exploited, as did many of
`my peers, and yet all of us felt we couldn't speak out because getting a reputation as being "difficult" or
`"demanding" could kill your fledgling career. So we kept posing and we kept quiet.
`
`Boys on Film
`
`I became a model in 2013, when I was in my third year of studying English and French literature at Oxford
`University. I had moved to Paris as part of my studies, and my teenage interest in fashion was reborn. I had always
`been excited by the pace of the industry and found the processes behind designing and creating these garments
`fascinating. But I had never considered working as a model.
`
`Three days after arriving in Paris in September 2013, I headed out to a gay club, exhausted (from the move) and a
`little drunk (from the vodka). A guy across the room with stubble and chiseled cheekbones caught my attention;
`when I ventured out into the street for a cigarette, he followed. He asked for a light and then asked if I was a model.
`I told him it was a terrible pickup line. He told me he was a casting director and invited me to his studio a few days
`later, took some photos and added me to his database.
`
`The following weekend, we shot a series of portraits. A few weeks later, he cast me in a music video. And a few
`months later, he sent me to one of Paris's most prestigious modeling agencies. Its verdict? That I was "unsuitable."
`
`A chance encounter with another casting director in early 2014 led to an invitation to visit a modeling agency. I
`posed for a few Polaroids, wrote down my measurements and awaited the decision. The booker--a kind, freckled
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`The Hidden Dangers of Male Modeling
`
`Page 3 of 6
`
`man in his 30s--looked me up and down as I stood by the window of his fifth-floor studio, whispering to his
`assistant. "You could do with some exercise," he said finally, as though I was an out-of-season racehorse, "but we'd
`love you to come on board."
`
`In spite of my reservations, I felt a flood of nervous euphoria. I couldn't help but be seduced by the idea that I would
`be paid mountains of cash to lounge around and have my face splashed across billboards. And then I began
`working, and reality hit: To be a model is to accept that you are a product as well as a person. You are also a target
`for sexual predators.
`
`At first, I was relatively oblivious to the extent of the sexual harassment and abuse in the industry. Serious
`propositions and sexual advances are often framed as jokes, allowing the powerful figures who make them--
`photographers, editors and casting directors--to dismiss them as such should they be declined. In September 2013,
`while I was shooting a music video, a fashion consultant in his 60s spent the day making inappropriate comments
`and asking if what was "down there" was as "intoxicating" as my "handsome face." I ignored him and moved away
`when he repeatedly brushed against me. As he slid past me, he stroked his hand across my lower back and
`slapped my backside.
`
`A few weeks later, an editor offered to shoot me for the cover of his magazine, with the caveat that I pose naked
`and join him for a "romantic" dinner that evening. I said I wasn't interested, but he messaged me regularly
`throughout the year. His messages became increasingly graphic, including sending me links to porn videos and
`images of another model whose career he claimed to have launched. In June 2014, a photographer tried to make
`me commit to orgies while on a shoot, with the promise of getting me "exposure." He also convinced me and the
`other male model I was shooting with to strip down to our underwear in the middle of the Bois de Vincennes, a
`wooded area southeast of Paris.
`
`At times, these powerful men behave with a remarkable sense of impunity: While I was conducting research for this
`article, one powerful fashion designer, high on cocaine, repeatedly sent me unsolicited naked videos when I
`attempted to arrange an interview.
`
`In some ways, I got off lightly. Matthew, a British model, signed up with his first agency while he settled into life in
`Paris (a few months later, he joined Elite, the world's leading agency). He soon found himself in the studio of a
`photographer who overstepped the mark.
`
`"It was horrible," says Matthew, which is his real first name. He has now quit modeling and is a student living in
`London. "He made me take all my clothes off, including my underwear. His rationale was that he needed to get me
`over the phase of being awkward and make me more comfortable in my own body."
`
`Exposing the photographer was impossible, Matthew says. "I couldn't complain because he was part of my
`agency." The man was one of the bookers working at the agency; he freelanced as a photographer on the side.
`
`"In fashion, it is always older people controlling younger," says Rena Habermacher, a Swiss-born photographer
`who works regularly for Japanese Vogue and other leading titles. Ziff, of the Model Alliance, says she has heard
`about countless situations that mirrored Matthew's story. "I don't think I've ever spoken with a male model about the
`Model Alliance without them talking about sexual harassment," she says.
`
`Their age makes many models particularly vulnerable. "When starting out, models tend to be very young," says Ziff,
`whose modeling career started at 14. "Their careers are short-lived and tenuous for the most part. If you know that
`you have a shelf life of maybe five years, you're much less likely to stick your neck out or complain, especially since
`it is so competitive."
`
`'Underage and Underfed'
`
`I have found it hard to stick to my decision to quit modeling. I still take jobs now and then. I miss the excitement.
`Also, as a recent graduate, I could do with the cash. On certain jobs, I have been shocked by how young many of
`the models are. At my last show, the Andrea Crews collection shown in Paris in January 2016, I shared a cigarette
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`The Hidden Dangers of Male Modeling
`
`Page 4 of 6
`
`with a boy backstage whose tousled hair, slender body, boyish features and full lips combined to make him look
`delicate and androgynous. "How old are you?" I asked him. "Fifteen," he said, looking nervous. "I don't really know
`what I'm doing here."
`
`Critics and commentators have long criticized the use of very young male models in the fashion industry, but the
`current trend for models with boyish or androgynous looks has intensified that criticism. The androgynous look
`pushes male models to lose muscle mass and women to lose their natural curves. One model, Jack--that's a
`pseudonym--says that has increased competition between men and women for the same shows. (At Gucci's
`menswear show in January 2015, for example, boyish female models walked alongside waifish men.)
`
`In stark contrast to the androgynous male models on the catwalks in Asia are the muscle-bound male models
`typified by the perfectly sculpted British model David Gandy. But beneath those hypermuscular builds are often
`serious health problems. "The big, muscular guys are no better off," says a British photographer, whose work is
`regularly featured in American Vogue and GQ France and who requested anonymity. "Men who are that big,
`who go to the gym that often and have 2 percent body fat--they are starving themselves too." Researchers and
`mental health experts have coined the term bigorexia to describe muscle dysmorphia, a distorted perception of the
`body as too weak and lacking muscle that fuels obsessive workouts even among the most toned men and
`bodybuilders.
`
`The pressure to lose weight is common among male models. In December 2013, Jack, who had trained as a
`dancer and had muscular legs, was told by his agents to lose 3 kilograms (about 6.5 pounds) from his legs for a
`Saint Laurent fitting. "It was a huge pressure." He prioritized reaching his target weight over his health. "It pushed
`me towards an eating disorder. All the guilt, constantly--it was like pre-bulimia."
`
`Almost every one of the 15 insiders who agreed to speak to Newsweek said Saint Laurent's recently departed
`creative director, Hedi Slimane, spearheaded the rise of the ultra-skinny male model. Karl Lagerfeld, creative
`director
`of
`Chanel
`and
`one
`of
`fashion's
`most
`powerful
`designers,
`http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/diet/3305257/I-lost-weight-to-be-a-good-clotheshorse.html wrote in
`The Telegraph in 2004 that "Slimane's fashions, modelled by very, very slim boys, required me to lose at least six
`of my 16 stone."
`
`interview with
`an
`in
`young men
`skinny
`super
`for
`preference
`his
`defended
`Slimane
`https://www.yahoo.com/style/exclusive-hedi-slimane-on-saint-laurents-126446645943.html Yahoo Style last year,
`explaining that he was bullied as a teenager for not having a traditionally masculine build: "I was precisely just like
`any of these guys I photograph or that walk my shows. Jackets were always a little too big for me. Many in high
`school, or in my family, were attempting to make me feel I was half a man because I was lean." Slimane says later
`in the interview that there was a derogatory and homophobic undertone to the idea that skinny was "queer."
`
`For many fashion insiders, the reasons for his casting choices are hardly relevant; what matters is the impact
`Slimane had on models--and even men outside the fashion world. The British photographer who worked for
`American Vogue is highly critical of the male body type promoted by the designer. "Hedi idolizes emaciated boys,"
`he says. Slimane created an aesthetic that he sums up as "underage and underfed." Saint Laurent and Slimane
`declined repeated requests for comment when approached by Newsweek.
`
`Thin in Japan
`
`Nowhere has super skinny become more prevalent than in East Asia. Japan has long been a major player in the
`fashion world, but the rise of China and South Korea has cemented the importance of East Asia. But Asia doesn't
`just present new opportunities; it also brings new threats. The market is known in the fashion world for its
`preference for ultra-skinny male models. "In Japan, you have a strong desire for younger, sweet-looking male
`models, and to the extent that you must represent the market, they're simply smaller sized," says Valerie Steele, an
`American fashion historian, curator and director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York
`City. Combined with culture shock, long work hours and isolation from their families and friends, young male models
`often enter these new markets unaware of their labor rights and the dangers they might face.
`
`Eric Clendening
`
`

`

`The Hidden Dangers of Male Modeling
`
`Page 5 of 6
`
`In the summer of 2014, Habermacher joked that I should head to East Asia if I wanted my career to really take off.
`"They'd love you over there," the photographer told me, "and the pay is crazy: You can make up to 10,000, maybe
`20,000, [euros] a month if you're busy, but you can be shooting back-to-back for up to 16 or 18 hours a day." But
`Habermacher was not actually recommending I make the move because he knew what I would have to do to
`succeed in Asia. "They like small boys over there, I mean really small," he said. "You'd have to lose about 10 kilos
`to really make it."
`
`The idea of starting a new, thrilling life in Tokyo, Seoul or Shanghai w