Forget the $20,000 paycheck! As top model reveals she was only given a used dress for starring in high-profile campaign, are supermodels getting paid like interns?

By Catherine Townsend

Published: | Updated:


Twenty-one year-old Dutch model Nimue Smit has rocked the fashion world with her claim that she was paid for a high-profile ad campaign with a piece of clothing instead of cash.

Fashion campaigns are usually the Holy Grail for models as they command the highest fees, but that no longer appears to be the case.

A user on ModelsAndCo translated an interview that Smit gave to Dutch Glamour magazine in which she says 'a black Alberta Ferreti gown with pink pearls on the shoulders' is the most beautiful thing she owns - adding 'it was given to me as payment for a campaign'.

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Fashion victim: Model Nimue Smit (right) claims that she was paid for her work in the Alberta Ferretti campaign with clothes rather than cash

'Sure you could probably sell the stuff you got from trade on eBay, but there aren't that many people who aren't models that fit in sample size clothes,' one commenter wrote 'I can't imagine how s***y it would be to get a garment for eight hours of work.'  

Another added 'I really hope that wasn't all the payment she got' while another wonders if something got 'lost in translation'.

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Setting the trend: Supermodel Linda Evangelista famously said that she wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day

Smit starred in Alberta Ferretti's fall 2009 ads, which were shot by acclaimed fashion photographer Steven Meisel. When it comes to runway and editorial work, many models are familiar with the system of working for 'trade', which means that they can be compensated with clothes rather than money.

Ironically, the main motivation for walking in runway shows is often gaining exposure so that they can land a higher-paying campaign.

Since many fashion magazines only pay a day rate of between $125 and $250, this can lead to a situation where in some cases a model literally pays to do a shoot.

So a model may look like a million bucks, but actually be deep in debt. And if she's only compensated in clothes, she may have to re-sell her outfit on eBay afterwards to break even.

This leads to a situation where some of the highest-profile designers are the ones who expect the girls to work for the least money.

After one of his 17-year-old models blogged about being paid with just one outfit for 30 hours of work on his fall 2012 show, designer Marc Jacobs tweeted: 'Models are paid in trade, if they don't want to work with us, they don't have to.'

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Working it: Smit, pictured backstage at a fashion show for Roberto Cavalli (left) and ready to walk for Lanvin (right) has been the 'face' of several high-profile fashion houses


'Models are often in the dark about money matters for more prosaic reasons too: most of them are very young, and many haven't mastered English,' writes former model Jenna Sauers, whose anonymous blog unmasked many of the fashion industry's shady dealings.

But Smit is hardly an unknown: Since signingwith Code Model Management in 2007 and launching her career, she has been the face of Giorgia Armani, Prada, Burberry and Topshop. She has also appeared in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar editorials.

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Cashing in: Supermodels Cindy Crawford (left) Naomi Campbell (center) and Christy Turlington (right) commanded $10,000 runway fees at the height of their fame in the early 1990s

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Fashion forward: Twenty years after starting their careers, Cindy Crawford (left) Naomi Campbell (center) and Christy Turlington (right) have built fortunes and become household names

She has also walked for designers including Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Anna Sui, Jil Sander, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Lanvin, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton. In 2009, Style.com featured her as a rising star.

Agencies charge 'for everything', according to Sarah Ziff, who co-founded The Model Alliance and campaigns for fairer working conditions in the fashion industry.

'If you live in model’s apartment, that’s a fee. Printing your book is a fee. Taking a car to and from the airport is a fee', Ziff told told The Daily Beast. 'Models might rack up tens of thousands of dollars in debt without really even knowing'. 

While models are legally bound by contract to repay any debt accrued to their agencies - which can be anything from printing costs to flights or car service.

But there is no similar law to help them chase the money they may be owed. Supermodel Coco Rocha recently declared, 'I have a paycheck from 2006 that I'm still waiting for.'

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