This must be the year of the 15-year-old model. First Katie Braatvedt on the cover of the April 2007 issue of Australian Vogue had the Family Council slamming the use.Now the Melbourne City Council has “dumped the face of its coming Melbourne Spring Fashion Week because of her age” according to The Age newspaper.
15-year-old Claire Quirk was due to be the face of the annual fashion week that runs from September 3 to 9, but due objections from the Cr Fiona Snedden who chairs the council’s business committee, Quirk was asked to step down.
Cr Snedden objected to having such a young face as the figurehead of the festival because it was “the wrong demographic” to attract shoppers to Melbourne.
“As a parent, I have a fundamental issue about this,” she said. “Fifteen is just too young. There needs to be a time when we stop and say, ‘Is it wrong to have models this young?’, doesn’t there?”
Quirk was due to be accompanied to all public appearances by her parents or a chaperone, and the opening day of the festival is the day she was due to turn 16.
What do you think of the whole controversy?
Models like Ms Gemma Ward would not have been allowed on the catwalk if this kind of thinking was around when she first started. But working at fashion shows can be a little overwhelming if the model isn’t grounded enough to handle it.
Check our Claire’s portfolio at Chadwick Models (go to Models, Melbourne, Women, then A – E)
[Via TheAge.com.au]
— Covering Australian fashion because we’re an Australian fashion blog
