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Elle models agency6/21/2023 ![]() Believe me, I’m telling you, it was never like that before. I don’t know but all of a sudden, the designers started inviting celebrities into the shows. And once that changed, everything started to change. Nobody cared about being part of the industry or going to fashion shows and then one day that changed. There was a fear of lines being copied and everything was very private. Before it was a tiny little elitist island that nobody gave any care about, nor did the island itself invite many people because it was very exclusive in the sense that designers didn’t even have outside people come to their fashion shows. It’s unfortunate that our industry has gotten full-on with so many inhabitants. We just kind of showed up and it you had style and creativity, you got noticed. It became a community of people who designed, white, Black, and so on. People started coming out and just became entities. We didn’t feel the feeling like we are now. It was organic: people came along, designers came along, everything just started to brew. The fashion business is a glamorous entity that people seem to have gotten their knickers all in a twist about. Number one, the Garment District is a whole different thing than the fashion business. A lot of people don’t know because they’re brand new with this.īack in the day, when I was coming up in the '70s, we didn’t have this frustration that seems to be percolating in the industry. There are stores willing to take risks but I just wish people had more history. That’s like in the Roman times, that’s not unusual. It’s all about referrals: What have you done and who have you done it for? Everyone fears risking something new, like a retailer taking a chance on a relatively unknown designer. Rose Hartman // Getty ImagesĪre the conversations you were having then with the industry regarding representation any different than the ones you’re having now, either from the model or designer perspective?Įvery industry has its exclusions. ![]() Hardison with designer Stephen Burrows (right) at Studio 54. It wasn’t a Black model agency, but it had a Black owner. It was a white agency with Black kids and Asian kids and Latino kids. ![]() It was hard to do because it was successful, and we were doing good things that were making a difference. We’ll take the hit.” And that did very well from about ’84-’96, when I just decided I couldn’t do it anymore. ![]() ![]() One of my top models at the time whom I’d represented at Click and always believed in me, a white girl, she just made sure she found the money and all the models said “No no no, we don’t need to get paid first. I was originally going to partner with a French woman, but she switched up on me at the last minute, so I knew I had to do it on my own, but I didn’t have a pot to piss in. I had been working with Valentino at that time in Rome and so they were the ones that told the factory, “OK, you work with her in New York and we’ll give you the licensing on our swimwear.” I never wanted to have a modeling agency, but people convinced me that that’s what I needed to do. I’d just opened up a showroom that represented Valentino and other Italian brands from this factory out of Como. I was a runway model, but I had other things that I did. I grew up in the garment business, so I always had a full-time job. I was tired of entertaining the crowd, so it was just like “Next!” I walked down the runway and saw Polly Mellen sitting front row, screaming my name, and at that moment I knew I didn’t want to do this anymore. I’ve had moments of activism for sure, but as I like to say, “an activist has to remain active.” When I left modeling, it was just because I felt I had done it and the time was up. People say that, but I’m an advocate and it’s a little different. When did you decide to leave modeling and go into activism?įirst of all, I’m not an activist. As part of ELLE's look at the future of fashion, she shares her views on the industry's current struggles and how she personally has effected change over the decades. The fashion industry has changed significantly since model-turned-advocate Bethann Hardison got her start in a Garment District button factory. ![]()
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