The History Of Modeling Agencies

The first Modeling Agencies transcended the fashion industry by offering representation to models across the world. The modeling industry has changed tremendously since the early 20th century. That was a time where the women wore long outstretched dresses that came down to your ankles, gloves that covered 3 quarters of your arm and sun hats. This was every day attire, not what our culture now a days would consider sexy. This was a time period where the man was strictly in charge and a women's sole purpose in life was to marry and become a loving wife. People really started to recognize the women and the way they dressed as a sense of fashion and felt if marketed properly it can become a very lucrative business. Star power had a major role early on in this newly found fashion industry. As actresses and singers were continuously in the spot light people became very interested in not only what they were doing but what they were wearing.


At the start, modelling agencies quickly realized there was a major untapped market, and the market was women's fashion. Women were empowered as a result of modeling agents and photographers creating and managing unique women in unique clothing from some of the hottest designers. By the 1920's although there wasn't much money in the modeling industry there was a high demand for models. This is the time period where women started to realize that sexy can be achieved by showing more skin. Indecent exposure became the norm across the U.S. as women erupted a cultural revolution.

By the 1930's Hollywood became the epicenter of fashion. Classic beauties would pop up everyday with dreams of making it big in Hollywood. At a time period where the rich got richer and the poor got poorer due to the stock market crash, modeling agencies pushed to be the best and for women modeling became a priority. As more and more young designers came abroad the opportunity for success of the modeling industry was inevitable.

At the start of the 1940's people across the globe really started to understand and accept that modeling agencies were here to stay. What we didn't see coming was the high demand on teenage models, they were more sought after than most adult models. They were the face of many magazines and ad campaigns. The french couture ultimately fell, which paved the way for American fashion to become the worlds number one platform for modeling. Christian Dior and his vision of the modern woman set the standard that would be followed for the next decade.

Much like the early 1920's modelling agencies experienced little to no individuality with their clients in the 1950's. The seductiveness was absent and the french couture took off once again. Modeling in the U.S. dropped to all time low and overseas the modeling industry flourished. As the seasons changed Shelly's Modelling Agencies struggled to keep up with it's magazine as updates were irrelevant due to the lack of individuality. Their was an enlarged supply and very little demand. And faces that were once famous in the U.S. were overseas lighting up the french couture. It was a very interesting situation, and the development of new fashions were scarce. Some designers were discouraged and looked to venture off into different businesses. The ones who stuck around would find themselves in a excellent situation that would have payoffs that exceed expectations.

By the time the 1960's rolled around we began to witness a sexual revolution as women traded in their long gowns for mini skirts. They really started to make a statement and became very comfortable with their bodies. Yves Saint Laurant was one of the designers who produced this new fashionable style. The collection was directed towards the skinnier models. He utilized alot of teenage models to accomplish this his line. The sophisticated model was no longer represented by Shelly' Model Agencies and every young lady in America wanted to look like Twiggy. She was on all the magazines and was the face of many campaigns. This newly found sexual revolution was definitely a game changer looking ahead to the future of the modeling industry and the french couture. This ignited a overwhelming amount of young ladies tring to break into the fashion industry and caused previous models to drop of the market. By this time the modeling careers were short lived.



Their was a complete 180 in the 70's, female clients were getting tired of being looked at as only sex symbols. They wanted to also be looked at as a professional women who were smart, had goals, and worked hard. Head Start Model Agency looked for clients who they thought could become role models to that young girl looking at the latest issue of Vogue. They wanted to show that being professional in a business suit can be sexy. Models still wore their super mini skirts but after work at happy hour, or on the weekend at the disco. The parallel between the two was an interesting dynamic that changed the way people think. The demand for models grew as businesses became super competitive and aggressive with their advertising. Modeling slowly became a career where a young lady could make alot of money. Companies paid some models up to 1,000 dollars a day, and in some cases models received million dollar contracts for their campaigns. By the late 70's modeling really became multi - cultural which was interesting because it brought along a higher level of respect for the industry and hope for women of all ethnicity's.

In the 1980's there was no more room for new faces within Head Start Model Agency as certain faces were used for everything over and over again. Consumers for products got used to certain faces and brought products based on the face endorsing it. Companies started to see a major growth in revenue with a campaign advertised by a certain model, so naturally more and more companies would offer to pay that model a substantial amount of money for their campaigns. These models were known as super models, models like Naomi Campbell, and Cindy Crawford were highly sought after by companies and designers. They became world wide celebrities and were followed and constantly tracked by the paparazzi. Scouts Model Agency became one of the most successful modeling agencies by offering knowledgeable and talented agents that work around the clock for you. Our agents represented a large percentage of well known faces such as Christie Shirlington, and Amber Valetta. The venues for fashion shows went from buildings to stadiums. Super Models faces were everywhere in advertising, some of them even played small roles on t.v. shows and movies. Designers literally had bidding wars for Super Models to do certain campaigns. By the late 80's the fashion industry drastically began to change with the arrival of the grunge look. A dark and unconventional look with raggedy attire and horrendous make up. There was no level of sophistication and fashion shows consisted of a grateful dead look and uninspired walk. Ultimately there was two totally different fashions being celebrated at the same time. The paralleled distinction between two fashions proved that individuality can be represented together in the same profession.

Super Models changed the assumption that a modeling career is short lived. Most of the super models are around 40 and are still very successful and relevant. They keep up their fashion persona by entering the entertainment industry. Branding yourself became very important in that it forced society to stay tuned for more. Super models became innovators of the fashion industry and ultimately set the standard and blueprint of the model. With the international couture at the top of their game designers took heed to what models wanted out of their attire.Some Models became designers and some designers became consultants. The super model manipulated the industry to a point that proved they aren't going anywhere and won't give up without a fight. The feeling around Shelly's Modeling Agencies was that closer connections with their clients is more important than not sharing a bond with their clients because you have too many clients. The amount of agents didn't meet the supply of models needing representation. La Models Agency is currently considering expanding in order to being able to accommodate the large amount of requests.