Why did models become so famous?

Have you ever asked yourself why before we didn’t pay so much attention to the name of the model and now it has become so important? I have. And I’ve been thinking about that recently. I see more and more advert campaigns where we see the name of the model written somewhere on the photo or flashing trough the video. Just several years ago this wouldn’t happen. In the ’90s in Bulgaria the only models we heard of were Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford. Oh, and Naomi Campbell, but a little later. Of course, that’s also linked to the fact that Bulgaria was part of the Communist Block before 1989 and this was a factor for not knowing anything about the West or finding harder the information.

In my point of view, what changed things very fast was the Internet. It changed all the fashion industry. It changed the speed of launching and popularizing new lines, it changed the demands, it changed the market, even the way things work within the business. But also it changed the way fashion approaches people. It’s become so accessible that people very easily became aware of how to follow fashion and how to be in. Suddenly, some brands made a big fame and became favorite to lots of people no matter if their clothes are affordable or not. More and more celebrities started to take part in the creative process of new fashion lines. For sure marketing became more important than ever and it was crucial to use the face of someone if you want to stay on the top.

Magazines, which are traditionally playing huge role in the marketing of big companies, have been pushed to look more often online, where a whole new movement – the Street style – was created. And what could be a better thing to shoot in the streets than models – these beautiful, extraterrestrial creatures, young, innocent and vulnerable. They turned into the ultimate target for photographers and the fact that you know where to find them (before and after fashion shows) made them accessible. I recently read in an interview the words of a model, who claimed that just several years ago there were no people outside fashion shows. Now there’s crowds of journalists, photographers, bloggers or fans.

Of course, the merit is also of the audience itself, because if there was no interest to these fragile little women, there would be no models in the Street style blogs. „Fortunately“, the formula „beautiful girl – unconsciousness – eye attraction“ worked and here we are, at a place where models have become real stars, some of them made a fortune on ad campaigns and their careers don’t stop growing. And of course, we see their names everywhere. I guess a lot of people would say that it’s not fair models to become as famous as movie stars or musicians, for example. At least the second ones have a proven talent. Well, there are lots of beautiful young girls around the world, many of them are modeling, but to become a supermodel there’s something else you need to possess – as I see things (and I’m not a specialist at all), you need to have a strong personality from young age, to be interesting to people, to be very professional and punctual and to be ready to have a very fast paced lifestyle with lots of stress, non stop traveling, permanent fatigue and long distance relationships with your friends and family. It isn’t so easy after all and no, forget about it if you think that everyone (meaning YOU) can do the same thing…

What’s the conclusion? Well, we can talk for hours about what all this model idols situation causes to the society, but I prefer to stop and let everybody think themselves and find their own answer.