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Just Plain Wrong

New York Will Likely Ban Underage Models In Fashion Shoots Featuring Nudity

ondria hardin

Vogue

Ondria Hardin at age 15, for Vogue.

New York state legislators are on track to pass a law before Fashion Week in September regulating work conditions for under-age models.

The new rules would ban nudity on sets, and require models be allowed to eat, according to Women's E-News:

If it passes, all New York Fashion Week shows and local magazine shoots there would require such things as chaperones on set, tutors on set, consent forms for nudity, no 16-plus-hour days and access to food.

The new law will be a culture shock in the fashion world, which has a long troubling history of using underage girls in nude or inappropriately sexual photo shoots.

Vogue, for instance, has repeatedly used the 15-year-old Ondria Hardin in shoots despite promising not use girls under 16 as models. Prada used Hardin in a "sexy" ad when she was just 13.

The fashion business has voluntary guidelines banning the use of under-16s on runways, but models and agents have been known to lie about girls' ages to get work. And 87% of models have been subjected to a surprise request for nudity during a photo session.

The law's sponsors have proposed a fine of $1,000 per violation.