Exposé: The life of a fashion model isn't nearly as glamorous as you imagined.

Starvation, child labor, sexual abuse and grueling hours for almost no pay. Working conditions no one should experience are too often the hallmarks of a runway model's career.

With Paris Fashion eWeek in full swing, images of beauty, glamour and jet-setting lifestyles are dominating the fashion landscape. But for the average working model, the fashion industry can mean a much darker reality. Beyond the low pay — the average annual wage for a runway model is $26,600 per year, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics — the industry is littered with stories of abuse and degradation.

In 2012 Sara Ziff, a model and former face of Tommy Hilfiger, founded The Model Alliance, an organization dedicated to improving working conditions for models in what is essentially an unregulated industry. The philosophy, as outlined in its Models’ Bill of Rights, is to empower models and demand fair treatment from both agencies and clients.

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“As a model, you’re meant to have a face and not an opinion,” says Yomi Abiola, a model and the founder of Stand Up for Fashion (STUFF). “Models who want to stand up and voice their opinion jeopardize their ability to work.”

Beyond child labor, The Model Alliance tackles eating disorders and sexual abuse. In that same survey conducted by The Model Alliance, 64% reported being asked to lose weight by their agency.

“We still hear from models who say that their agencies encourage or even require them to be dangerously thin," says Ziff.

As for sexual harassment, 30% of models in that survey reported inappropriate touching on the job, with 28% reporting being pressured to have sex with someone at work.

In the end it’s about convincing people to view models as humans and not simply as objects of fantasy. “Not as dehumanized images,” Ziff states on The Model Alliance website, “but as workers who deserve the same rights and protections as anyone else.”

[Source]