Terry Richardson stands accused: A look inside the modeling world?
By Arushi Khosla March 24, 2010
Till a week back, saying the name “Terry Richardson” evoked more awe and less fear and disgust for the legendary photographer. This, seems to have dramatically taken an unexpected twist as the comments of two models, Danish Rie Rasmussen and Jamie Peck (yeah, we don’t no who she is, either) have caused a massive hullaballoo and inspired a flow of anti-Terry Richardson stories.
Rie
At the closing of Paris Fashion Week, she declared : “His work is completely degrading women. He takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and take pictures of them they will be ashamed of. They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them to do a job and they’re too young to stand up for themselves.”
Sometimes model Jamie Peck also wrote : ” This man has built his business/pleasure empire on breaking the cardinal rule of asking a young girl you don’t know to come over to your house and hang out naked: don’t be a fucking creep.”
So what is the issue here? Is it the fact that Terry Richardson, everyone’s favorite alternative photographer is a slimeball or that agencies need to stop booking underage models?
I have to agree with the latter. I think there’s a line agencies need to draw when they’re sending models to a photographer whom they know has a reputation of being too sexual and send older girls. Also, Jamie’s story confuses me. She claims she’s “not a model, just a vain girl with nice tits who likes to pose for the occasional cheesecake photo”. She also admits to have posed “au naturel” for other “fine folks”, although she would not put Terry in that category. Undeterred, she went to his studio twice, called him “uncle Terry”, danced around naked for him and gave him a handjob. AFTER all that, she goes ahead and says he’s a sick human. What I’m asking is: WHEN does the model say NO? He can’t legally force her to do anything and considering he’s a bachelor, he has ever legal right to insinuate sex. Why did she go ahead with it? Oh, and I think the most important question: Who IS Jamie Peck? Google is not very forthcoming with information.
Richardson's work for Marc Jacobs modeling his own Stephen Sprouse collection.
And let’s talk about Rie. Coworkers have sex with their colleagues in every single industry in the world. Terry may be a perv, he may be a “horndog” but it in no way warrants this kind of backlash. So once in a while someone gets pissed and spews venom. One washed up, possibly frustrated model said something. How do we know it was legitimate? She says he’s going around telling people she called him names in front of clients in Paris. Well, maybe that’s because she went around calling his names in front of clients in Paris!
Terry (middle) with Gossip Girl stars, Blake Lively (left) and Leighton Meester (Right) for a Rolling Stones shoot.
Let’s bear in mind that Rie is the same model who said she joined Victoria’s Secret because she wanted to hook up with another model. Ironic much?
Two girls came out. Why are all the other apparent “victims” anonymous?
At the end of the day, Terry’s job description is to make art. Great art has always been controversial (think Pollock, McQueen, Manet). Good art challenges norms and societal ideas and stereotypes. This is the fashion industry! The industry where Tom Ford was revered for carving a “G” in a model’s pubic hair! Fashion is, has and always will be sexy. Apart from the art side of it, sexy sells. That may seem a bit simplistic but that’s the truth.
Terry Richardson is Terry Richardson. Do not go to a man so infamous for shooting nudes, that he’s made a career out of it and then squirm at the idea of posing nude. Do not go to a horror movie and complain about it being scary.
Terry (left) with President Obama.
Younger models have been all praises for his work for years. Why would girls who have been coerced and forced to blow him be doing that?
Many are comparing this mess to Kate Moss’s and industry insiders all seemingly believe that it will blow over in a while, just like Kate, after using abusive substances and being condemned globally for it, came back in her highest element, snagging every big campaign around. Nobody in the industry gives two shits about two models (one, completely unknown) waxing eloquent about something without proof and being illogical and irrational about it, at that.
I’m a girl. A feminist. I am not a misogynist. I just think that models need to be smart, and more essentially, agencies need to be smarter. I don’t see peer pressure as a good enough reason for being “coerced”. You are an adult model, going to shoot for a nude photo session for a photographer whose work is all about sex. Do the math. We want teenagers to say no to sex, drugs and alcohol but adult women can’t say no to one photographer? I’m talking exclusively of Jamie and Rie here, because they’re the only two who came forward non-anonymously. I just don’t buy the whole “my career needed a real boost” cock and bull story because well, if it did, you have to choose: fame or your morals. These two obviously chose the first. Then don’t complain about it later!
Terry’s shot of Russian supermodel, Natala Vadianova.
None of these two models were “exploited”. They were adult models, not subject to any violence or threats. Situation getting too creepy? Walk out. Domestic abuse? That’s exploitation. Giving a famous photographer a handjob to give your career a boost may make you feel a little icky but it is most certainly not exploitation. Sorry. They were unpaid gigs, for their lookbook. They didn’t “need” it so desperately.
People just need to hear the words “young girls” and “nude photos” and there’s chaos and unthinking comments. I am not promoting Terry’s behavior (he’s an incredibly talented photographer who’s made major strides for the fashion industry but he has his issues) or blatantly lashing out at the models. I’m just stating that they were, in no way “abused”, “coerced” or “exploited”. I’m simply begging the question: When does a model say NO?
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Submitted on March 24, 2010 in Industry News, Model Intelligence, Who's Who.
Arushi is a fashion enthusiast from Delhi, India with an undying passion for all things fabulous.. She believes strongly in both the art and business sides of the fashion industry and is an ardent style blogger on her blog http://www.FabBlab.blogspot.com In addition, she also blogs for Vogue India and works for many a fashion publication including Haute Mimi International, Glossy magazine and Digital Temple magazine, etc. Tom Ford is more of an icon to her than Tom Hanks. Enough said.
Arushi Khosla has contributed 32 articles to Models & Moguls.
i can’t believe that you compared terry richardson with manet and jackson pollock! i am not gonna debating whether his work is art or porn, that won’t bring us anywhere, but just because he’s terry richardson, it doesn’t mean that he can get away with anything. and why you keep go on with saying that ‘the girl should know what to expect, it’s terry richardson! and since they’re adult enough, they should have said no if they don’t want it’. the one who (might) abusing the power here is him, why don’t you start with, he shouldn’t put the girls in the situation in the first place, it’s him in charge! i do understand that some artist have their eccentricities , but just because their work is an art, it doesn’t mean their act (which is a different things from their art) should be appraised in the same way.