I have a hard time believing that a reputable modeling agency would fudge their model's numbers by more than an inch. What happens when a model that the client thought was 5'10" shows up to a shoot or fitting, and she's only 5'8"? It could ruin the look they are trying to achieve, or worse, she can't fit into the clothes, and that damages the relationship with the agency. Maybe there is an unspoken agreement regarding insta-models that they all come shorter than advertised, but generally, it seems like too much of a risk.
They honestly do, or at least they did when I worked in the industry. I never had any experience with Instagram models because I worked in the industry pre-Instagram. I did work with several big names and none of them were particularly tall.
What I think people don’t really understand is that unless they’re modelling couture or something that’s being made specifically for them, a model’s measurements are not routinely taken.
Fittings are more about who looks best in what, not oh let’s check what height and size this girl is to check if the agency lied. One of the reasons models are pressured to be so thin is so they can effortlessly slip into sample sizes and have them pinned or altered to fit better. Height doesn’t come into that nearly as much as hip size or bust size does.
I appreciate that, as been said on this thread, some designers have catwalk height limits now, and I can well believe agencies are stricter now in light of that, but I am not convinced they are as strict as some claim. In my experience, “tall enough” is fine, and everyone expected agencies to fudge details on cards, so no-one put huge stock into them.
I also want to point out that agencies and model agents are essentially sales people, they absolutely do fudge the truth knowing they can get away with it, they can be extremely pushy and they’ll also do sneaky things with any client where they believe they can get away with it. I’ll give some examples:
- sending girls to a casting that weren’t actually requested because they know they won’t be turned away
- booking castings or even tests with a girl who you’re told is within shoot budget, but then when it comes to booking you’re told they’re more expensive than initially agreed
- the hype machine where they’ll attempt to play clients off against each other by mentioning “oh so and so brand were wanting this girl but you could quickly see her”
I do think that with the rise of the fandom of models via social media, especially with Victoria’s Secret, there is this weird core of fandom who mythologise everything about models and seem particularly obsessed by height.
Kate Moss and Cara D are both obvious examples of being uber successful despite a surprisingly short height, and yes they are probably outliers since they’re both much shorter than other models. But genuinely, a lot of the girls who claim 5’10 are 5’8.5 at best. It could be sloppy measurements or it could be outright lies, I don’t know, but I say this as someone with friends who are model agents - they will do whatever they can to procure both big paying and big exposure/highly thought of jobs (or the holy grail, which is both!) for their board!
Also, another note about agents. They can be harsh.
Ever sent your pics into an agency and had them rejected? It’s quite possible they will have forwarded them to all their favourite clients and scouts and mocked your pictures, laughed at your delusion.
She was stunning.