The French fashion house reacted quicky after the US casting director James Scully’s statement on Instagram. He called out fashion industry for being cruel and sadist towards models during the Paris Fashion Week castings.
He set out a firestorm by saying that the Balenciaga casting Madia & Ramy held a casting where they made over 150 models wait for over 3 hours in a stairwell without possibility of leaving. Moreover, they went to lunch and turned off the lights, leaving the girls in the complete dark. Scully continues by saying that some fashion houses try to sneak in underage models and accuses Lanvin that they don’t want to be presented with women of colour.
The post continues by saying that this cruel behaviour “left more than a few of the girls […] traumatized” and that many of them asked to cancel their runway for Balenciaga, Hermes and Elie Saab (they use the same casting agency) because “they refuse to be treated like animals”.
Balenciaga quickly cut ties with the model casting agency and sent a letter of apology to all the model agencies involved in the issue, asking them to share it with the fashion house.
Peace.Love.Balenciaga
