Model, Signed by Michael Gross to Kenneth Jay Lane
[Signed to Kenneth Jay Lane] Gross, Michael. Model, The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women. First Edition. 1995. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in very good minus condition. This book is from the library of Kenneth Jay Lane, who is profiled in the book. It is inscribed to him on the title page, “To Kenneth Jay Lane—Truth is stranger than fashion! Michael Gross.”
This somewhat rambling but anecdote-packed social history of modeling begins at what was then the ending, the 1990s supermodel phenomena and its apotheosis, Cindy Crawford. The book then returns to modeling’s early 20th Century beginnings and progresses forward, with much on the delicate ecosystem (ego-system?) that exists between models, agencies, photographers, and stylists. Along the way, modeling echoes the times and also becomes more lucrative as models transition from modeling product to actually being the product. Includes profiles and interviews with all of the important 20th Century models.
“The model business remains, as it has always been, a seething morass of beauty and money, grace and envy, sensuality and lust, yearning and backstabbing, glamour, greed, and glory beyond measure.”
--Michael Gross
