DL BOOK CLUB Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross

Without googling, didn't this book come out in 1993?

I'm looking forward to this.

Calendar marked.

THAT Michael Gross?

r4 Not that one.

Bumping because I just finished the book, ready to kvetch soon! A lot of juicy details to discuss.

Thank you. I love DL Book Club threads and wish there were more of them.

Hasn't this book been out for over a decade already? This Amazon link says 2011.

R8 I believe the original edition was 1993? But there were several updated versions published afterwards.

Gross.

Indeed.

My copy hasn't arrived yet, but I am soooo looking forward to this!

I had this book back in the day and tried to sell a couple of times. I think in the end I left it in a book donation box.

I'm surprised Ryan Murphy hasn't adapted parts of this into a series. There are a few stories in there that would be great for Duel. More on that front when the time comes.......

I read it a long time ago. I think there was a lot about Cheryl Tieg and Peter Beard. Didn’t realize there were later editions.

r13 Don't give MsMurphy any ideas. He would ruin the book's legacy.

R15 One of the stories is even more bizarre than anything out of Empress Ryan's playbook. And that is saying something.......

Bumping this thread in anticipation!

[quote]that would be great for Duel.

Oh, dear.

My book hasn't arrived yet!

Leave it to the DL to discuss only the classics in its book club. Next month is Anne Rice.

It was supposed to arrive today, but I got an e-mail saying it is delayed :(

Let's start!

I previously posted this in the Gerald Marie thread that I LOLed at the Cindy Crawford chapter when she discussed her desired acting career. Also, I don't know if she ever talked about her stalker outside of her interview with Gross, because I've read a lot of interviews with her and it is the only place I've ever seen her mention it. She also implies that one of the reasons that she didn't earn a contract in the Elite Look of the Year contest is because she said she wouldn't drop out of high school. A lot of girls who've been in the contest say that too.

That book was my Holy Grail as a little gay (I tried to check it out from the library multiple times), but my dad insisted it was too inappropriate.

I'm waiting...

Gross goes a lot easier on the people that talked to him than on the ones that didn't. I'm sure that there would've been a lot of dirt on Janice Dickinson had she not sat down for an interview with Gross.

The overall theme of the book was that the modelling industry became a dangerous and sleazy place for models, once straight men became involved with the fashion industry.

Up until the 1960s or 1950s, the modelling industry was run by older women and gay men, and they may have been bitches but at least the models were physically safe. When the straight men came in, sexual harassment, the abuse of minors, rape, and general sleaze, became the industry standard.

Did anyone read the part about Dovima, classic supermodel? Such an amazing woman and the pictures Avedon took of her were gorgeous.

The best chapter is the one about Christine Bolster where she talks about her relationship with Gerald Marie!

The Avedon photo above directly referenced Steichen's earlier Vogue classic, "White" featuring Gwili Andre centre.

The story of The Parker sisters is probably the most entertaining in the book. Their stories really make truth stranger than fiction. One of them was the biggest tramps in the Western World, the other ended up acting,baking at home and marrying actor Bradford Dillman. The road that brought them to such a point was so interesting. Someone should make a miniseries of their story, hopefully it won't be Ryan Murphy!.

I think Epstein and trump are mentioned in a later chapter! will check when I get home this evening.

Is Gross a sister?

R32 He dedicated the book to his wife, so, probably not.

I loved the chapter about the model who had the affair with Jerry Ford.

I agree about the Parker sisters R30! One model implies that Dorian Leigh was sort of pimping out models, but Gross never really explores it, which was disappointing. At least two different women in the book say that she stole money from them.

^ I sure hope someone explores it. Anyone but Ryan Murphy.

This book proved surprisingly helpful when I took Contracts in law school.

"Did anyone read the part about Dovima, classic supermodel? "

Yes, I also read a long article about her in Vanity Fair, back when it was a good mag.

The woman was a stunning photographic subject, with her high-contract coloring, inhumanly delicate features, and willowy figure... but her story is the usual one of brief fame. Bad aging, bad men, bad habits, bad investments... she spent her later years as hostess in a podunk restaurant. Nobody there knew that the elegant woman who seated them had once been world famous.

I will have to catch up with y'all later as my delayed book still hasn't arrived. Fucking Chapters. I should've just ordered from evil Amazon.

I wonder how Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista felt about Christy Turlington agreeing to be interviewed for the book.

r39 They are still friends present day.

R40 yes they seem to be, but I thought Christy sounded quite condescending towards them in the book. I think it was soon after Linda’s infamous “we don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day” remark; it seemed like Christy was annoyed at the time that she was so closely associated with that attitude. Perhaps that’s why she was trying to distance herself from them

Reading the book has had me revisiting old photos and video of the 90s gals, I was a teen at the time and loved watching Fashion Television w Jeanne Beker and Style w Elsa Klensch! What a time it was.

In the end I love all the supers of the era but for me Linda was the greatest of the bunch. I also like Helena and Nadia, as well as Kristen Mcnemanny. Some of the Versace print ads of the time were truly spectacular. Nothing today comes close.

R37 wow that’s fascinating. I do love a beauty with tragic tale. Reminds me of Veronica Lake.

People has that article about Christy/Linda/Naomi's night on the town with Steven Meisel that Christy talks about in their online archives.

My delayed book finally arrived!

Article by the author. Topical stuff what with the death of Brunel. What a creepy industry it really is!

I'm starting the book!

In one of the chapters about 1970s models, Shelly Smith came off as really sweet. I'm glad that she ended up with a happy life.

Any word on Gross doing an update to present day?

I guess nepo-models and instahoes don't hold the same allure as the golden age of modelling.

I'm reading the book now. Why did people think Crawford & Gere were gay? I never understood that.

R50 Crawford posed on the cover of Vanity Fair with K.D. Lang.

^ How odd. It was just a photoshoot I guess it was a different time.

R51, There were many rumors about both Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere at the time despite it being pre-internet.