En neongrön pushup

En behås betydelse i modellernas värld

Abstract

This anthropological study of working conditions in the Swedish fashion industry shows that fashion models think of modelling both as an opportunity and as a risk. Risk taking is construed around the risk of losing one's respectability when engaging in photo jobs that are seen as undignified. The respectability of a job is based on the status of a particular magazine and photographer as well as on its imagined readers. For the female models, it is important not to expose certain body parts, mainly breasts and genitals, since this would risk classifying them as "centrefold novels". Keeping up borders of this kind is however shown to be difficult. To illustrate how fragile the borders of respectability can be, I describe a situation where a young model, Mette, does a non paid photo job for a car magazine aimed at heterosexual men. With this example, I want to show the meaning of a neon green push up bra for Mettes way of keeping her self respect and her professional borders. At the same time, keeping one's respectability isn't always compatible with making a living through modelling. When stretching the borders of respectability help making a career, the models sometimes renegotiate these borders.