LVMH and Kering raise model age to 18 and tighten conduct rules
No model under 18 will appear as an adult on the runway or in photographs for LVMH or Kering brands from January. LVMH, the French luxury group behind Louis Vuitton and Dior, and Kering, the French luxury group behind Gucci and Saint Laurent, raised the minimum age from 16. The new protocols start with Paris Fashion Week Men's in January and apply to all houses wherever they operate.
The groups shared the statement on the strengthened charter first with WWD, the United States trade publication WWD. They added a zero-tolerance policy for any form of harassment, abuse or violence. The age limit rises.
Everyone involved in shows, castings, the selection of models for jobs, and photo shoots will receive training next year under the policy. The groups put in place a strengthened reporting procedure that can be used at any point during a collaboration. It guarantees anonymity and protection for witnesses.
They will also conduct unannounced checks and audits at workplaces. Monitoring of interactions with models will increase, particularly during nudity or partial nudity. For those scenes, the rules require prior formal agreement, a dedicated space, and that the model is never left alone with a production team member.
The update builds on a charter for the well-being of models the two groups established in 2017 for all their brands Kering. The original text banned hiring models below age 16 for shows or shoots representing an adult. It also committed the fashion brands to ban models below French size 34 for women and French size 44 for men, reported at the time as a ban on size-zero models Reuters.
That earlier charter required any model under 18 to be housed in the same accommodation as a chaperon or guardian. Kering later said its houses would only hire models aged over 18 for adult collections from 2019. The new joint rule now sets 18 as the threshold across both groups.
For anyone watching from outside the industry, the change will sit largely backstage. The age, conduct and complaint rules govern working days, fittings and shoots, not designs.
