Abercrombie & Fitch Scales Back At Shoot, Fires Model For Eating At Wrong Time: Report

Abercrombie & Fitch really scaled back for its recent catalog shoot, Page Six reports. The female models were supposedly paid only $2,500 and the men $1,500 for a week's worth of work (and $13 for food each day), and the pretty faces were forced to put in 13-hour days with their eating and workouts monitored, a source said.

So strict were the rules that Belgian male model Florian Van Bael was reportedly fired for snacking on a croissant at an inappropriate time. His agent told Page Six, "I don't think it's a question about coffee or croissant, it's just a question of respect during an important job."

We believe this is Florian (at the Calvin Klein menswear show in June):

Abercrombie recently brought back its controversial "A&F Quarterly" to help boost sales, which were down 23 percent last year. The chain was also recently fined $1.05 million by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for "violating federal immigration laws by failing to adequately verify that employees in its Michigan stores were eligible to work in the U.S." according to WWD and is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for not hiring a Muslim job applicant who wore a hijab.

Comments

[sigh-ence]

01:33 PM on 10/11/2010

Poor Florian...looks like he could use that croissant. And cheese. And...calories.

[Chyna Doll]

04:51 PM on 10/05/2010

i never really like AF anyway. I used to laugh at my fellow (highschool)students becuase they would spend 50 bucks on a tshirt that came apart in the dryer. But when you asked them why did they buy the clothes they would always say o its qaulity is so much better.

[Cagnazzo82]

03:47 PM on 10/05/2010

The irony of course is that the male models is and have always been the main attraction at Abercrombie rather than the female models. (hello? Who do you see on the murals, the bags, the posters, the ads, etc...)

For them to pay the male models $1,000 less than the females in spite of them taking up about 2/3rds of the actual catalog itself is pretty much tantamount to robbery.

(But then again, they're modeling for Abercrombie... so I guess fairness and equality aren't exactly the expected with the territory)

[Jerome Morrow]

03:23 PM on 10/05/2010

Well, if you are going to get paid for doing something like modeling, then you should follow their petty rules. If you don't like the petty rules, then earn your money doing something besides being beautiful...

[wandering girl]

01:49 PM on 10/05/2010

"a question of respect during an important job." riiiiiiiiiiiight.

[BarryS]

01:45 PM on 10/05/2010

doen't anyone have any body hair anymore?

[Jerome Morrow]

03:22 PM on 10/05/2010

Not since the 70's scared everyone. Thank goodness...

[elektra mourns]

01:37 PM on 10/05/2010

these young guys are being used as a marketing tool to get gay business

[wandering girl]

01:49 PM on 10/05/2010

not that there's anything wrong with that.

[ARMANDO DE LA ROSA]

12:54 PM on 10/05/2010

My Favorite A & F story comes from a friend. He heads the legal department of a large commercial real estate company. When A & F was a hot and growing brand he sat down with A & F's legal department to iron out a lease deal for dozens of commercial spaces across the country. His words "their lawyers could of been pulled from their catalog and had an arrogance he had never encountered in his 20+ plus years in law. He manages 300 corporate lawyers and has an Ivy league education mind you. Well long story short when the economy tanked A & F and its' now humbled legal department asked for breaks on their leases which he declined. Ahh hubris.

[SteveDenver]

11:38 AM on 10/05/2010

My favorite A&F story ever: Improv Everywhere has 111 shirtless men enter the flagship Manhattan store. The management chases them out and won't even SELL a shirt to a couple of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdeBp8J0rqs

[Agent Cooper]

12:20 PM on 10/05/2010

Ahahaha that's fantastic.

[BebeLush]

11:29 AM on 10/05/2010

Violating immigration laws? What a surprise. This store and it's clothes need to be eradicated from our existence forever.

[No1 ILoveLucyFan]

11:17 AM on 10/05/2010

That "suit" looks like it's made from leftover airplane seat upholstery.

Blecch.

A&F, your fifteen minutes of fame are over. Kindly fold your tray table to the upright position and fasten your seatbelt. Thank you for flying "Over rated and over priced clothing for insecure teens who have stolen mommy and daddy's charge-card" airlines.

[Dynogirl]

12:01 PM on 10/05/2010

Although your photo really creeps me out, your comments here are right ON THE MONEY. Nice.

[madashellvoter]

11:15 AM on 10/05/2010

I used to work in the catalog modeling business this article has a lot of false statements. $1500 -2000 per day is more like it. $13 per day for meals, where....in Cambodia? Per meal is more like it.
The hours sound correct.

[nermz345]

11:24 AM on 10/05/2010

"Abercrombie & Fitch really scaled back for its recent catalog shoot, Page Six reports. The female models were supposedly paid only $2,500 and the men $1,500 for a week's worth of work (and $13 for food each day), and the pretty faces were forced to put in 13-hour days with their eating and workouts monitored, a source said. "


it didn't sound like they were making a comment regarding industry wages. It sounded like they were speaking about this particular shoot. that is what i gathered...

[Kael Mc]

11:11 AM on 10/05/2010

How dare you eat out of turn! you hot piece of meat! Now dance like a monkey! Dance monkey boy! (love the zoolander ref. below)

[mbn2010]

10:55 AM on 10/05/2010

They should hire Derrick Zoolander. He's been working on a look that will be a perfect fit.

[Kael Mc]

11:12 AM on 10/05/2010

MAGNUM!

[wallisphoto]

10:29 AM on 10/05/2010

I actually don't believe this. The models would have been paid $1500 minimum per day.

[segdae22]

11:34 AM on 10/05/2010

exactly. no well known industry model would settle for $300 per day. you can make that as an amateur doing a spread for local magazine.

the food thing i totally believe tho.