That’s what my eye is trained to see for Japan.”Īt a casting call in Siberia, Arbaugh asks would-be models their age and scrutinizes their hair, skin and weight. The business is obsessed with youth, especially my business in Japan. looks young, almost like a prepubescent girl. “The business of modeling is not something I feel necessarily passionate about,” Arbaugh says in the film. Rachel Blais, another model featured in the film, says Arbaugh “got a job with one of the top agencies in New York as a top booker.” “She wanted to be a whistle-blower in the beginning, but as the production progressed, she got deeper in the industry…and really pushed back against the film.” “ actually approached us with the idea for a film and that’s how we were made privy to that world,” Sabin says. A former model, Arbaugh scours the Siberian countryside for new faces to feed to her Japanese clients.
Despite few similarities between Siberia and Tokyo, a thriving model industry exists between the regions, facilitated by talent scouts such as Ashley Arbaugh. In “Girl Model,” scouts and agencies are complicit in advising their charges to tell prospective employers that they are 16. Who Was Truman Capote? The Author's Rise to NYC's High Society, Scandalous Downfall and 'Feud' Revival
