In the United States, the state of the economy has undoubtedly affected the rest of the global economy as well. I've been reading stories online about the impact it has had on the modeling industry. Unfortunately, hard times are also beginning to take its toll on models, designers and agencies. I was really surprised when I read about certain high profile fashion designers pulling out of shows and cutting back on their participation in a number of events. Of course this also makes freelance modeling more difficult. I've been noticing a disturbing trend on casting sites where people posting for models are basically not willing to offer any monetary compensation and their favorite word to use to entice models into submitting to their castings is "exposure." I've kind of grown to hate that word at times when it comes to modeling. Not all exposure is good exposure, nor will it necessarily boost your career. If I thought some people were fairly naive or cheap before about hiring models to do a professional job, they are definitely coming out in full force under these strained economic times!
I'd be intrigued to find out what others think about the economy in terms of the modeling industry. Have you noticed any changes due to the status of the economy when it comes to your modeling or dealing with finding work?