♥"I don't care what my teachers say, i'm gonna be a supermodel..." Clueless♥

Bonjour mes amies, apologies for the ridiculous lack of postage, i've been snowed under the mountains of work I have to do but i'm slowly getting through it so bear with me. As you all know I love Marc Jacobs. Like seriously worship the ground the man walks on. I removed him from the pedastool he was on and placed him on his own cloud after I found out he has banned celebrities from his front row at his shows after labelling them 'boring.' This was enough for him to make the transition from icon to legend in my opinion but then I found out from the fabulous blog The Redhead Fashionista that celebrities get paid to sit at front row and just like that, Marc Jacobs became God.

I had no idea this was the case. I just thought they got invited to sit front row but not paid. I knew celebrities got paid to go to events like clubs and openings, I remember being left completely opened mouthed after I heard Paris Hilton once say that she was getting paid $500,000 to show up at a club and party with her friends (all drinks and expenses paid) for one night but it naively never crossed my mind that celebrities like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen and Rihanna get paid for the privellege of showing up and sitting front row, rubbing shoulders with other stars, sipping champagne, watching an incredible show and lets be honest, the most important part, the goody bag.


I do understand that fashion is essentially a business, that photographs of the hottest star of the moment sitting front row will attract column inches which translates to publicity which translates to money in the bank for the design house. I also understand that if I was a celebrity getting paid thousands to enjoy the luxury of something that personally I would happily do for free (I would sit back row for absoultely nothing if it meant I got to sit in at a show) I would jump at the chance. But it's still quite shocking and distasteful in my opinion and has made me think twice about just how much goes on behind the scenes to create this image of luxury when actually its an utter sham and is just as much a business as Donald Trump's but gives out the allusion that it's the complete opposite.

The fact of the matter is that the running of the fashion industry is not dictated by the quirky designers who, when they receive financial backing,  essentially sign away a good amount of creative control over their company and effectively owe a lot of fat cats who only care about making money. The real fashion industry, the one well-hidden from outsiders, is actually dictated by people in stuffy black suits at board meetings which the "public face" of fashion criticizes and claims to be the very antithesis of. It's not.


"So", I hear you cry, "just how much do these celebrities get paid to maintain the well-executed lie?" Here comes the juicy bit, prepare to be as amazed as I was. A range of industry insiders for brands such as Rock and Republic, Chanel, Burberry and Victoria Beckham have leaked the pay packet of the stars, some of which have no interest or link with fashion, for their appearance at one of these shows. British readers just halve the values. Read on in horror and jealousy:


A-List
Rihanna ($100,000 or more)
Beyonce ($80,000-$100,000)
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen ($80,000 each)
Julianne Moore ($60,000)
Maggie Gyllanhal ($60,000)
Chloe Sevigny ($60,000 or more)
Jennifer Lopez (circa 2005: $80,000; circa 2010: $30,000)
Lindsay Lohan (circa 2006: $60,000; circa 2010; UNINVITED)
Colin Firth (pre-A Single Man: $5,000; post-A Single Man: $15,000)

B-List
Blake Lively ($50,000)
Leighton Meester ($40,000)
Hillary Duff ($40,000)
Other Gossip Girl cast members ($25,000 a piece)
Jared Leto ($25,000)
Cliven Owen ($10,000)
Kristen Bell (unpaid, but airfare, makeup and clothing are taken care of)

C-List
Kim Kardashian ($35,000-$50,000)
Amanda Bynes ($25,000-$30,000)
Eliza Dushku (unpaid, but airfare, makeup and clothing are taken care of)

D-List
Paris Hilton (free or UNINVITED)
Jersey Shore cast (UNINVITED)
America’s Next Top Model Winners (free)

Other designers such as Carolina Herrera are now following in the footsteps of Marc and refusing to pay celebrities for the privellege of publicity, but the majority of the well known houses still continue to do so. So darlings think twice next time you see a picture of a star studded front row at fashion week.  All that glitters is most certainly not gold.

So what do you think? Are you shocked to find out how much they get paid or were you clued up enough to know this all along? Do you think it matters or is it just good business sense?

I should also mention that a few days ago I was featured in an interview with the fantastic website I Heart Daily but because I was so insanely busy I wasn't able to post about it. It was such an honour and so much fun to do as I am such a fan of their site so I just want to say a huge thank you to them and if you want to read the full interview you can here. Oooh and i've just finished designing a brand new blog layout which has taken forever so I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts.

Hope you are all having an immense week.

Stay safe and chic mes chéries,
English Rose x