Last year Urban Outfitters and photographer Jason Lee Parry got into some trouble after a 15-year-old model named Hailey Clauson was featured in an "X-rated" print on a t-shirt sold in the store. Parry was the photographer, and the model's parent's filed a lawsuit against him and the retailer in Manhattan Federal Court. Yesterday, about six months after filing, a Manhattan federal judge dismissed the $28 million suit, at least against Parry, who the judge said “is not subject to jurisdiction under New York law." According to the NY Post, this is because the photo was shot in California. Urban Outfitters, however, remains a defendant in the case. At the time, Blood is the New Black (who made the shirt in question), told us:
The images were delivered to us by Jason Lee Parry with the sole purpose of producing tee shirts and marketing them to our network of stores worldwide. One image, depicting a woman on a motorcycle, was printed on men’s and women’s tee shirts and sold to a number of stores, including Urban Outfitters. Neither Urban Outfitters nor Blood is the New Black were aware that the photographer had failed to obtain a model release from the Teen Model or her parents, who were present at the shoot.
This week there was some outrage over designers using models on the runway during Fashion Week that are under 16. Some believe models "are more likely to have the maturity to deal with being rejected by designers or treated disrespectfully by photographers" by that age. While others feel that photographers like Terry Richardson (who likes "girls who appear underage, abused, look like heroin addicts") will turn out over-sexualized photos of teens.
As for Clauson, she's certainly been sexualized in other photoshoots (ahem, Gucci), so it's not just Richardson, but also high-end designers. In fact, recently photos came out showing the 10-year-old daughter of Cindy Crawford looking much older in this Versace ad campaign.
