Model fees on trial

Modelling companies conspired for three decades to set the same high fees for young women seeking work, a lawyer charged at the opening of the price-fixing trial of Click Model Management.

But the lawyer representing Click scoffed at the notion of a conspiracy, saying the industry was so "full of hatred" companies would have never been able to conspire.

Lawyer Merrill Davidoff claims agencies require all but elite models to pay a 20 per cent fee.

Carolyn Fears, who signed with Ford Models when she was 19, testified that although she was told of the standard rate, "I didn't really read the rest of the contract".

She said when she once asked why she was charged a US$1500 ($2440) fee each year her picture was recycled in Ford's model catalogue, Ford co-founder Eileen Ford snapped: "Who do you think you are? You're not on the cover of Vogue. If you don't like it, you can get out."