Reflections on the model profession: the exotic category in Fashion and Anthropology

Abstract

This article tries to discuss how the category of “exotic” is approached in the field of fashion and anthropological writings. Initially, it was tried to approach questions related to the profession of model, the socio-historical construction of the overvaluation and corporal standardization and, later, to analyze how the exotic appeared in this context. The racial question comes from tied to the term in evidence through the examples of the younger’s African models present in the field. Thus, this concept helps us to reflect on important relations of power, present in this universe subscribed through language. The data are based on an ethnographic survey made on Fortaleza –CE during 2012 and 2013 at a modeling agency.