American Apparel wants models, not ‘Instagram hoes’ in ads

If you want to be a model for American Apparel these days, make sure you're not an "Instagram ho."

New management at the struggling clothing company is ditching its longstanding use of amateur models in favor of leggier and higher-paid professionals — and sometimes the message isn't being communicated delicately.

"[The] company is going through a rebranding image so will be shooting models moving forward," LA casting agent Phira Luon wrote in a March 18 email blast to models that was obtained by The Post. "Real models. Not Instagram hoes or THOTs."

The email (whose reference to "THOTs" was a slang abbreviation for "that ho over there") sparked a ruckus last week, and Luon followed up with an apology for what he said "was just an inappropriate off color joke that was not intended to defame the clients name or philosophy/views in anyway."

Still, the incident wasn't isolated as a new executive team at American Apparel looks to clean up and "corporatize" the culture left by founder Dov Charney, who was ousted in December on accusations of willful misconduct.

Last week, American Apparel's new senior vice president of marketing, Cynthia Erland, told as many as 30 employees at a meeting that she didn't want models who were "too short and round," according to three sources who were present at the meeting.

"It's become a running joke around the office — like, 'I can't do this, I'm too short and round,'" according to one employee who claimed to have heard the remark. "I've never felt marginalized or unattractive working for this company until his past week or so."

In a statement, Erland responded: "This is completely false. American Apparel embraces body types of all shapes, ethnicities and sizes, and our model casting has and will continue to reflect this."

Elsewhere, new management — installed by New York hedge fund Standard General, which partnered with Charney to take control of the board last summer only to later back his ouster — has been cracking down on what it sees as a sleazy marketing strategy that developed on Charney's watch.

Last week, the blog Animal New York pointed out that American Apparel had airbrushed out nipples and pubic hair that had been visible in ads for sheer lingerie on its Web site.
"It's pretty standard with any apparel company that that's just not shown," one American Apparel exec told The Post, defending the crackdown. "There's no company that has [nipples and pubic hair] on their Web site."

That's exactly the point, others counter, arguing that the retailer's bordlerline pornographic marketing strategy is what made the brand unique and relevant to its younger clientele.

The argument had been brewing at headquarters for months, with creative director Iris Alonzo squaring off against General Counsel Chelsea Grayson.

While Grayson cited "legal reasons" for airbrushing, Alonzo contended that airbrushing would confuse customers about the products, in addition to damaging the "authenticity" of the brand, according to a source briefed on the conversation.

Alonzo was fired last month.

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