At Fashion Week, Vexing Over the Shrinking Model

Summary

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In the lobby of 275 W. 39th St., in the heart of the Garment District in Manhattan, a clutch of towering teenagers stand waiting for the elevator. Their tiny, doll-like heads bob and swivel atop reed-thin bodies. They are hipless and cleavage-free, but with the luxuriously long, slender legs of a racehorse. They are about to be inspected like thoroughbreds.

The young women are headed to the 11th-floor showroom of women's wear designer Tracy Reese, who is casting her fall 2007 fashion show.

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At Fashion Week, Vexing Over the Shrinking Model

Along with a casting director from Los Angeles, who has already winnowed the pool of models down from almost 100, Reese will see some 60 young women. She will select about 20 to walk her runway this afternoon under the tents in Bryant Park. Similar scenes are unfolding across the city as Seventh Avenue prepares for the opening of New York's Fashion Week, which began Friday.

This real-life version of "America's Next Top Model" is unfolding while the industry ...

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