In Brazil, a Trend Away From Super-Young Models

The Daphne Agency touted similar services and announced plans to open a kind of academy for its young models. Adults will be assigned to live with the girls in their apartments, including someone who will provide them with breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The adults will attempt to teach the girls the skills many simply haven't had time to learn -- how to manage their diets and health care, for example.

According to Roberta Rizzardi, who heads Daphne's "new faces" department, a lot of girls who sign with Sao Paulo modeling agencies are incredibly raw, completely unprepared for big-city life in an industry that has its share of pressures and predators.

"They often call me, just because they want a shoulder to cry on," said Rizzardi, who estimated that she evaluates about 200 aspiring models a week. "They don't want to talk about the business, necessarily, but just about what they did last night."

In a country with one of the highest rates of economic inequality in the world, many parents are willing to let their daughters take a chance in the industry, said Meyer, Daphne's marketing director. The potential payoff is seen as worth the risk of separating from their children.

"The social problems we have in Brazil mean that many families are willing to let their 13-year-old daughters move to Sao Paulo and live with people they've never met," Meyer said. "But this is why there are more top models now from Brazil and Russia than anywhere. It would be very unusual for a mother in a country like France to do something like that. We see it every single day here."

Bundchen, who returned to Brazil last month to attend a fashion show in Rio de Janeiro, was quoted by Brazil's O Globo newspaper as faulting a lack of support from families for the health problems among the country's young models.

"I never had this problem, because I had a strong family base," said Bundchen, 26. "Parents are responsible, not the fashion industry."

At the Fashion Week shows, organizers distributed health pamphlets for models and held a question-and-answer session for concerned parents. Bell Kranz, a journalist who covers health, conducted the session, and said that one parent -- the only father who attended -- wanted reassurance that he was not being overbearing by accompanying his 16-year-old daughter to modeling events held outside their home town.

"He said, 'I won't leave my daughter under any circumstance. Am I doing the right thing?' " Kranz said. "He was really worried, and I tried to assure him, 'Yes! It's absolutely the right thing to do.' "