IMG=Inevitable Money Girl: A sleek and sexy Hilary Rhoda: Polaroid date 12-5-07

There's a new ranking looming at MDC, long thought of but assumed to be really problematic . It is titled "Money Girls" and will seek to assess the top money earners in the modeling industry based on long term contracts and campaigns. Funny thing is what we thought was going to be a tough challenge ...(how do you you prove who earns what ?)...has actually been embraced with a lot of gusto by the big powerhouses in the business. After spending all of Friday afternoon talking to a few agency CEO's a very interesting image started to emerge.No-one was going to disclose exact revenues but we stumbled across a great measuring stick: the estimated worth of a given contract. In other words, Forbes lists Gisele as the top earning model on the market at $33million for 2006. A shrewd commentator pointed out that we don't know how much of that projected figure computes the end year of Gisele's VS money. In other words you can get a sense of how much a girl is earning by how much a power client is willing to pay to have her as their contract model. Sifting through the REAL figures as opposed to the hyped figures should be fun. Though as compulsive modelwatchers we have been trained to worship the girl with the Prada/Balenciaga/Calvin/Gucci bookings , the real money of the modeling business essentially stems from three God-like contract clients. Victoria's Secret , Ralph Lauren and Estee Lauder. These are the three clients that IMG, Women and DNA live and die for (as well by) since these are the clients who via a single contract can pump millions upon millions into a girl's bank account.Of course a killer negotiation can upgrade an unexpected brand into that All-Star club. Think Lancome for instance. And I think with the listing of those clients the Top 10 earners at least, are pretty obvious. Who would have thought model-counting could have so many permutations?