I eat Pop Culture.

Twice a year New York City’s Bryant Park sprouts massive white tents to await the arrival of thousands of overdressed and underfed fashionistas for (drum roll, please) Fashion Week!  The clothes, oooohhhh…the celebs, ahhhhh…the uber young catwalk models…er, hmmm, creepy?….  Well, it turns out there is one interesting thing about them, according to a roving reporter at the NY Daily News:  they have chaperones to watch over them  to make sure they are “safe” and “take it easy on the partying.”  Here’s a meaty excerpt:

While the girls are supposed to observe a strict 11 p.m. curfew, “you can’t always watch them 24/7,” another agency’s chaperone said.

The chaperone, who is male, added, “The girls sneak out a lot. These are 15- and 16-year-olds, who are linking up with nightlife promoters and hitting the clubs with a vengeance.

“They meet photographers, stylists, designers and casting directors while they’re out. The fashion industry flocks to certain places and the girls do need to be there. We tell them to take it easy on the partying, though.”

If the girls are pushing it too hard, they could be sent home, Boyce said. “They always get a warning, but if they aren’t mature enough to handle the lifestyle, we send them back to their parents for a bit.”

How does an underage model end up swilling Champagne in a club anyway? “These girls look much older than they really are,” said one nightlife staple named Debbie, who withheld her last name. “They’re sophisticated, they’ve been to Nobu 20 times, they’ve been on private planes, and it’s easy to assume they’re older than they are.”

Huh.  I guess Nobu and private planes speed up the aging/maturation process.  Good to know.  Anyway, I think the real story here is that it’s only a matter of days/weeks before the concept of drunken underage models partying while their exasperated babysitters try to find them crawls into the television reality show idea bin.  I can just see the pitch now: 

“Imagine…a glam-orous game of hide-and-seek where beautiful young women from all over the globe set their sights on New York City to make it in the cut-throat world of Fashion Week, with only razor-sharp-witted chaperones to somewhat half-ass try to stop them!  Follow along as the models infiltrate the Big Apple’s penthouse parties, enjoy leisure limo rides, and partake in all-night binges at Nobu! Catch all the action on this season of It’s 11:01 PM, Do You Know Where Your Model Is?”