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A former model delves into the industry

A sociologist goes undercover in the fashion world — and comes out with her PhD and a fascinating book.

By Alyssa Giacobbe

 |   

  January 15, 2012

Now 30 and an assistant professor at Boston University, Ashley Mears was inspired by her experience as a model during high school and college to give the industry a closer look, this time from a sociological standpoint: What determines who makes it as a model? And so, in the grand ethnographic tradition of embedding within a field to study it more closely, Mears went back to work as a model at age 23 -- this time, with her eye trained more on landing her PhD than the cover of Vogue.

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