It's official: South Beach modeling scene is DOA

That's what Hilary Lehman of the Associated Press is reporting: "the models aren't coming anymore."

Models and agencies in Miami Beach, which owed its 1980s resurgence in part to the glamorous image created by the fashion industry, say they have been edged out of the community they helped rebuild. Photo shoots here are no longer cheap. "For Rent" signs appear in windows once part of agencies. Art deco buildings that became mainstays in photo backgrounds have disappeared behind cement highrises.

[...]

Irene Marie, whose agency closed [last February], said the waning of Miami's modelling isn't wholly unexpected. Fashion is fickle. The newest fad location only stays hot for so long.

"As in fashion, trends change," Marie said. "So that really is what happened to South Beach."

Kyle Munzenrieder at Miami New Times is hitting the panic button: "If the models and their agencies keep dwindling, is Miami Beach in for a serious culture shock? I mean, who are they going to fill their VIP rooms with? Normal people? What is this, Fort Lauderdale?"