As if being hot wasn’t already unfair for the rest of the population — now the beautiful people can trade their looks for free restaurant meals, concerts, fitness classes and beauty treatments.
Billed as a “model’s passport to everything,” Neon Coat is an app that lets models leverage their social media followings with businesses willing to give away goods and swag for the exposure.
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Joey Bats Cafe owner — and single guy — Joseph Batista says that since signing up, there’s been a windfall of comely catwalkers strutting into his Lower East Side spot every day to claim two free pastries and a beverage.
“In exchange, they’ll hang around and share a story [on Instagram] about the space,” he said of the typical outcome, although a post isn’t mandatory.
As soon as his daily six allotted slots for freebies are made available to the model community at 8 p.m. the night before, they’re instantly snapped up, said Batista.
“People hanging around the space is always good. Having attractive people is even better,” said the 39-year-old, who’s been using Neon Coat since he opened this past summer. Though he initially used the service for free, he now pays $200 a month for the privilege of using the app.
It’s even a draw for slack-jawed passerby.
“You see two attractive girls sitting in the window and guys are curious,” Batista said. “[They’ll] grab a pastry and sit next to the models, hoping to strike up a conversation with them.”
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Neon Coat co-founder Dan Berger said the app has gained steam since its 2017 launch. It now has 3,600 agented models with a total reach of 100 million Instagram followers who pay nothing to join. More than 100 businesses participate, including Taralucci E Vino, Bagatelle and Hunt & Fish Club.
“It’s been growing exponentially,” said Berger. “We get eight new members a day,” he said, adding that “models and brands come to us.”
Typical offerings include a comped dinner with drink, heavily discounted haircuts and free yoga classes.
For Berger’s business partner, former model Larissa Drekonja, the service is a way to help underpaid models get on their feet.
“A model’s life is very lonely — you’re pretty, and people think you make millions of dollars,” said the Slovenian-born Drekonja of the unregulated industry.
Dominyka Bernes, a 35-year-old model from Brooklyn, posts about her twice-weekly Neon Coat jaunts to yoga classes and lunch spots to her 3,000-plus Instagram followers. Last month, she and seven friends celebrated a comped birthday dinner at Cleo on Park Avenue South complete with octopus, branzino and wine for the table.
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“It’s such a nice way of celebrating a birthday, and not shelling out hundreds of dollars,” said Bernes. “Only some models make the big bucks — the rest of us have to hustle.”
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