Super skinny models

C

charlotteyochem

Cathlete
Hi ladies:

There is a fresh article on Fox News' website about super skinny models and the industry's efforts(not)to do something about it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,247162,00.html

Personally, I applaud the Madrid Fashion Show organizers for requiring at least an 18 BMI for the models last year. I reading the referenced article, I took away the feeling that the french fashion industry leaders are opposed to doing anything about these skeletal girls and, thus, the enormous backlash of their frightening thinness.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this "delicate issue," as the french idiots put it. "As I said, you're an educated crowd." Cathe


:) Charlotte
 
I think the Madrid show was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, most designers still prefer models to be nothing more than walking clothes hangars.

One of my guilty pleasures is America's Top Model ("The next name I'm going to call is..."), and there are often some pretty thin girls on there that make me wonder if they have an eating disorder.
 
My thoughts are pretty much what you'd expect. I like the minimum BMI requirement. I can't fathom why designers prefer skinny models.

I recently bought an outfit, found a pic of the outfit online on a model, and wanted to send it to people to show what I bought. But, to be honest, it looked SOOO bad on the skinny model, I didn't send the pic. I'm far from perfect, but the outfit looks WAY better on me because I fill it out.

I also think a designer can't be very successful if they don't design for real women. I was watching Dana Buchman on QVC last night, and she said she makes clothes for "real women, with real bodies". No wonder I have so much of her stuff! She probably uses skinny models too, though. What's up with that??

Nancy
 
Is it just me or does anyone else look at these girls and have a strong desire to bring them healthy, but filling foods? They look like the pictures of survivors of the Holocaust. It's actually quite disturbing to me.

Slim models don't bother me. Christi Brinkley is slim - 125 pounds and 5'10 - but she has curves and is just built to be that slim. She looks fabulous and healthy. These girls just don't.
 
I've read that only about 5% (maybe less) of the population has the genetics to have a model's body. Which makes you wonder who designers are designing for? I agree that designers can't be that successful if they design for such a limited body type (and if that's not what they are designing for, then why have them as models).

Maybe they only need to sell a small number of each style (at some ridiculousy high price) to make money?

I recently heard Carole Alt on some show, talking about models and eating disorders and theh push to be really thin. She said it makes sense for print ads, because the camera does add the much-talked-about 10-15 pounds (though some of these models could gain more than that and still not look heavy at all).
 
In one of the magazines they had a picture of Tyra Banks and said she was fat because she is 5'10 and weighs 161pds. she was ticked and said you call this fat!!!! she doesnt believe in being super skinny anymore. really for that height that isnt heavy. christy brinkley looks good, not too skinny at least not on the total gym commercials.
 
"Is it just me or does anyone else look at these girls and have a strong desire to bring them healthy, but filling foods?"

Definitely, Christine. Young people always think they're impervious to everything, but as we grow older, we know better. Those young women are setting themselves up for all kinds of problems in the future, including osteoporosis.

By the way, I think 5'10", 125 lbs. is beyond slim. It sounds too skinny to me. Isn't Christie Brinkley on a make-up commercial these days? She looks fabulous. I hope those aren't her current stats.

Nancy
 
charlotte,

i am 6 feet tall, and when i was younger, i used to compare myself to the models who were my height. by comparing i mean the,"why am i the same height and i will never look like them?". at one point, i watched what i ate and was working out for 2-3 hours a day. the truth is that it was one of the unhappiest times of my life.

then, i read an article that said most models are "genetic freaks", and they are chosen because of the added weight issue as mentioned above. the truth is, the clothing is made for the models. it is very hard to get clothing for people my height. i have one store here in nyc, and the rest i get from catalogues. i know them all. my colleages (she is 6 feet as well) sister in law works for allure and she said that she was given some of these things after a few shoots. most were sizes 0,2 and a few 4's that were custom made for a very tall model. she returned them as she is 6.

i no longer look compare myself to models or anyone else for that matter. this has come with time and age. i feel badly for the younger generation faced with this ongoing problem. i too applaud the madrid show organizers.

suri
 
I know people are going to be mad at me, but who cares if they are skinny? I can never play basketball because I am not tall enough, can't be a gymnast because I am not small enough, can't be a singer because I can't sing...on and on. So, I cannot be a runway model because I have muscles and I am petite. Just like those models couldn't be fitness models because they are not toned. If a role in a movie calls for a tall blond, should I get mad because I am short brunette? No. The criteria for the fasion industry (runway models) is to be thin (hanger-like, as a PP said). So, that is what they are suppose to be...I think girls look more at the Beyonces of the world for their "role modeling" (which isn't great, either) We should really be worried about shows on MTV that have mothers looking for dates for their skanky daughters, the sexual exploitation in videos, etc. More girls see those shows than a runway show. Why do we care this much? Women have bigger fish to fry than to worry about this.
Just my two cents...
 
Jennfit, I understand what you're saying, but every time I get a catalogue with pictures like this in it, I think "how the heck can I figure out what that's going to look like on me?." How many women look anything like this, and how can it be instructive to see clothes on someone like this? I just don't get it.


nancy,

you couldnt have said it better!

suri
 
I completely agree they are too thin for my taste, but they look like crap to me...I cannot (thank Heavens) relate to them in any way. So, as for the pictures you posted...just don't buy those jeans. I don't look at those catalogs and I don't get my esteem or ispiration (whatever you want to call it) from a print ad. Catalogs like Nike, Title IX are just two that has real women in them. Title IX, for example, literally has real women...they give their bios on each page. There are some of them in that catalog I will never look like...but, who cares?? And, they still are "real" women. Should we get offended if one of those women looks better in a pair of pants eventhough they are "real" women? If the shirt is cute, try it on. If it looks like crap on you...who cares?? Try something else on.

Look at magazines like Oxygen. Since we are all fit talking here, should we be pissed off because those women are strangly fit with huge implants? Because, I know I will never be that toned, tan, and have such huge boobs...but, who cares!? Those women manipulate their bodies probably more than the runway models do...why aren't we mad at them? Or dancers, ballerinas, etc...The list goes on and on. We just cannot, as women, be defined by our bodies like we do. Some are skinny, fat, toned, weak, white, black, tan, tall, short, on and on and on...who cares?? I cannot understand how women can allow a print ad to be so powerful in their lives. Am I strange that I don't compare myself to a 6'5 115 pound model? Or to a super duper fit fitness model? They just don't hold that much water in my life. Life is too short and wildly unpredictable (look at the world right now) to care that much about what some women (who don't look like that in true life anyway) in a print ad or on a runway weighs. Also, they all have huge feet anyway...no one would want that! Ha
OK - enough - sorry to rant...I just think women are way too hard on themselves...let's just all enjoy the journey, enjoy the fact that we are free and are able to express our voices, and be happy that we are healthy. Let's use our energies to help other women who are not even close to being so free as we are...those are real issues. A skinny model? Who cares? Jeans that might not fit you as well as someone else? Who cares? There are more important things to focus on...
Please don't send me hate mail...Your viewpoints are very meaningful to me. It is great we can live a country in which we can express those viewpoints without being killed. off to workout! yeah!
 
Way to go Madrid!

You know, I was looking at some mag in the week, can't remember which, because I looooooove looking at the gowns from any awards ceremony, and they had an article on "who wore it better" where they feature the same outfit worn by 2 different celebrities and stick a percentage on it which represents, supposedly, the readers' opinions on who wore the oufit best, i.e. whom it suited best.

On this occasion I found mysekf seriously disagreeing with the poll in almost all cases. What I found was that across the board it was the younger, thinner woman who was being judged as "wearing it best". I so disagreed. As nancy said about her outfit, nancy wore it best because she had curves to fill it out with, as did the "real women" in the magazine article.

Skinny models, i.e. most clothes models, just are not representative of reality. Look around you at the mall and the supermarket and you just rarely see anybody like them. I live in a university city, surrounded by 18-21 year olds, and still, there are no skinny-glamour model types around, well, maybe a couple.

I really don't think a Narciso Rodriguez gown or a Carolina Herrera gown look better on a stick insect. They don't. They suit Rachel Weisz better because she has a real body with real hips and boobs to stick in them.

We real women all agree on this "delicate issue" but I really don't think the fashion industry is gonna change that much, that quickly. Is patriarchy really ready for Ugly Betty (who by the way, is fabulous!)?

Clare
 
Jennifit,

You rock. That's exactly how I feel. Why are women so easily duped by ads, magazines, celebs and the whole fashion and beauty industry? We have so much more to offer the world than our bodies. Everyone...read "The Beauty Myth". It's a classic that every women should read. I certainly don't read a lot of the "fitness" magazines because they're garbage and just promote the whole consumer culture. I don't watch TV...I'd rather read a book, play sports or a million other things. Why do women allow themselves to be ensalved by all this meaningless garbage? Men certainly don't give themselves up to all this...although the pressure for them to do so is increasing.

Read "Bitch" and "Adbusters" magazines if you have a chance. Those are real magazines for real women.
 
I personally don't care how thin models are and I know that I will never be able to wear what they wear. I am short, full figured and proud of it. I have also had years to come to this realization. I can tell you growing up I did not and now that I have four daughters, I am very concerned with the "thin" look. I do care. I care for all these young girls coming up in the ranks. They may not be where we are right now.

Cheryl
 
"So, as for the pictures you posted...just don't buy those jeans. I don't look at those catalogs and I don't get my esteem or ispiration (whatever you want to call it) from a print ad."

Jennfit, I don't think those pics are attractive either, but I think I'm taking the whole thought even a step further. My point is that, not only are those pics unattractive, but they make it difficult for me to buy clothes from a catalog. I have to buy clothes and, as someone who buys a lot from catalogs (not much time to shop), those pics are pretty much useless to me, in a purely practical sense.

Nancy
 
Jennifit and Lucinda:

It is a terrific that you do not let the skinny winnies affect you or make you feel in any way inferior in your physique. I think most of us on this forum feel that way, too, because we obviously are strong and confident, fit and healthy. None of us could do the workouts we do (and carry our professional schedule!) without a healthy body weight and nutrition.

HOWEVER, there are thousands and thousands of very impressionable young women out there who LIVE from Vogue to Vogue. They think that if they do not look like the Ralph Lauren model, then they are fat. Each time they open the cover, and especially when the new Spring or Fall lines are reviewed, they are bombarded with glossy photos of very, very skinny women who, by all accounts, are glamorous, sophistocated, rich, beautiful, etc. This is the message that the fashion world is sending. Like Nancy et al, I do not really understand where they are coming from since only 5% of the female population look like those models. I guess the marketing psychology of suggestion?? That we see the human X-rays wearing those clothes and somehow believe that we will look that glam if we buy them?

So, no, I guess I really don't care what those girls weigh - that is their chosen profession (I guess) but am aware that it is having a bad impact on young girls. And it's WEIRD, too! More Americans than ever are morbidly obese and yet these skeletons still are chosen to sell clothes to an increasingly FAT audience??

Ah well. For myself, I try to buy from designers who do not choose that platform from which to hawk their stuff. Ha! I buy at Target!

Really - thanks for all the excellent remarks on this. It really is quite an issue.
 
charlotte,

i was about to write a similar comment. thank you. you are so right to say that we are strong in this forum. however, we are adults who think positively. we have to think about young girls and how this can affect them. i know, it did for me. i saw this happening in my boyfriends niece when we were on vacation together. 14, rail thin, fashion concious and even more careful with the amount of food she is eating. she wants to be a model.

when i thought i looked my best, i didnt get my period for 6 months and was constantly told to gain weight.

i finally took a body image class and read stories written about former think models who are now "heavier", healthier and happier.

suri
 
>Jennifit and Lucinda:
>

>HOWEVER, there are thousands and thousands of very
>impressionable young women out there who LIVE from Vogue to
>Vogue. They think that if they do not look like the Ralph
>Lauren model, then they are fat. Each time they open the
>cover, and especially when the new Spring or Fall lines are
>reviewed, they are bombarded with glossy photos of very, very
>skinny women who, by all accounts, are glamorous,
>sophistocated, rich, beautiful, etc. This is the message that
>the fashion world is sending. Like Nancy et al, I do not
>really understand where they are coming from since only 5% of
>the female population look like those models. I guess the
>marketing psychology of suggestion?? That we see the human
>X-rays wearing those clothes and somehow believe that we will
>look that glam if we buy them?
>
>So, no, I guess I really don't care what those girls weigh -
>that is their chosen profession (I guess) but am aware that it
>is having a bad impact on young girls. And it's WEIRD, too!
>More Americans than ever are morbidly obese and yet these
>skeletons still are chosen to sell clothes to an increasingly
>FAT audience??
>
>Ah well. For myself, I try to buy from designers who do not
>choose that platform from which to hawk their stuff. Ha! I
>buy at Target!
>
>Really - thanks for all the excellent remarks on this. It
>really is quite an issue.

Charlotte,

You are doing all the right things. You're raising your own (and others') awareness of the issue. My point is that we all have to act on this together and not get sucked into all the commercialism and negative images of women. Every time we give into the media images (buying whatever fashion or "beauty" products) they're pitching, we're part of the problem and rewarding them. That's one of the reasons I don't bother watching TV or "reading" glossy "women's" magazines. If have better things to do and media, for the most part, just exists to sell us meaningless stuff.

Obviously, one of the most important things we can do is raise media awareness so that young people really understand what advertising is all about (some of the more progressive schools teach classes in this). We also need to raise our young women with positive body images. I think it's sad that celebrities are so idolized in our culture. Surely women have more to contribute to our society than to be regarded as sex objects.

All of the above is my own personal opinion, of course, and I feel very strongly about this issue.
 
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