Fashion Discussion: Is Thin In?

“There is a breed of fashion models who weigh no more than an abridged dictionary“, Dave Barry. Fashion designers and models go hand and hand. The fashion designer makes the clothes and shoes; the models are the physical presentation of their products. Models are important part of fashion, young women look up to them and men desire them. Fashion designers need them because they show off their clothes and shoes. In the beginning of fashion the designers used models that looked “Normal” and healthy models that advertised their clothes. In the eighties this is when the fashion industry started to use models that were gauntly thin to promote their clothes. Certain designers like Calvin Klein were known for using really thin models to advertise his clothing which became the norm in fashion(BusinessInsider). I found a interesting stats about modeling then and now on ABCNEWS news writer Edward Lovett he states “Twenty years ago, the average fashion model weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23 percent less”. Til this day we still see models that look they have not eaten in two or three weeks and it seems like we will continue to see this. I understand there are naturally thin women, but when you see fashion models with sunken in faces and ribs sticking out where do they draw the line? 

 

One of the biggest issues is the models being too thin because it is the fashion  industry fault for not montoiring a positive image for the general public. Furthermore fashion designers want their models to be live mannequins without realizing that they are putting out negative images for women. Why are women with unrealistic bodies being advertising to the young women of the world?  Every fashion designer wants hot models to wear their clothes and look like they are perfect. However having stick thin models are not the way to go.

On Celebrity Health Fitness, a popular Canadian model Coco Rocha was interviewed about models weight issues within the industry, and she was explaining how she felt the pressure to be thin for fashion. “I felt pressure early in my career, I was told: the look this look this year is anorexic. We don’t want you to be anorexic , just look like it” explained Coco Rocha. “Smh”, I was reading another interview from a well known model Abbey Lee Kershaw and she shared the same sentiments of being trying to be thin. “That’s like asking a bodybuilder how they feel about the pressures to be incredibly muscly. An elite performer is always put under some sort of extreme pressure that the rest of society can argue, might not quite understand“, (Fashionologie). Sometimes some models will go to the extreme to please fashion designers. For instance a young European model named Igna Radziejewski starved herself to get jobs, and she was still consider too fat. On Celebrity Health Fitness they interview Igna Radziejewski and get her insight on being thin for fashion. “The 5-foot, 11-inch tall model starved herself down to a skeletal 98 pounds and a size 00, yet she says she was still turned down for modeling jobs because she was considered too fat” the author states. The standard for models weight is ridculous! It is a shame that a size 00 is too fat.  

I know that a fashion designer wants his or her clothes or shoes to look out of this world but using models that look like they are going to fall out isn’t right. It seems like the famous designers is making a silent and strong message that only skinny models should wear their clothes in order to look presentable. Even though the image of those models are still ever present to this day, but young women should not be phased by what they see. I love this quote by Rihanna that I found on a popular website called Dimewars she says “You shouldn’t be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins. They know that if we see an outfit on a mannequin in a shop window we will love it and want to buy it whatever size we are. That’s why they have size zero models – they want to sell clothes “.  Thin models seem like they would be around for a while until some brave soul decides to go against the grain and use average models. Until then thin models seem like they are here to stay.

Edited May 4, 2012