“C’mon guys, you know it’s better to be skinny than to be fat”, says prominent fashion model Natalia Vodianova. With statements like this no wonder there are young women and some men starving themselves to look like them. Models are important to fashion because they are walking billboards for the designer. Image is everything in fashion without the models promoting their products in magazines or on the catwalk it be impossible for people to buy designer clothes or shoes. However the image of ultra thin models plague our mainstream media and there is no sign of stopping. I found alarming stats about models weight on Rader Post it states “The average U.S. woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds. In contrast the average U.S. model who is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds”.
I was recently reading an article by Catherine Pearson on Huffington Post about how models influence young girls on how they should look. She writes “According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, nearly 70 percent of girls in grades five through 12 said magazine images influence their ideals of a perfect body“. It is scary looking at these statistics because there are little girls that are influenced by looking at models that are very thin and they think that if you look like a model then you are picture perfect. Some people might believe that super thin models don’t affect women, but I have read so many stories about women developing eating disorders as a result of fashion industry endorsing anorexic models. One story I came across on Yahoo blog was written by Erica Strauss, and she reports a story about a young woman named Lillian Sharp that struggled with an eating disorder. Lillian Sharp wanted to look like models that she looked up to so she can be beautiful and thin like them. Strauss explains Lillian struggle she states, “During her senior year, she developed an eating disorder because she felt she needed to be thin like the models and celebrities she worshipped”. There are many girls like Lillian Sharp that want to look thin and beautiful. Fashion advertisements are putting false sense of beauty into women heads and it is driving some to starve themselves. On the other hand some girls or women look up to the models who look like they have missed a month of food.
Lately there has been a scary trend on the rise called “Thinspiration” or “Thinspo” and it’s when women desire to look like those really thin models. Thinspiration has been rapidly trending on various social networks such as Tumblr, Instagram, and upcoming Pinterest. They go to those sites to post pictures of anorexic models or themselves, and their goal is to promote no eating. I found on Tumblr a blog dedicated to Thinspo quotes and it’s pretty disturbing, one quotes says “Food is the hindrance to your success” . Thinspiration is sick trend and I am happy that Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram is trying really hard to ban those anorexic pictures (via Fashionista). Although these social networks are trying to ban ‘Thinspiration’ it is proves a strong message about how the fashion industry has a stronghold on people’s perception on body image. Furthermore by fashion designers refusing to use “Regular” models it proves that they are trying to sell an unrealistic dream to women which pushes some to have eating disorders.
Although thinspiration is a frightening view of how anorexic models affect the daily woman however there are some people who rather see normal women wear fabulous clothes and shoes. According to Reuters there was a survey conducted by Girl Scouts of The USA asked young girls if they preferred real or models women to market to them. “Three quarters said they would be more likely to buy clothes that they see on real-size models than on women who are skinny“. Fashion designers want their clothes to be attention grabbing and extraordinary but what it is the harm in using normal women who actually buy your products. Let’s be honest here the general population is not a size two or zero so why not use what is the reality of our world. I like the truth of this quote I found on Washington Post by Robin Givhan she claims “The fatter the general population, the thinner the idealized woman“. It seems that fashion designers are living in their own perfect world where all women are skinny, pretty, and goddesses.
The fashion world and designers have to realize that they need to step out the box and learn about the “Real” women of the world. Designers should make bigger sizes for models so they would not feel the pressure to be thin for fashion. I agree with this blog on Boston Globe by Alan Wirzbicki about one huge solution to stopping the use of ultra thin models is pressuring the fashion designers to make bigger sample sizes. Wirzbicki argues “Note to the fashion industry: Do you know what causes eating disorders? Not eating. And do you know why models don’t eat? Because your sample sizes would make a broomstick look fat. Because you won’t hire them if they don’t take drastic measures to remain rail-thin. And if you don’t hire them, they have no job”. Designers should stop being LAZY and make bigger sizes !!
In recent news the president Diane Von Furstenberg of CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) made new health guidelines for models stating that they have to be a certain weight in order to walk the runway. Although this new rule is a good start to regulate anorexic models but it still let ultra thin models do fashion ads (Huffington Post). This trend of thin models will continue to be in.
Edited May 4, 2012
upscaledreams 