Ban on skinny models shocks fashion world

[Celebration]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091200665.html

Reuters) - The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has caused outrage among modeling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other catwalk pageants.

Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that young girls and women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.

Organizers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.

But Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modeling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.

"I think its outrageous, I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer," said Gould, Elite's North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models.

[Sequoia]

1. Get over it you whiney designers

Meat is neat!

[Double T]

2. Skin and bones is NOT healthy or beautiful........

looks like SOME in the fashion industry are waking up.

[Demobrat]

3. What about discrimination against the model?

:rofl:

What about discrimination against any model over a size 0, hmmmmm?

[displacedtexan]

12. You sound like...

PSST! You remind me of me.

[imfreaky]

4. I'm glad they did this

these way to skinny people aren't attractive in the least. And I do think it promotes a negative stereotype

[Feuerhexe]

5. If they can specifically define overly thin and

are able to show objectively that it is unhealthful, I don't see what the problem is. I don't think they are being singled out unfairly either. I saw a model on a TV commercial the other day that looked like skeletor when viewed from the side (she had really really sunken cheeks). A better way to do it, though, might be to use an incentive instead of a ban ... they are going to have a hell of a time convincing the fashion people to give up their waifs.

[Warpy]

6. It's occurred to me before that the average fashion designer

is actually designing his catwalk fashions for drag queens. Those are the only people naturally built like that: rail thin, no hips, chests enhanced via surgery or padding.

Don't get me wrong, I adore drag queens and greatly appreciate the artistry that goes into creating the illusion. It's just lunacy to expect people with two X chromosomes to look anything like them.

You'd think designing for real women would be enough of an intellectual challenge that they'd leave the drag queen designs for drag shows and Halloween.

[KurtNYC]

28. Of course there are people with 2 X chromozones who look like that

or are you saying the 100s of models who work in the industry are really men?

Most of the drag queens I see working are not rail thin by any means - the late Divine was anything but, likewise for those that impersonate Cher, etc., that dude that does radio (popular 10 years ago, name escapes me) is not thin. Dennis Rodman, Rudy GIuliani not thin either. I have yet to see a drag queen who impersonates Twiggy or Calista Flockhart. I don't think it is fair or accurate to say that drag queens are promoting waifish looks or that rail thin models must be men.

The fashion industry IS promoting a different kind of illusion: tall, thin and forever young. It is an impossible standard for people of any gender to live up to. But that is capitalism and it aint just the fashion industry that twists consumers minds and plays on their unrealistic and unhealthy views of aging in order to sell them stuff they really don't need.

[gully]

7. Recommended -

let's hope this trend continues so Kate Moss can get off the snort.

[Benhurst]

8. A great victory for women.

And an even greater one for men, since we weren't the ones who wanted women to look like starving adolescent boys in the first place.

[CrispyQ]

11. lol

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[kurth]

9. God didn't invent boobs and butt for nothin'

Skeletons are not sexy.

[HereSince1628]

10. Ah, discrimination turned on its head and they don't like it.

This is not only fun, it sounds like it might be healthy.

[Feuerhexe]

15. I have to admit its fun to imagine someone in that industry

saying "I'm sorry dahling, but you are just a little too thin to be a model".

[HereSince1628]

16. And you have to admit that fashionable 14, 16, and 18 will make

life much more interesting for female impersonators.

[Feuerhexe]

17. Hey theres plenty of fashionable choices in the larger sizes.

You can wear a purple flowery drapery or a red flowery tent.

[Vogon_Glory]

13. It's Time and Past Time For Such a Ban

It's time and past time for such a ban. The self-centered people in the fashion industry and in the media have left wakes of destruction strewn behind them consisting of tens of thousands of women with normal and slightly-larger-than-normal body sizes who have starved themselves, vomited, used laxatives and often ruined their health trying to look like the thin percentage of the population who actually is as skinny as a fashion model.

I know a fair number of women in recovery for eating disorders. I blame the fashion industry and their friends in the visual media for foisting off the improbably skinny stick-figures that the media clowns call "slender."

:grr:

[hpot]

14. About time

I like my women with curves. Curves requires a bit of meat.

:evilgrin:

[Mind_your_head]

18. I'm getting sick & tired of governments sticking their noses in where

it doesn't belong and telling everyone what can and cannot do! They're worrying about what's going on in the FASHION INDUSTRY???

Madrid's regional government, which sponsors the show and imposed restrictions, said it did not blame designers and models for anorexia. It said the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy body images.

I'm sure everyone in Madrid's regional government is living up to it's responsibility to portray healthy body image too, right? :sarcasm: Not too thin, not too FAT either.....

Looking at the other posts for this thread, this appears to be an unpopular position, but c'mon....I doubt that the Madrid government has any kind of proof that skinny models on a runway have any genuine influence on the development of anorexia and bulimia. Or, even if they did (which they don't), why stop there? Why not ban fashion magazines in Madrid that show skinny models or skinny actresses/actors or 'just ban skinny people' in Madrid altogether!!!!

Also, if it "does not blame designers and models for anorexia" than why are skinny models being restricted??? :shrug:

Sheesh....Madrid officials should worry about fixing the roads or something that they're SUPPOSED to do and keep their noses out of where they don't belong, like the fashion industry.

Peace,
M_Y_H

[Feuerhexe]

21. If it is a government ban on all shows then I agree.

However, my impression from the article was that this was a government funded show. I don't think they should be forcing such a standard on a private show, but they certainly have a right to say what they will and will not sponsor.

[damntexdem]

19. Oh, how outrageous! Worrying about health rather than 'fashion'!

Eating disorders are the MOST dangerous of mental problems. Eating disorders kill. And some industries, like modeling, promote them.

Any 'naturally "gazelle-like" models' that might be banned are underweight. That is the result of behavior (the fault of the industry and popular culture, if not of the underweight model).

[NC_Nurse]

20. YES!

Fuck the Fashionistas! ALL women are beautiful and should be proud of their bodies. Healthy is sexy, not anorexic OR morbidly obese.
I'm glad someone's standing up to these a'holes!

[Hope springs eternal]

22. then "Torrid" should be banned as well

What about fashion shows that promote overweight women? That kills far more than anorexia. I agree that you shouldn't be too thin, but a model can't put a gun to your head.


What ever happened to being your own person instead of letting the government do everything for you?

What I hate more than unhealthy girls are people who think the government should intrude into our lives.

[Feuerhexe]

23. So the government is saying that all fashion shows have to

implement those standards or just the one/s they are sponsoring? Are there really government sponsored fashion shows that promote overweight women?

[Celebration]

24. the government is SPONSORING this

Thye are not imposing a ban, they are implementing the standards for their own sponsorship. The government is hiring the models that it wants--what is so wrong with that? This is not telling a private operation what to do.

What is so wrong with the sponsor of a fashion show deciding who they hire? That is what this is about.

[Nikia]

30. The mortality rates on either side of the BMI are much different

On average, you will live much longer if you are a certain percentage overweight than underweight. The mortality curve is much steeper on the underweight side of BMI.
Anorexia becomes a compulsion to be thin and thinner. There are certain things that reinforce that mindset and stick thin models are one of them. Models who feel pressure to be extra thin may also be at risk for developing eating disorders. There may be some models who are that thin without engaging in eating disorder behaviors, but many do and a significant percentage end up with full blown eating disorders.

[Mind_your_head]

25. Idea

:think:

Elite modeling should begin immediately to hire "morbidly obese" models for the runway.....let's see if the Madrid regional governments sensitivity "runs the other way" as well.....meaning:

'FAT is unhealthy' too (perhaps moreso. Being overweight strains the heart and other vital organs. Overweight people have a significantly greater tendency to develop diabetes, etc., etc.)

Question (which you can answer in your own mind): How many 'morbidly obese' people have you seen that reach "old age"/live in retirement homes?????

None? Wha????? Why not?????

Peace,
M_Y_H

[Feuerhexe]

26. So your problem is what exactly?

You think somehow that the Madrid regional government does not already eliminate FAT models from consideration? The article speaks of the elimination of the very thin from consideration because it is surprising. Who finds it surprising that grossly obese women are not chosen to be models ... show of hands? Somehow it seems that to you there are only two states of being, grossly thin or grossly obese. Eliminating the very very thin from their show is not the equivalent of supporting obesity or claiming it is healthy to be overweight.

When there is an problem with models striving for gross obesity then perhaps you will have something to be outraged about. Being too fat is unhealthy, it is a significant problem, but it is not a significant problem in the modeling world.

[Celebration]

27. Prediction

Morbid obesity being promoted in high fashion shows will not be a problem in our lifetime. And in this fashion show, the BMI has to be at least 18, supposedly.

http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

That is still "underweight."

[Nikia]

29. Most of my obese relatives lost weight when they got old

It wasn't a planned diet thing either. It just happened sort of like how they got shorter too.

[Nikia]

31. I never understood why they used very thin models

Wouldn't it make more sense to use women as models who wore more common sizes so people knew how clothes looked upon more average women?

[dropkickpa]

32. They're not looking for a person

to display the clothes, but a mobile clothes hanger, plain and simple.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

33. Now the demo clothing will cost that much more, oh the

humanity!!