April 3, 2007
Models Need to Make Weight to Work
Weightless waifs need no longer look for modeling work in Spain and India, now that both countries have banned seriously underweight models from strutting their emaciated stuff up and down fashion show catwalks. In Spain, a ban on “size zero” mannequins appears as though it too may become a reality.
The Indian ban on what are considered dangerously thin models has forced changes at the five-day Lakme Fashion Week event in Mumbai, according to Reuters.
Event organizers ran checks on models to determine if any suffered from eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia.
“We don’t want to project a wrong image and promote unhealthy habits,” said Ravi Krishnan, an event consultant.
Designer Abhishek Dutta said he was fine with the requirement. “My models are healthy and beautiful and they can all accentuate my clothes very well,” he said.
Discussion Question: Should the U.S. follow Spain and India in setting limits on how thin models may be? Have consumers become tired of unrealistic body images portrayed in advertising?
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The positive response by consumers to the Dove advertising that portrays real women in many sizes and shapes is an indicator that forms other than a waif-like body can sell product! Legislating the kind of body form that is inappropriate is not likely to work. However, when consumers respond to other forms positively they are sending a big message to advertisers. The smart ones will listen.
Some day the smartest business people in the universe will arrive on Planet Earth. However, their space ship will not land in “Hollywood.” Instead, these brilliant aliens will land somewhere in Missouri. These brilliant creatures will walk out of “Spaceship Reality,” holding a press conference to announce that they have come to Planet Earth to launch product lines that fit and look good on real people who are not built like paper thin fashion models. Moreover, the brilliancy will cross over into the way the products are marketed, advertised, and merchandised. The line of products will be “creatively” named, “real clothes for real people,” and the “celebrities” used to promote these products will be teachers, office workers, real-estate salespeople, accountants, and soccer mom’s. Remember, you read it right here FIRST on RetailWire! Wait, I think I see something coming down from the sky here in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Hmm, I’ll be right back.
It is time for the industry to promote healthy models. In a world where more than 60% of US females wear a size 14 or more, why is the fashion world stuck on size 2? I praise the efforts of some of these countries to apply some sense to the “waif”-ing of the fashion model. Also Tyra Banks, through her talk and reality shows, does a great job making models relevant to us.
Obviously there is a demand for thin women. Otherwise we would not have gotten to this point. We can change rules but attitudes are more difficult to change. I saw a survey once that asked high school girls if they had a choice to be known as the smartest girl in school or the skinniest girl in school which would they pick? Guess what the majority picked? Demand for thin models will continue. Consumers are not tired of unrealistic body images. Just watch the Weather Channel guys and then see if you can remember the weather forecast or the weather lady. Unrealistic body images are entertaining and attention getting. Sad but true.
“Yes,” (we should prevent people from starving themselves in exchange for a paycheck,) and “No,” (consumers never seem to tire of unrealistic body images portrayed in advertising). That’s the problem. It isn’t just advertising–it’s the media, peers, sports figures, etc, etc. It’s also the culture. I think it might be helpful to remember that not every culture–even significant emergent minority cultures in this country see emaciated as desirable. If you don’t believe this–listen to some hip hop. “Baby got back” doesn’t mean her spine is threatening to push through her skin.
Are models akin to sports figures, whose intimate health and drug issues are public information? Should male models be screened for steroids? And who believes that people can be screened for bulimia? Fashions come and go, and that includes the public’s image of what constitutes a great model’s image. The Twiggy look was popular at one point, but it didn’t go on forever. Modeling is a branch of the entertainment business, and legislating lifestyles in that arena is laughable.
As Mark points out, “legislating lifestyle in that arena is laughable.” It’s also, I think, a free-speech issue, because what we’d really be doing is telling the industry what images it can and cannot publish–a legal concept known as prior restraint that’s been knocked down by the Supreme Court over and over again with good reason.
That said, I see the problem as starting in the concept stages, where designers think on paper or on screen with those wildly stylized, long-legged, nearly stick-figured concept illustrations.
I understand there’s no financially feasible way to get back to the way they did it a hundred years ago, when designers and their assistants actually draped fabric on dress forms. (As far as I know–what’s the state of the art in 3D software for the fashion industry? My guess is it’s still too cumbersome to use in the concept stages, just as I still do initial marketing-campaign concepts in a sketchbook…)
But it sure would be nice to see folks concepting their collections on sketches that showed actual curves. Could it be that much harder to draw a few circles in the proper places on the human form, then design around those?
Then maybe we’d have something the folks from David’s Spaceship Reality could actually sell!
A return to reality: the average woman in the United States wears a size 8 (if I recall correctly), but most models in the advertising we see are size 2 or smaller.
The recent Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” highlights this growing trend. I don’t think that legislation is necessary here in the U.S., but it is becoming increasingly clear that American women are growing tired of the unrealistic image portrayed by many companies.
We don’t we let athletes take performance enhancing drugs? Because ultimately it’s destructive to their bodies and it undermines the spirit of competition.
Should we regulate models? I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch. The things they do to stay so thin are ultimately destructive to their bodies, and ultimately not representative of the real world.
I don’t think the issue is so much about what consumers want to see–if all the models were size 10’s (ah, and designers were challenged to make their designs look good on that size), would people stop buying clothes? I doubt it. This is more about making sure that an industry that is full of cut throat and desperate behavior (as way too many wannabes try to claw their way to superstardom) makes sure that these girls aren’t cutting their own throats.
It’s not that models need to be “tested,” it’s that hiring practices need to change. If a model is too thin, they should not hire her (or him). It wouldn’t take long for models to want to look more healthy. Unfortunately, it is not just the modeling industry, it is our American media. We glorify these skinny women and give them leading roles. Just look at Ali McBeal, Mary Kate Olsen, Nicole Richie, Courtney Cox, Paris Hilton. My daughter has MANY friends in her high school that regularly purge themselves. It’s not at all uncommon. Not only are companies who continue to market their clothing with skinny women hurting society and the making our girls self conscious, I believe they could also be hurting their own sales. Look at Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. Their sales leaped when they started using “real women” on their commercials. I’m not saying models should be heavy or skinny. but they should be healthy.
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The positive response by consumers to the Dove advertising that portrays real women in many sizes and shapes is an indicator that forms other than a waif-like body can sell product! Legislating the kind of body form that is inappropriate is not likely to work. However, when consumers respond to other forms positively they are sending a big message to advertisers. The smart ones will listen.
Some day the smartest business people in the universe will arrive on Planet Earth. However, their space ship will not land in “Hollywood.” Instead, these brilliant aliens will land somewhere in Missouri. These brilliant creatures will walk out of “Spaceship Reality,” holding a press conference to announce that they have come to Planet Earth to launch product lines that fit and look good on real people who are not built like paper thin fashion models. Moreover, the brilliancy will cross over into the way the products are marketed, advertised, and merchandised. The line of products will be “creatively” named, “real clothes for real people,” and the “celebrities” used to promote these products will be teachers, office workers, real-estate salespeople, accountants, and soccer mom’s. Remember, you read it right here FIRST on RetailWire! Wait, I think I see something coming down from the sky here in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Hmm, I’ll be right back.
It is time for the industry to promote healthy models. In a world where more than 60% of US females wear a size 14 or more, why is the fashion world stuck on size 2? I praise the efforts of some of these countries to apply some sense to the “waif”-ing of the fashion model. Also Tyra Banks, through her talk and reality shows, does a great job making models relevant to us.
Obviously there is a demand for thin women. Otherwise we would not have gotten to this point. We can change rules but attitudes are more difficult to change. I saw a survey once that asked high school girls if they had a choice to be known as the smartest girl in school or the skinniest girl in school which would they pick? Guess what the majority picked? Demand for thin models will continue. Consumers are not tired of unrealistic body images. Just watch the Weather Channel guys and then see if you can remember the weather forecast or the weather lady. Unrealistic body images are entertaining and attention getting. Sad but true.
“Yes,” (we should prevent people from starving themselves in exchange for a paycheck,) and “No,” (consumers never seem to tire of unrealistic body images portrayed in advertising). That’s the problem. It isn’t just advertising–it’s the media, peers, sports figures, etc, etc. It’s also the culture. I think it might be helpful to remember that not every culture–even significant emergent minority cultures in this country see emaciated as desirable. If you don’t believe this–listen to some hip hop. “Baby got back” doesn’t mean her spine is threatening to push through her skin.
Are models akin to sports figures, whose intimate health and drug issues are public information? Should male models be screened for steroids? And who believes that people can be screened for bulimia? Fashions come and go, and that includes the public’s image of what constitutes a great model’s image. The Twiggy look was popular at one point, but it didn’t go on forever. Modeling is a branch of the entertainment business, and legislating lifestyles in that arena is laughable.
As Mark points out, “legislating lifestyle in that arena is laughable.” It’s also, I think, a free-speech issue, because what we’d really be doing is telling the industry what images it can and cannot publish–a legal concept known as prior restraint that’s been knocked down by the Supreme Court over and over again with good reason.
That said, I see the problem as starting in the concept stages, where designers think on paper or on screen with those wildly stylized, long-legged, nearly stick-figured concept illustrations.
I understand there’s no financially feasible way to get back to the way they did it a hundred years ago, when designers and their assistants actually draped fabric on dress forms. (As far as I know–what’s the state of the art in 3D software for the fashion industry? My guess is it’s still too cumbersome to use in the concept stages, just as I still do initial marketing-campaign concepts in a sketchbook…)
But it sure would be nice to see folks concepting their collections on sketches that showed actual curves. Could it be that much harder to draw a few circles in the proper places on the human form, then design around those?
Then maybe we’d have something the folks from David’s Spaceship Reality could actually sell!
A return to reality: the average woman in the United States wears a size 8 (if I recall correctly), but most models in the advertising we see are size 2 or smaller.
The recent Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” highlights this growing trend. I don’t think that legislation is necessary here in the U.S., but it is becoming increasingly clear that American women are growing tired of the unrealistic image portrayed by many companies.
We don’t we let athletes take performance enhancing drugs? Because ultimately it’s destructive to their bodies and it undermines the spirit of competition.
Should we regulate models? I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch. The things they do to stay so thin are ultimately destructive to their bodies, and ultimately not representative of the real world.
I don’t think the issue is so much about what consumers want to see–if all the models were size 10’s (ah, and designers were challenged to make their designs look good on that size), would people stop buying clothes? I doubt it. This is more about making sure that an industry that is full of cut throat and desperate behavior (as way too many wannabes try to claw their way to superstardom) makes sure that these girls aren’t cutting their own throats.
It’s not that models need to be “tested,” it’s that hiring practices need to change. If a model is too thin, they should not hire her (or him). It wouldn’t take long for models to want to look more healthy. Unfortunately, it is not just the modeling industry, it is our American media. We glorify these skinny women and give them leading roles. Just look at Ali McBeal, Mary Kate Olsen, Nicole Richie, Courtney Cox, Paris Hilton. My daughter has MANY friends in her high school that regularly purge themselves. It’s not at all uncommon. Not only are companies who continue to market their clothing with skinny women hurting society and the making our girls self conscious, I believe they could also be hurting their own sales. Look at Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. Their sales leaped when they started using “real women” on their commercials. I’m not saying models should be heavy or skinny. but they should be healthy.