Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Small steps on catwalk

The reaction to the death of the young models that died of anorexia recently caught my eye a few weeks back. This autumn or winter, two South American models, Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos both died of anorexia complications.

So at least there is something good coming out of it...
Madrid bans waifs from catwalks
Is ultra-thin going out of fashion? : Action may have been prompted by the death of a 22-year-old Uruguayan model who collapsed after a catwalk show in August. She had reportedly eaten little but leafy vegetables for months in order to lose weight.
Commentators have also questioned the negative impact of underweight models on ordinary girls' and women's body image, amid concerns over anorexia.
Of course, whether the move away from the super-skinny gathers weight will not be down to the models - it's the modelling agencies, designers and fashion magazines who hold the clout.
The question is, will the powerhouses of the industry listen to the chorus of concern - or argue they are simply meeting the desire of the buying public to see clothes on waif-like women?


Italian designer Giorgio Armani, writing in the UK's Independent newspaper before London Fashion Week, admitted he preferred models "on the slender side" because "the clothes I design and the sort of fabrics I use need to hang correctly on the body". [...]
However, there is some evidence of a shift away from the current trend for American size 0 (British size 4) women, among them one of the UK's most successful models, 18-year-old Lily Cole. [...]
And the Clothes Show Live, a high-profile UK fashion event, has said that from December no models smaller than a British size 6 will be used.
But observers warn it may take a long time for attitudes to change.

She points to studies showing that over the past 30 years models in magazines have grown steadily thinner, so that now they tend to be about 15% underweight.
"There's a growing disparity between the bodies women have and the ideal being displayed to them," she said.


Italy's fashion capital, Milan, has announced a new catwalk code of conduct to protect young models vulnerable to anorexia and exploitation - Under Milan's new code, which is due to come into force in time for the next fashion week, in February, models will have to carry a medical certificate showing they are healthy.

Almost every teenage girl hates the way they look, a survey suggests. One in five is so unhappy they suffer from anorexia or bulimia.
The survey of 2,000 girls for Bliss magazine found six out of 10 would be happier if they lost weight.

Small steps to change. At least the society talks more about those things now. Then again I don't understand why it has taken so long time for the media and the public to find out a few very basic things .... like teens and pre-teenagers dieting and being weight obsessed. I remember being in the elementary school ... at least then doctors and nurses were looking at the book definitions of anorexia. And if those kids that were skinny, who had ALWAYS had a sick attitude to food .. they could continue being skinny as they were too young to comply with the criteria they had on their books .. or on their notes from their study time, when they dealt with the eating disorders maybe half of a lecture years back...

It will take a lot longer and more than having a doctor write a certificate to a model to show they are healthy.
It will have to be the designers to change what they think is pretty, or how they design.
It's a lot easier to design to insanely skinny people.
And enough many people buy their ideology and clothing.
And enough businesses and industries make money out of products sold for losing weight, slimming, cosmetics, cosmetic surgery ...

What if ... women (and men) were happy right now and here with the shape they are now? Screw the dieting products and weight loss this and that.
That would be the ultimate change, from inside.
Not many people, of ANY age, are comfortable with their body.

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