We generally try not to talk about things that you can’t buy – we do not fancy ourselves to be experts on much, or think that people take us too seriously. We, we would like to think, understand our role. However, over the course of this week, we’ve heard an enormous amount of chatter about models and their sizes. It’s Fashion Week in Europe, and we’ve been doing what we can to keep up with the happenings. What’s stuck with us the most is not the new spring collections, or who showed up to whose show – but the chatter about skinny models.
We listened to a 15 minute segment on NPR about how German fashion magazine Brigitte will no longer use super thin models – from here on out, only ‘normal women’. We’re assuming ‘normal’ means thin without bony, ‘beautiful’ means pretty without freakish. We do not think we’ll see the actual normal woman on these pages, but rather a more attainable ideal of what the ‘normal woman’ is supposed to look like. Some say this is in the interest of cutting costs (in which case, we semi-applaud them). Some say it’s a strike against the super skinny fashion world, and the ideal that it conveys to women of all ages everywhere.
Seriously? We’re having a hard time with this. First, we do not – nor have we ever – measured ourselves, literally or figuratively, against models. We have never looked at our hereditary belly and thought, damn, we will never grace the pages of Vogue. We’ve been reading fashion magazines since age 10, and we do not have feelings of negative self worth, self image, or self esteem. We’re quite comfortable with how we look, generally speaking. None of the women we know – of all sizes and ages – feels inferior because they do not look like a model.
We’re calling shenanigans for a second reason, too. Maybe we’re oversimplifying, but what appears to be more attainable? The ‘normal, beautiful woman’? Let’s say for argument’s sake, she’s about 5’7″ and a size 6 (which is by no means average in the US, but we know that we’re seriously different from Europe). Or, the supermodel aesthetic – generally very close to 6′ and a waist smaller than most wrists? Which do we think will leave women feeling like they can’t measure up? The woman who looks like their prettier friend? Or the woman who, essentially, looks a bit freakish? We know we’ll never look like Karen Elson; but the girl next door, well. We would think that being THISCLOSE might seem more attainable, and thereby more discouraging when it doesn’t happen.
We’ve heard chatter about other designers and photoshop mishaps, other countries contemplating banning skinny models. How will the designers react? How will the public react? As far as we can tell, there will be no shift. Until the fashion empires that be make a proclamation, and designers everywhere look at models as people, and not clothes hangers, our world isn’t going to change. Rather than lash out at fashion magazines and designers, we’d like to see women take a more positive stance, and hey – who knows. Work with young girls in a volunteer setting. Lead a scouting troop. Speak at a middle school.
Most of all, though, don’t take it too seriously.
We’d love to hear thoughts on this – leave us comments! We love them, we do. And we know this is a bit of a hot topic.
-LB
nice post.
it’s a chicken and the egg debate for me. on one hand, i truly do love the aesthetic of most clothing on a model, only because, then, the model becomes secondary to the garment.
on the other hand, is that intrinsically wrong? wrong to think of the model like a hanger?
also, have i just been trained to see clothing on super skinny models?
i was think about this after seeing shots from the Mark Fast show.
i think editorially, fuller bodied women can look just amazing.
well i do actually look at models and think “wow i wish i looked like that”. so maybe having less super-skinny models would be good.
While I would say “Go for it!” for using “real” people as models because I believe being stick-thin shouldn’t be the only criteria for beauty, I also grew up being used to relating runway models and editorials with size 0 girls. Never have I once wished I was super skinny like them, but I’m not sure if other girls out there think the same. It seems the craze these days though – using real women, no airbrushing, no touch-up, no make up, and these magazines seem to be selling quite well.
Personally, I agree with you in the sense that I don’t really want to look like a model either, but I think that you’re missing part of the point about using “real” people as models. If you look through online eating disorder communities, you’d see that there are a ton of girls who do idolize stick thin models very seriously and kill themselves to look like them, doing horrible things to their bodies and cutting years off of their lives. Of course, many of the models might naturally be as skinny as they are, which is why I think that thin models shouldn’t be banned (since, if we are all about accepting a broader range of body types, why would we discriminate against very skinny people?), but rather that there should be some variation in the body-types of the models, so that the super thin models aren’t being held up as a sort of beauty ideal (which, they definitely are–even the word “model” hints at that).
I read on Jezebel today that there are studies supporting the idea that plus-sized models actually do make overweight girls feel worse: http://jezebel.com/5382259/study-even-plus+size-models-lower-self+esteem
Perceptive prediction, Bunnyshop.
Women who compare themselves to models will always feel inadequate by comparison. Because models–aside from being tall and well-proportioned–have a team of make-up artists, hairstylists, clothing stylists, and (in print, at least) photoshop to make them look preternaturally gorgeous. Then, we average-looking women look at our reflections and lament not fitting a media-promulgated beauty standard. It’s a little depressing, and a little infuriating (and seems to require multiple hyphens and parenthetical asides to explain).