The Economics Of Skinny Models
This season in the lobby of the Fashion Week tents, there was a booth tucked amidst the flashy sponsor offerings that had a serious message to share. Instead of girls dressed in skimpy sponsor branded outfits offering free samples of specialty goods, this booth was staffed by earnest young women who were there to talk about fashion's dark side: eating disorders.
The booth was created by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, in conjunction with the Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders. Its goal was to continue to raise awareness on the issue and offer treatment referrals for those in need. This was part of a health initiative that the CFDA formed in January 2007 to address the international concern that some models may be too thin and are practicing unhealthy eating habits to stay that way.
It was two years ago this past August when model Luisel Ramos died of heart failure caused by anorexia while participating in a fashion show. Her death gained massive media attention and first cast light on the problem of models starving themselves to achieve "perfect form." In 2006, "perfect form" for a runway model meant small, nearly flat breasts, narrow hips and a tiny backside. As I watched the models stride down the catwalk during the latest spring collections last week, my impression was that despite our raised awareness, this super skinny aesthetic has yet to change. See this slideshow of a few alarming examples.
Why? Some theories will point a finger at the media for continuing to glorify the look or say that male designers prefer girls with proportions similar to young boys- but I don't know that either idea really defines the root of the problem. Lately, I've been seeing more media attention than ever directed towards redefining standards of female beauty- from articles on looking great at every age to Jennifer Hudson's turn as Vogue's cover model. The male designers that I am friendly with- both gay and straight- love women and their curves, that's why they design for them.
So then why do we keep seeing such delicately thin young girls model clothes meant to be sold to women with mature figures? One little addressed reason may have to do with the manufacturing process: it's cheaper and easier to mass manufacture clothes that have less built-in shape. Garments with less shaping hang more attractively on linear bodies. Bust darts, waist darts and curved seams are all more difficult to both fit and sew than straight seams. These are the elements of tailored garments that enable clothing to sit smoothly over shapely curves. But-- it takes time and expertise to perfect these elements and this can cost a lot of money. Additionally from a financial perspective, garment pattern pieces with straighter seams can produce better yield from a bolt of fabric. Think about it like this: if you have two cookie cutters, one square and one round that you apply to equally sized sheets of dough, which will give you more cookies with less wasted dough in between?
Fashion cycles keep whirling faster as stores both encourage and cater to consumer demand for a constant influx of new merchandise. Designers are being pushed to their limits to keep up. In today's global market place, having a fashion business is all about dealing with economy of scale- if you can't produce quickly and in large volume, it is very, very difficult to stay in business.
So perhaps it is actually the mechanics of an ineffective and over-burdened manufacturing system that is the true culprit behind why our runway models look the way they do. If our designers do not have the support from both the industry and consumers to rigorously examine things like fit and innovative but wearable proportions, they will keep on sending clothes down the runway that hang uninterrupted from shoulders to hips. These fashions will continue to be worn by very thin models because that's who looks good in them. And models will keep on trying to stay as thin as possible because they, like everyone else, want to keep on paying their bills... even if it's killing them.
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I think one problem that is rarely addressed is the youth of the models as much as their specific weight. Is it really appropriate that magazines aimed at men and women in their twenties, thirties, and fifties feature girls (especially) not even of a "legal" age with older men? How appropriate is it to teach adult males and females to drool over pictures of underage children? Most Americans would think that a fifty year old male looking at pictures of almost naked fourteen year olds was sick,and yet this is what we promote in magazines, entertainment, and fashion shows. No wonder so many men and women have problems with their image .... how can they compete with popular paedophelia? Men and women used in fashion, if fashion is really about designing excellent clothes for a healthy functioning human race, should be from the age categories they are directed at, the proper age of sexual attraction and family/relationship building, chosen to display clothes and to promote healthy interaction within the human species. Using little children to promote items for adult males and females does not promote human psychological health and thus works against healthy, sustainable, social balance and happiness.
My goodness. The models in the slideshow (see link in the article) look like I did when I was wasting away from a chronic disorder, which I still battle on a daily basis. They look like Halloween decoration-skeletons. Can I have one to hang on my front porch? Seriously, though, our culture needs to address its dangerous obsession with being too thin. So many health problems arise out of anorexia, including heart damage, intestinal damage, tooth decay, hair loss, amenorrhea, etc, etc.
And the modeling agencies, photographers, and magazines that promote this insane ideal of beauty should all be ashamed of themselves, if not prosecuted formally for ruining these young ladies' health - and looks, too, in my opinion. There's nothing more unattractive than a girl that's too skinny. These young ladies and the agencies encouraging them should all be required to read Naomi Wolf's "The Beauty Myth."
As I read this blog, the ads around it tout flat stomachs. There is unrelenting pressure to be what we are not, to create feelings of inadequacy. I for one find muffin tops very sexy, and the constant pressure on women to fit an impossible mold is frustrating on many levels.
There is a website called The Judgement Of Paris. It is about fashion, particularly plus sized models. But in the forums there is much discussion of this problem, such as http://www.judgmentofparis.com/forums/forum1/messages/1610.html
Sorry, very thin models did not begin in the 80s and 90s. I was a New York high fashion model in the 60s, (photographic--Vogue and Harpers Bazaar--as well as runway) as was Twiggy and many other very thin girls. It was believed then that clothing showed better on thin bodies, as you looked at the clothing not the curves.
I'm getting sick of hearing that all models starve themselves. I was very thin at 18; at 66 I'm thinner! Vogue could photograph me today in any of the current clothing and I'd still look great! Seriously, many women are naturally thin; I am one. And I am disgusted that I can't get insurance policies because the "normal" weight for 5'9 inches is (they say) 137 to 261! Rubbish! When I was 9 months pregnant I was 137. And I'm 107 now. And healthy! I work out at the gym, dance and walk my dog. And I eat anything and everything I want whenever I want.
BTW, I rarely saw a "fat" person in the 60s. Would you say people today are eating more, and more unhealthily? If it were genetic they'd have been fat in the 60s too.
My point: if your weight is important to you eat better foods and less of them. And lay off us thin folks. We don't deserve the bad rap!
greytgirl congratulations on being naturally thin but that is not the point of the article, anorexia and body image are.
Well how many comments refer to models being anorexic? My point is precisely that not all models are anorexic. And for overweight people to complain about thin people (models) and suggest they all have serious problems is ridiculous. How many people die from problems associated with obesity? Thousands and thousands. Leave off the thin and put the empahsis where it should be: overweight people. If people who are obese or overweight object to people being thin and calling them anorexic it is ridiculous. Focus on the fat! I'm sorry, I have compassion for people who have addictions. Food is every bit as much an addiction as alcohol or drugs. Why isn't this the focus?
I know a woman whose teenage daughter was about 70 pounds overweight. The mother complained often about the anorexic models and actresses and how they set a bad example for her daughter. In fact, her daughter's problem had nothing to do with thin actresses or models. It had to do with her focus on food--and yes, I know that she had no health problem. Her mother was a doctor. The teen was simply eating twice what she needed, year in and year out. Now, as an adult, she is obese.
As long as the spotlight gets put on models and anorexia, we as a nation won't focus on our grossly overweight population. Let's call a spade a spade. This is an epedemic.
It doesn't matter what decade that being skinny first became popular. It doesn't matter if your weight is normal for you. What matters is that being skinny as those models on the catwalk,or being as skinny you are, is not a realistic goal for most women.
As a heterosexual male, I've never been even slightly attracted to the skinny fashion models -- and I've never met any other men who are. The clothing they model isn't generally meant to be worn -- it's art, and so the models are part of this art -- it's certainly not meant to attract heterosexual males.
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They should get the girls from the Russian Olympic Volleyball team. Maybe Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Serbian volleyball teams too.
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That would be sweeeet.
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Maybe Honda could Build the fashion industry a robot...
One other economic determinant may be the way that models are selected to be runway models.
These girls and women are selected on the basis of particular height, body shape, features, etc. In
many ways, the "idealized" woman for that particular garment. With a particular height, the clothing drapes better, looks better, is an idealization of the "perfect" look than on a short and stout human.
In many ways, the taller, thinner model is in relative "short supply" in relation to shorter and more ample women. The lack of supply of these stick-figures, creates a "scarcity factor" among designers that are willing to shell out big bucks for the opportunity to showcase their designs on these skinny-skeletons.
All of those models have eating disorders. And they smoke.
What a load of nonsense. Designers use women who look like pre-pubescent boys because of the predominance of gay designers.Coco Chanel and Dior in their days used normal models, who looked more like real women.As a matter of fact all this madness of and the obsession with the skeletal models started in the 80s and 90s at the same time as the designs assumed grotesque and hideous forms.There is no excuse for this development whatsoever except the self indulgence of the designers who are holding women to ransom.
Considering the staggering waste of the fashion industry - and the fact that they seem to drape more stuff on a small frame then deems necessary - I don't think that I buy the penny wise, pound foolish argument. The fact is, not having curves underneath a garment that you are displaying keeps focus on the clothing then the body underneath. Not having a lot of flesh also lets wearing less more palatable then if worn by someone more "rotund". We have to become less obsessed with a model's weight and just accept that different types of people are suited to different functions in the world. Runway models are not chosen for their sex appeal -they are chosen for their blank slate, but the more we try to be more politically correct about size, the more backlash will come out of that effort. It's just the rule of law with such things.
If models are not chosen for sex appeal, it would be cheaper and more efficient (and just as realistic) to have the clothes displayed on hangers that moved on a track across the stage.
Economics? what ? that they dont eat as much and therefore dont cost as much to hire?
thats odd.
Did you even read the article?
My daughter is in the formal wear business.... and it is impossible to deal with these teen girls anymore.....
Her merchandise is always damaged by these cows who try to fit in a 7 when they are a 12 or more.
Broken zippers and ripped seams... she has to watch em like a hawk.....
and --
If the same cow tries on an XL and it doesn't fit.... if you hand her a 2X -- she stomps out in a fury...
women refuse to try on dresses that are larger than they think they are...... IN - F- ing SANE
I wouldn't be in that business if my life depended on it.... my daughter HATES her customers.... but she prospers in the shoe and bag business.... says if she could, she would stop carrying gowns for prom or Homecoming... the cows are just too fat, destructive.... AND they try to return stuff they wore for ONE NIGHT......
insanity....
You're disgusting.
I wonder what came first these "cows" as you so call it, or your family's attitude.. as my guess is your daughter is similar to you in such hateful repose given you raised her.
What is your daughter's weight that a size 12 is a COW??? You are a skankorama!!!
I wouldn't be too surprised if your daughter spent her teen years heaving into the toilet. Expect you will be curled over with osteoparosis early, as happens to all unrecovered anorexics and bulimics --the ones who live.
When my niece was pushing herself into anorexia as she was modeling, I illustrated to her very clearly why bone skinny physiques are encouraged by the business: I grabbed a coat hanger from her closet and explained that they need her to be that -- something that the clothes just lay on without interruption in the lines. That really seemed to bring the point home to her, and she's been a lot better since...
Women with a little more T and a little more A would be sexier, hence, would distract from the clothes.
Some designers believe that... I remember doing a runway show when I was about 19. It was formal wear. And the dress fit perfectly. I was a size 3! The designer thought I was too curvy for the dress and it was a distraction. True story. Sad but true.
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