Written by Samantha
Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.
- Kate Moss
I’m not sure if that’s true. I’ve never been the modeling industry’s sample size 0. I can’t help but wonder if Kate is familiar with Krispy Kreme. That tastes pretty darn good.
Twenty-one-year-old runway model, Coco Rocha says she is considered “too fat” for fashion week and isn’t in demand for shows now that she’s a size 4. Even at 5’ 10’’ and her former 108 pounds she was told to lose weight. Last week the Council of Fashion Designers of America (models, designers, and editors) met to discuss changing the standard industry sample size- from 0 to 4. So far no changes have been made.
Often these models start their careers at a mere fourteen years old- before they’ve developed into women. What happens when curves show up? Retirement at 21???
Personally, I don’t care to see emaciated women lumbering down the runway. I would rather see someone who looked more like a woman than a stick figure.
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Comments
9 Responses to How Skinny is Too Skinny?
Wow ! That picture is disgusting. Is that Kate Moss? No one is that skinny without having an eating disorder. I always thought that size 0 was ridiculous, even 108 pounds is unrealistic when you are 5’10″. I was considered skinny by my family when I was younger, granted it was a while ago, and I was 5’7″ and weighed 120 pounds. Today that would be a plus size model. Personally I would like to see the standard set even higher. How about size 6 or 8, maybe then high school and college girls would not be battling eating disorders.
That is horrible. The epitome of womanhood is looking like a starving 12 yo boy? I wonder to whom that is supposed to appeal? How could you ever notice the outfit when you want to grab the model and feed her to save her life?
Disgusting. I think it’s sad that the fashion industry insists on keeping models this thin. Could you imagine if they did increase the size to 4? The models wouldn’t know what hit them, their bellies would be full & they’d have increased energy. (Not that a size 4 is big, but it’s a significant change from a size 0)
That picture is very disturbing.
I have heard it said that designers like the super skinny/teenage boy look because it displays their clothes better. The model is really just a “hanger.”
Something just seems really out of whack. It’s kind of hard to take these models seriously, but then you remember that young impressionable girls are viewing theses images and the message that is being sent to them is NOT healthy.
Does anyone watch Project Runway? It’s always interesting. Typically at least one task during the season will feature the designers designing for a “real woman” (women anywhere from a size 6 to maybe even – gasp – double digits). So many of them have *no idea* how to create an outfit that flatters a woman that actually has a bust, hips and thighs.
I am not sure what the answer is. I have heard this issue raised before and it seems nothing is ever done. It appears many elements of the high-end fashion industry are quite happy with the status quo. Sad.
I think about women in the industry all of the time and the pressure they must be under to meet this unrealistic ideal. I can’t imagine the position that they are in. Their body is their tool. They literally can’t do what they love if they don’t fit the mold.
I watch Project Runway too and yes, I think it’s ridiculous when they absolutely lose their stuff over designing for someone with curves.
I dont’ know that the industry will change but I think it’s important to expose young girls to beauty of all shapes and sizes.
From what I understand, despite the lip service the fashion industry sometimes pays to the concerns about emaciated models and eating disorders, there is a lot of resistance to addressing or even recognizing the problem that’s inherent in the industry. I think it’s a pretty closed little community and the people in it don’t really “get it.” It’s unfortunate. I admit that I don’t really get high fashion, but the whole notion that the women who are going to be wearing the clothes are somehow incidental, are clothes-hangers, is offensive to me.
Disgusting. It’s appalling that women would be considered “hangars.” Please, somebody get this girl some bread, stew, and a sweater. I’m cold just looking at her.
I don’t consider dressing a hangar talent. I call designing for real women with normal bodies talent.
As the mother of a 19 year old who is 5’4″ 135 pounds and a size 8, this frightens me. Granted she could lose ten pounds, I could lose 20 and still be pleasingly plump, as we used to call it. I HATE that anyone is forced to be this size to work almost as much as I hate the idea that anyone would CONSIDER that prerequisite as a condition to work, or the fact that this is the message to our girls – that you need to look like this to be fashionable and/or sexy.
SO unrealistic.
This picture is just sad, dysfunctional and obscene. Not someone I could identify with nor understand. She and anyone that looks this way really need some professional help (and I say that with concern and not contempt). Whatever this type of figure would wear down the runway is not something I would find appealing. I feel the fashion industry and the models that choose to work in it are both to blame.
Here’s the solution:
Change the industry model requirements to the following:
1. Healthy weight according to age and height (a national table suggests that if someone is 21 years of age and is 5’10″ -she should weight approx. 139 lbs minimum up to 160 lbs maximum.)
2. The model would have to be checked for her weight before each job to ensure she is within the guidelines of a healthy weight. If she’s not, she’s not allowed to work until she’s within the healthy guidelines.
3. The fashion designers should start designing clothes that fit real women and not mannequins.
…and just to add, maybe a random drug test to ensure the model is a healthy role model?!&
With those simple adjustments, the fashion industry will get better designs, healthier models and possibly a better reputation.