Runways models. Over the past decade, the public has literally cringed looking at their starved bodies and sunken eyes. And when you ask a majority of men, they'll say this look is unattractive compared to "real" women with curves. So why the weighty issue?
The fashion industry's use of very skinny female models-and they have gotten thinner since the 1950's, with a few exceptions-have garnered serious criticism in the past two decades, with activists campaigning against designers such as Calvin Klein, spray-painting messages like "feed me I'm starving" onto billboards featuring these models. As anyone who opens up a magazine like Vogue or Cosmopolitan can see, though, the anorexic-looking girl is still the mainstream.
Despite this backlash against extremely thin female models, the emaciated girl appears to be the most marketable. If the audience finds these girls unattractive, if not downright scary, why does the emaciated girl persist as the norm in mainstream media? Healthier-looking women do exist in ads and on runways, but in smaller numbers, and are viewed as a concession to "real" women. Think of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty: a great idea, but it acknowledges that realistic-looking women rarely appear as models.
If she were born later, could sex goddess Marilyn Monroe get work today? Only as a plus-size model, something that could keep her from catapulting to superstar status.
Harold Mindel, director of Click modeling agency in New York, agrees that curvier, healthier models are sexier than their starved sisters, but his ideas are at odds with the preferences of high-fashion designers, who want their female models to be human coat-hangers in the sense that very thin girls bring the focus to the clothes themselves. "Designers and photographers want thin," Mr. Mindel explains. "The girls don't show personality; they are a blank screen in order to focus attention to the clothes and exemplify them."
Fallon Sinclair, the director of IPM, another New York modeling agency, agrees with Mr. Mindel in that healthier women are sexier and more attractive than skinny women and are, fortunately, getting more and more work. "There are fewer size 0s," says Ms. Sinclair.
In 2006, Madrid famously banned extremely thin models from its runways, but the ban still allowed women that, by real-life standards, are still quite thin. Milan passed a similar ban, but London and New York couldn't even get that far, making "recommendations" to the designers instead. Designers complain that even these concessions damage their industry and will have no way of being enforced globally.
Both Ms. Sinclair and Mr. Mindel say that the trend is towards healthier women and girls and away from emaciation. As with any other business, they say, the industry changes, and there is a greater demand for real-sized, healthier women.
Now you can have your cake, and eat it too.
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