the Informer

Models aren’t real people. I don’t care what people say. I know there are thin people in the world who can relate to the waifish figures of many models, but they are not real people. It doesn’t make sense to me that some of the thinnest women in the world are modeling the clothes that we are supposed to lust after.

Coca Rocha is a 21-year-old model. She is a size 4, which is pretty damn small in my book. Yet, according to the fashion world, she’s huge. She’s too big to be a model. Fewer and fewer designers have been booking her for shows because they think she’s fat. It’s disgusting.

Rocha modeled in the Diane von Furstenberg and Zac Posen runway shows this weekend at New York Fashion Week. I saw the pictures; she’s gorgeous. And, even at a size 4, she’s still significantly smaller than the average American woman, who’s a size 14.

Gemma Ward, who retired from modeling last year, has been in the tabloids recently for gaining weight, and one blogger said she should get work as a plus-size model. I’ve seen those pictures too; she’s still beautiful.

What message is this sending to teens and young women who worship fashion magazines and are so susceptible to the media’s portrayal of what is beautiful? Kate Moss, the premiere waif model, recently said, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” This perpetuates the idea that being skinny is the most desirable thing a woman could achieve in her lifetime.

Not all women are thin; for a lot of women, even with proper diet and exercise, they just won’t ever be a size zero. Some women obsess over this little number, so much so that they go to extreme measures to get there. Why is there such an obsession with this number? The fashion industry set the standard for sample-size clothes, the clothes used for magazine photo shoots and runway shows, at a zero.

This obsession with thinness and boniness is detrimental to young girls’ health. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, approximately 80 percent of women in the United States are dissatisfied with their appearance. It also notes that 40 percent of newly identified cases of anorexia are in girls aged 15-19. Eating disorders also have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Nothing like facts to wake you up.

So what can we do about this? Is there anything that can be done to change the thin ideal? Can the image of beauty be changed?

Thankfully, last week the Council of Fashion Designers of America discussed the possibility of raising the sample-size from a zero to a 4. Though it’s still tiny, it’s progress. Now, we must wait to see if this will really change.

Campaigns like Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty are trying to change the image of beauty for women around the world.
The message is simple: “to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening stereotypical views of beauty.” They have advertisements with real women. It’s like a beacon of hope among the thin ideal.

What the fashion industry needs to begin doing is promoting healthier lifestyles.

No, you don’t have to be thin to be beautiful. But being healthy is something that is attainable by all women. It’s a start.