Shooting Fish in a Barrel
Spit in any direction, and you’ll probably hit an egregious example of weight fascism in the fashion industry. But two separate items I came across one right after the other really highlight just how pervasive and extreme it can get.
First, via Too Fat For Fashion, comes an article in the Wall St. Journal about Ali Michael, who was all but shut out of the runway shows at Paris fashion week because her legs were too fat.
“It’s hard to imagine Miss Michael, a willowy, 5-foot-9-inch teenager, being told her legs are too fat. Last season, Miss Michael made herself sick keeping her weight down, said her mother. Miss Michael’s reward was to be heralded as the next supermodel.
She opened Lanvin in Paris a year ago and walked the runways of Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Chanel, John Galliano, Dior, Rodarte and others. She appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue and W magazines and was personally congratulated by Vogue’s Anna Wintour.
…
Her mother, a stunning woman who was once a model herself, said her daughter’s model friends have struggled to get thinner in recent months and that her daughter, worried about her health, chose not to starve herself.”
Also, “Nobody here has been talking about last year’s skinny-model cause célèbre, when a few fashion-industry leaders in Milan and Madrid began talking about instituting body-mass-index requirements after the starvation deaths of several models. This year, the models are just as thin — if anything, they look thinner. This was particularly visible in Paris, which sets modes for clothes and fashion shows around the world.”
And speaking of Paris and trendsetting, this article in New York Magazine profiles Carine Roitfeld of French Vogue. (h/t Belle de Ville at Beverly Hills Branchée) Whether you love her, hate her, hail her as a genius of style, revile her as a vapid twit, or any combination thereof, Roitfeld is unapologetic about her weight prejudices.
“In Roitfeld’s world, models are never too skinny, diamonds are never too expensive.
…..
“One thing,” she says. “I have in my office—what you call in America? Something to weigh?”
A scale?
“A scale. So people always say that I weigh my staff, and it is totally wrong. All my girls are very skinny and very chic and very beautiful. And if they are not beautiful, well, then they are very charming. So people always say that I weigh them, but no. I don’t weigh my girls.”
…..
“Doesn’t she look like Nicole Kidman?” Roitfeld says of the assistant posted at her door. “I told you, all the girl who work at French Vogue are vewy skinny and beautiful.”
…..
Roitfeld is 48 hours off a ten-day vacation in Thailand during which she worked a great deal on meditation.
How was this trip?
“You think this will be so glamorous,” she sighs. “You have the idea in your mind and then you get there and the people in the hotel …” She grimaces and gestures hugely in the hip area. “There were lots of people who were so fat and like that.”
Sometimes words fail me. (Yet Vogue Paris has also recently included an editorial shoot featuring Crystal Renn, who is gorgeous, but not “skinny.” Or maybe it was just a backhanded French jibe about fat Americans. Geau figure.)
Some would argue either that a) the images of uber-thin models are meant to be artistic and aspirational and that we’re all too smart to think we are really supposed to be that thin, or b) that all fashion images are inherently oppressive and harmful to women and that we should burn our fashion magazines and shop at the Army/Navy surplus store or make our own clothing. For me, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I like looking at pretty pictures of clothes, but also know that if 5’9″ and 110 lbs is presented the ONLY kind of body wearing the clothes, it can certainly create some self-doubt about one’s own appearance. These days it helps that I have a fully functioning reality filter, which unfortunately I didn’t at the age of 14 when I thought I was supposed to look like the models in “Seventeen” and thought I could achieve it if I just lost enough weight.
I know that looking at pictures skeletal models doesn’t cause anorexia/bulimia/eating disorders (right now the ball seems to be in the “genetic predisposition” court) but I do think dieting can trigger ED’s and being presented with a single homogeneous stick-thin image of beauty leads to dieting and/or body hatred, which latest research indicates is a health risk in itself. And girls/women already in the grip of anorexia use those skeletal images as “thinspiration.” Would women stop buying Vogue (or the products advertised in Vogue) if some of the models looked like Crystal Renn instead of, say, Anabela Belikova, or were older, or more racially or otherwise diverse? (And in the same vein, would people stop going to the movies if protruding collarbones were not a job requirement lead actresses?) Maybe it’s reached that point, but I tend to think not.
But even though models have been thinner than the average woman since the early part of the 20th century, they were not always expected to have a skeletal, emaciated look. Check out this video clip of Chanel’s 1959 collection, or do a google search on vintage fashion images. The women are slender, yes, but still have some curves and muscle definition, and their knees aren’t the widest part of their legs. As much as fashion industry insiders like to protest that the current crop of models is “just naturally skinny” and that they “eat like horses,” common sense says that a good percentage of them have to be seriously restricting food in order to achieve the desired look. And the deaths of two models last year as a result of eating disorders bears this out.
I can’t say for sure what’s behind the current emaciation requirement for models. Maybe it’s just inertia (trends tend to keep moving in a given direction without strong enough intervention) or maybe designers are too lazy to try to create clothes that will look good on women with fully developed bodies. Maybe it’s a reaction against the perception of an “obesity epidemic.” Maybe it really is fear of and antagonism toward women. Whatever the reason, it’s ridiculous, it’s unhealthy and it’s time for a change.
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Deja – as strange as this sounds, I think that the same reason designers pick these emaciated “refugees from concentration camps” is the same reason why the models have no expression in their faces: Designers do not want anything or anyone to distract from the line of their clothing or the outfit itself. If there was such a thing as a motorized track with some sort of rack that they could hang the clothing from, which would run around the catwalk and stop at the appropriate places so that photographs could be taken and sketches made, the designers would use it. It would be perfect – nothing poking out to disturb the flow of the garment, no facial or body expression at all. Years ago, the models really moved and danced and smiled and “sold” the garments in fashion shows – now, the designer wants none of that. They don’t want to be beholden to any female’s body to market their designs. I think it has to be their name and their design and that is all.
And this quote from the Roitfeld piece floored me even more than her comments about weight:
“I love pills. I cannot sleep, so I love pills.
Every day she takes a combination of anti-anxiety drugs to help keep her calm and to help her sleep, but still, she practically vibrates with energy. “My doctor, he tells me that I begin to lose my vision because of the pills.”
toby – I’d bet dollars to donuts that in a few years we’ll start to see animatronic models replace the flesh-and-blood kind.
duchesse – yes, that was pretty disturbing too. My guess is the sleeping pills are necessary to counterract the stimulants she takes to stay thin. Just an uneducated guess, mind you. But it sounds there like she’s hanging on by a thread.
What I always want to ask is, if the designers don’t want their design “disturbed” by the natural shape of a woman’s body why are they designing women’s fashion???
I had a point about the scale in Roitfeld’s office that I wanted to make. Why is it there? If she is being honest and does not weigh the girls who work for her, who IS being weighed? Why would she have a scale in her office if it is not being used? Of course it is being used…by HER. This is a woman who is obsessed with youth and with appearing young/thin herself. I don’t really want to think about the effect she has had on her children. I can’t imagine what sort of view her young adult son has about women, nor do I want to think about what relationship her daughter has with food, eating and her own body.
Did her children ever have any contact with a female who was not young(or looked young)and extremely thin? I actually feel rather sorry for Roitfeld because there will come a day(as it does for everyone) where she will look in the mirror, or catch a view of herself in a window…and realize that she is NOT young anymore. And, in the meantime, she has ruined her health and undoubtedly shortened her life and has also passed on her delusional thinking to her children, who will very possibly pass it on to their children. When does this end?
I too was blown away by the “I love pills” paragraph. Obviously, something is missing from her life.
What really floored me in that article was Roitfield’s claim, in response to comments about the minimalist appearance of her desk/office, especially its lack of a computer, that she Didn’t Use a Computer! What? How privileged does one have to be in this day to be Roitfield’s age (late 50’s), be in a powerful and responsible position, yet not use a computer? And besides privilege from very early on, it implies a lack of curiosity and interest in the world. I still admire the woman for some elements of her work and life, but what a cost her focus comes at.
DejaPseu:
“Sacrificial Virgin” is the new trend, according to the Sunday edition of a broadsheet here in the UK. The article goes on to say: “The perfect model on the catwalk these days is a girl so young, so anonymous, she is thrown away after just one season.”
Full link here:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/
life_and_style/women/fashion/
article3427131.ece
On an unrelated note, I have tagged you and your blog for an award – “E” for Excellent 🙂
I agree with you completely. I used to think Carine Rotfield was a cool older woman who had it together but the pills and the scale are scary. I love French Vogue but she’s not the role model I thought.
It’s ironic she discusses a Nicole Kidman look alike when the now pregnant Nicole Kidman herself has said she loves her new curves and always wanted Marilyn Monroe type curves. I know years ago that she once mentioned that Jessica Lange was her ideal with a bust and hips.
Yet would Nicole be considered as beautiful if she has those curves?
I know as an older woman I can’t believe the insecurities I had as what would now be a size two figure back in my twenties (I think by the standards back then I was an 8). Or my pediatrician’s statement that my 14 year old son, at 5’7″ and 102 pounds would be considered a “perfect model” if he were a girl! Or that my 12 year old neice will be “lucky” if she gets taller and maintains her 21″ waist! It’s insane.
Love your blog.
Christine
Deja, I wondered the same. In college I took diet pills and yes, “vibrated with energy”. Dropped 20 lbs in about 5 weeks, and remember flying to my classes. But she is 50- and I hope smarter than I was then.
“There were lots of people who were so fat and like that.” Body size- the last acceptable prejudice. Miss Janey wonders why that is. Imagine if instead of “fat” she’d named a race or a physical deformity. Is there no room for inner beauty in the realm of fashion?
janet – good question!
materfamilias – yeah, that one jumped out at me too.
Shefaly – very interesting article, thanks! And thanks for the “Excellence Award!”
Christine – thanks. It’s sad how warped so many people have become about weight that they’re projecting those insecurities onto kids. And that’s interesting about Kidman; when I was younger I had a friend who was naturally very thin (and who tried in vain to gain weight) and she used to say she envied my “womanly” body, at the same time I would have given anything to look like her.
Miss Janey – yes, fat bashing seems to be the last acceptable prejudice, doesn’t it?
pseu,
I don’t know whether or not you saw my earlier post on the same unhealthy demand for super skinny MALE models, especially on the European catwalks.
These super tall men are now expected to weigh in somewhere less than 150 pounds! Forget the fat, these guys can’t even have any muscles. Welcome to the world of waif men.
here’s my post:
http://beverlyhillsbranche.blogspot.com/2008/02/waif-men-from-euro-fashion-to-reality.html
I noticed another thing about the Chanel models from 1958–they looked like grown women, not children. How refreshing.
I do think that current designers, with their beanpole chic, are designing in the abstract, like modern art. What I’d like to see is clothing designed for real women’s bodies, clothing designed to make the woman look beautiful. But to do that you’d have to really respect women and trheir bodies, and I don’t see any sign of that among most of these folks…..
Used to avoid shops that I knew would not have my size (a frank 16 or a vanity 14). Now I walk in, and if I like what I see, sincerely admire it. Then I say, “I would so appreciate you making clothes in my size. I’d buy them and have friends who would.” If they look sorry for me (it happens) I lay some stats on them. The responses: from “I don’t do the buying” or “She has chosen not to go above a 10” to “Would you please write to the designer?” I wrote, and the designer DID IT! Now I buy her clothes all the time… have to reinforce her! We have to tell them we are here and what we want.