Wednesday 30 November 2011

Go size zero?

London fashion week came and went but the issue still remains. UK fashion bosses want to ban the obviously underweight models and let our more "real" size women talk to the Catwalks. Where do we draw the line? The issue has been around for years and is always present in the media. Substantial changes have not come about. We hear of designers who condemn the use of "size 0" models in their clothing lines but this makes us to think "Is this just a marketing tool?" a way to get the more mass market on the companies side? The brand is, of course, going to look more appealing if it appears to be ethically correct, standing on the moral high ground.
The question is, why do we want to see the end of "thin" models, do we really want to see a size 18 woman on the catwalk? I believe the fashion industry would loose its sparkle, the wow factor. We want to see perfection, polished perfection- this does not necessarily mean unhealthily thin women (or even men for that matter) there is nothing wrong with the curves, but let us not venture into "normal". Nobody likes normal. What makes "size 0" automatically unhealthy?
The hard truth of the industry is that these models are, whether we agree with it or not, a vision of perfection, after all who would want to buy into a collection modelled by a size of the opposite end of the spectrum. The mistake we make is that every time we see a skinny girl modelling the latest range we automatically assume she is drastically unhealthy, when in fact our attention is taken away from the girls who actually are in serious danger suffering from such conditions as anorexia in order to gain acceptance into the world of fashion. There is nothing wrong with thin- anorexic yes.
Recently three models have been banned from a top fashion show in Madrid for being "too thin". The show in Cibeles bans models with a Body Mass index of less than 18, suggesting anything below this is an unhealthy vision to set upon young teenage girls. All the models that were rejected had a BMI of less than 16. "Their health might be fine but their appearance is extremely thin" said the shows organisers. Surely this is discrimination? Research dictates that the typical model is of 5ft 9inches and weighs around 12Ib- a BMI of 16. What should be banned are women who are quite obviously making themselves ill. Since when has dieting been unhealthy? I thought starvation was.
Despite so called public opinion condemning the use of "size 0" models, fashion gurus still give the girls the go ahead to walk at their shows. Guidelines set down last year advise the industry to go against using mega-thin girls. However the fashion council do not ban models of a certain size or weight claiming this would be discrimination, fashion designers would know not to use girls of an obviously unhealthy figure. Finally sense. You can not tell someone they are too thin to work just because of their measurements. Surely it is common knowledge whether or not a girl is making her self throw-up.

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