The Road to Change

What sticks out in your mind when you think about the fashion industry? For me, it is the prevalence of eating disorders and horror stories about models ending up in the hospital because they starve themselves in order to stay at the industries desired weight. Images of sickly thin, emaciated models are one of the first things that pop into my head. I am slightly biased about this though. The fashion industry has actually improved in widening the variety of models. There is still a long way to go, but the industry isn’t all bad.

Jacky O’Shaughnessy

This is 62-year-old Jacky O’Shaughnessy. She has been a model for American Apparel since 2011, and has more recently modeled their new line of lingerie. Her photos were posted on American Apparel’s social media websites with the caption “Sexy has no expiration date.” It is a huge step for the fashion industry to pick a 62-year-old model over a younger woman. There is beauty in women of all ages, and it is fantastic that it is being acknowledged.

Gabi Gregg, a plus-size fashion blogger, collaborated with Swimsuits For All and designed two piece swimsuits that come in sizes 10-24. The bikini been nicknamed the ‘fatkini’ and comes in bright neon colors and fun patterns. Gabi Gregg is really passionate about body acceptance, no matter the size, and her swimsuits gave many women to confidence boost they needed to wear a bikini.

Pictures like this, comparing Dove’s Real Beauty campaign and the Love My Body campaign by Victoria’s Secret, have received a lot of criticism on the internet. There are some people who will bash the Victoria’s Secret models for being “too skinny” and others who will insult how the Dove models look. I feel like this is totally uncalled for. The models from campaigns are beautiful. This picture just shows the diversity that needs to be present in the fashion industry.

Models of all shapes, sizes, ethnicity, etc. should be in national campaigns in order to showcase diversity. The way the fashion industry is right now, models have a stereotypical appearance; skinny, tall, and often lighter complexions. Everybody look different, so shouldn’t models portray the different facets of beauty? Because beauty has many faces.

The Cost of ‘Beauty’

As many of you already know, eating disorders are extremely common among those who are a part of the fashion industry. Because the fashion industry normally only shows models who are super thin, whether they are like that naturally or not, that is what society sets as its standard of beauty. There is not a lot variety among models, and because of this some women (and men) do not have a very good self-image. They try to imitate the bodies of models, and some do not go about it in a healthy. Depending on the model they are imitating, it may not be possible to achieve it in a healthy way.

Back to the topic of eating disorders. While a portion of the fashion community may see the result as beautiful, it comes with a heavy cost. There are many people, both models and the average person, who have suffered many health complications due to eating disorders.

Models Who Are Casualties of Eating Disorders

Ana Carolina Reston

Ana Carolina Reston was a 21-year-old Brazilian model who died due to complications from anorexia nervosa. She died on November 15, 2006 and weighed only 88 pounds at the time of her death.

Jeremy Gillitzer

Jeremy Gillitzer had battled eating disorders for almost his entire life (since the age of 12). Despite the fact that he wanted so badly to beat his disease, he lost the battle against it on June 1, 2010 at the age of 36.

Sister supermodels Luisel and Eliana Ramos died with about half a year of each other due to complications from eating disorders.

 

Models are not the only ones to fall victim to eating disorders. Thousands of everyday men and women battle against these horrible diseases every sing day. Katy and Maria Campbell, who are identical twins and both trained as doctors, have suffered anorexia since around the age of 11 when they heard their father talk to their mom about how they were becoming young women because they were starting to get hips. In 2011, they were 33 and still had not conquered the disorder.

 

Something needs to be changed about fashion industry. One possible solution to this problem is requiring a minimum weight requirement  for models to meet in order to book jobs. Yes, some women are just naturally skinny and they should not be victimized because of the body they were born with, but if a minimum weight requirement were set then hopefully models would have less pressure to be skinny. There also needs to be more education about eating disorders. Pretty much everyone is aware of them, but many people do not really understand how deadly they can be. People took the initiative to go and do research on topics like this and are informed, then maybe the fashion industry will start to feel the pressure and make a real effort to change things.

 

 

‘Beauty’ Through the Ages

Can you believe that our current standards for ‘beauty’ have not always been considered beautiful?! Not only has the style of clothing changed, but the preferred body type has shifted as well. What we think of as beautiful is not concrete, and is always changing.

1920s

In the 1920s it was considered fashionable for women to hide their curves. There were even some women who would bind their chests in order to appear flat.

Rita Hayworth

1930s-1940s

During this era, clothing started to become more fitted, and as a result women started to exercise more. Women would lift weights in order to gain muscle tone.

Marilyn Monroe

1950s

Almost everyone has heard the name “Marilyn Monroe” at least once in their life. Marilyn Monroe is one of the women who made the hourglass body figure so popular in the 1950s. It was during the 1950s that pinup styles became really popular, probably because it’s a style that really shows off the hourglass body type.

Twiggy

1960s

One of the first things that comes to mind when people think of the 60s are hippies. Women during this decade sought to have bodies that were super thin. A major influence behind this trend was supermodel Twiggy.

Farrah Fawcett

1970s

The trend of being really thin is still popular by the time the 1970s roll around. This stuck around from the 60s, and hasn’t really changed all that much yet.

Olivia Newton John

1980s

During this decade, women’s fitness was at an all time high (so were eating disorders). Women were expected to stay thin and appear toned. The song “Physical” by Olivia Newton John can illustrate how big exercise was during this decade… well, it can if you completely ignore all the completely obvious sexual innuendos. Actually, the fact that Jane Fonda’s workout was hugely popular was probably a better example of how fitness crazed the 80s were, so let’s just go with that instead.

Kate Moss

1990s

In the 1990s the body figure that was really popular in the fashion industry was something called “heroin chic.” Models like Kate Moss made this trend largely popular due to their extreme thinness. Kate Moss denies ever being anorexic or doing heroin, but the rumors remain.

As you can see, the preferred body type has changed drastically throughout the decades. If the standard of ‘beauty’ can go from and hourglass figure to being super thin in a matter of 10 years, anything is possible. None of these body types are any better than the others as long as they are not obtained in an unhealthy way. Just be happy with the body you were given, because no matter what, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!