Destruction of Fashion Models in the Fashion Industry Julianne Reich, Issues in Fashion & Textile Industry · Dr. Arlesa Shephard, FTT 450W

Many women in today’s society feel that if they are thin than they are considered attractive, more men want them, they can wear prettier clothing, feel happy and desirable. Society is starting to see girls at younger ages being dissatisfied with their bodies, proactively trying to change them, feeling like they need to emulate something different than what their bodies can do. This is an effect because women are seeing models in the media looking “flawless” and “perfect” on magazine covers and even commercials on television. One of the major concepts that are displayed through the media is weight loss systems, diets, and memberships for gyms; individuals are regularly seeing these ads and feeling the need to lose weight and become thin. On an average a teen gets about 180 minutes of media exposure a day that is flooded with uncountable images of thin models and celebrities who look beautiful and appear happy. Nonetheless, many young girls who are the most impressionable view them as role models. The majority of the time the women in society who are thin, are actually scaled as unhealthy levels of thinness or underweight. This is commonly found in models from magazines, runway shows, and pageants, which adds to the push for thin and flawless models. Women have become preoccupied with losing weight and becoming thin that in the end makes them more prone for body dissatisfaction and eating disorders.

The sample size of designers over the past decade has taken a dramatic downward turn, which is putting more pressure on models to be thinner and younger. It is unrealistic to have prepubescent teenage girls modeling clothing that is meant for adults. The garments do not look appropriate on teenage models because they are meant for older women who are more developed. On a prepubescent girl the hips, breasts, and curves are absent therefore, making the clothing look less shapely. According to Diane von Furstenberg it is bad to come into the model industry as a teenager. The model’s bodies still have time to develop which becomes hard to maintain as their teenage body begins to shape, which then leads to body dissatisfaction and they run the risk of developing unhealthy eating behaviors. It is stated in the CFDA Health Initiative Guidelines that designers share the responsibility to care about the well being of their models including their mental and physical health. It is common in girls aging between 15-19 years old to develop anorexia nervosa. During the Dove Campaign a study was taken as a result only 2% of women would describe themselves as beautiful. The CFDA slogan is a healthy mind is a healthy body which goes along with their health is beauty campaign. To create a wider definition of the concept of beauty.

In today’s fashion world there are constant runway and fashion shows, simply for the designers to show off their latest pieces of work that will be sold in stores for the following season. In order for these shows to take place there has to be models to fit the sample sizes to wear the pieces down the runway. Self-image plays a big part in this because there is a lot of controversy behind the size and age of the models being portrayed. Models are a controversial topic that society is currently coping with because they are ultra thin therefore, resulting in young women and adults having problems with self-image, body dissatisfaction and the concept that thin is the ideal. The purpose of this paper is on how models are being affected by the fashion industry, thus relating to women in today’s society having thoughts about body dissatisfaction.

Body Dissatisfaction Leads to Eating Disorders

The Idea Behind Thin

Introduction

Ahern, A., L., Bennett, K., M. & Hetherington, M., M. (2008). Internalization of the Ultra-Thin Ideal: Positive Implicit Associations with Underweight Fashion Models are Associated with Drive for Thinness in Young Women. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 16(4), 294-307. Doi: 10.1080/10640260802115852

CFDA. (2007, January). Health Initiative. Council of Fashion Designers of America, Retrieved from http://cfda.com/programs/cfda-health-initiative

Heubeck, E. (2005-2013). Helping Girls With Body Image. WebMD: Health Beauty, Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/beauty/style/helping-girls-with-body-image

Reaves, S., Hitchon, J. B., Park, S., & Yun, G. W. (2004). If Looks Could Kill: Digital Manipulation of Fashion Models. Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality, 19(1), 56-71. Doi: 10.1207/s15327728jmme1901_5

Sieczkowski, C. (2012, February). New York Fashion Week 2012: New CFDA Guidelines Cull Underage, Underweight Models. International Business Times, Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/new-york-fashion-week-2012-new-cfda-guidelines-cull-underage-underweight-models-403694

Wilson, E. (2009, May). Smile and Say ‘No Photoshop’. The New York Times: Fashion & Style, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/fashion/28RETOUCH.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

References

Big Changes to the Model IndustryThere is an important group that was formed over the past years by Diane von

Furstenberg and Steven Kolb, called the Council of Fashion Designers of America. A health initiative was formed in 2007 to report what has become a global fashion issue, which is the concern about models being unhealthily thin and whether or not they should make restrictions for this. The health is beauty campaign was formed to show women that they do not have to be super skinny to be a model because it is about being healthy that makes them beautiful. Therefore, the fashion industry now has medical experts and nutritionists working together to try and prevent models from engaging in eating disorders. As a result of the changes the CFDA has made, this year at NY fashion week there was a plus-size designer who used plus-size models to show her pieces in fashion week. The average American women now wear a size 14 that size is never displayed on plus-size models during runway shows let alone fashion weeks. Furstenberg believes that models under the age of 16 do not belong on the runway and they are trying to pass a law that the youngest models should be at least 18 years old. Being a model does affect the emotional and physical well being in a woman so having a young woman exposed to that is unnecessary damage on their self-image.

ConclusionThe model industry is a controversial topic that society is currently dealing with because the models are ultra thin therefore, resulting in young women and adults having problems with self-image, body dissatisfaction and the concept thin is the ideal way of looking. This industry is making it more available for models to obtain eating disorders because everything is related to being skinny and fitting into the sizes 0, 1, or 2 sample sizes of designers. There is nothing pretty about photo-shopping when it only adds to the models thoughts of body dissatisfaction. Especially when it is showing the public that these women look flawless and perfect in everything all the time. The health is beauty campaign is a positive facet on the model industry, because it is showing designers and women that there is no need to go to extremes to become thin. Therefore, the fashion models and the model industry are embracing an unhealthy ideal that is being portrayed in society as something that is acceptable, when in reality it is a negative aspect that is affecting women across the world.

There is one job in the fashion business and model industry that has the ability to change/alter/make better/or fix the models photographed for a magazine; that job is a photo editor. Photo editors have the power to make the models photographed look thinner then they already are. If that model does not meet the expectations for the cover of the magazine photo editors will alter their appearances to make them. Photo editors feel the need to make the model’s teeth whiter, hair browner, eyes darker, and legs slimmer. Periodically, such highly tweaked images stir controversy in the media because they are changing the way a person looks to make them look “better”. In 2003 a retouching controversy arose when Kate Winslet asserted that GQ had excessively altered a photograph of her to make her look thin. Winslet believes that her natural beauty is enough to show on the cover of the magazine, because she is aging and does not wish to look like someone she is not. Reality becomes a fine line because the audience does not know what is real on the model and what was photo-shopped.

The Ugly Effects of Photo-Shopping

An example of Photoshop being used on Jessica Alba.

The fashion industry adding to the concept of thin models.

Example of media portraying that thin is the ideal way of looking.