We're looking for people to work at our locations The Skinny On New York’s Beauty Obsession
Following Maddy”s observations Wednesday about the slimming of the “Stop” hand on pedestrian crossing lights, as I was reflecting on New York”s obsession with beauty, I had an encounter of my own that was, well, less incisive than Maddy”s revelation and come about by means of eavesdropping. Being a media junkie, while I usually reflect on the news of the day, sometimes I like to bring you what”s behind the scenes. What I overheard was one fashion and beauty writer bragging to another, “Yeah, I didn”t eat for like two weeks. I took Sudafed, which blocks your appetite and speeds up your metabolism. I totally didn”t eat ANYTHING.”
I walked away disturbed, thinking of what a sign it is of our culture that we”re proud of starving ourselves when we”re trying to fix worldwide hunger, which is an obvious observation, to be sure. And then I read about how Ali Michael, the model who was cast out out of Paris Fashion Week because her legs were “too fat” even though she was an impossible 103 pounds at 5″9″, hadn”t menstruated in a year, and eventually decided anorexia wasn”t worth it when her hair started falling out. And then she said something that especially rung true for me after hearing the Sudafed-helps-self-starvation conversation: “It has to change. The fashion industry affects everyone.”
It DOES affect everyone, not just the models but the fashion editors and writers who cover them in their pages, to the women that are not just buying magazines but walking around with their eyes open and taking in the skeletal models on billboards until it becomes totally internalized in our culture. I hadn”t really noticed just HOW skinny models are–after all, the camera adds ten pounds–until I attended a couture photo shoot for a luxury magazine in person. And while the models may have had the most beautiful faces of anyone I had ever seen up close, they had bodies that made me want to gag. They were tall and too thin, like giant praying mantises. You shouldn”t be able to count every vertebrae in someone”s spine. Someone shouldn”t look concave from the side, as if their body is collapsing in on itself. I was surprised they were able to lift their feet with giant shoes strapped to them, or hold up their heads when the stylist put hats or earrings on them.
Maybe this is my Italian-American side talking, but I think food is one of the best pleasures in life. There is nothing that tastes as good as a home-cooked meal at the end of the day, and few things in life make me as simply happy as a slice of cheesecake or chocolate, or better yet, the two combined. I”ve learned that no matter how much I diet or count calories or exercise, I will ALWAYS have child-bearing hips, and even when I was 20 pounds lighter I still thought my thighs were fat. But several years later, I now feel a lot better about life for accepting my body for the way it was made, and its limitations, even though I”m kind of short and really curvy and would never be pictured in a magazine. And I”m tired of hearing my friends say “Oh my god, I had a candy bar, that”s so bad, I have to stick to salad for the next week!” Because the way I see it? Be sensible. Eat well, and try to be healthy. But it”s okay to splurge every now and again. Because you know what? You”re in New York. It”s one of the food capitals of the world. Why deny yourself cheesecake???
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WONDERFUL POST!!!
Well said! I’ve always had an issue with the skinny disease that’s mentally affecting people.
Isn’t it a vicious cycle we have wrought where we center on the decadent enjoyment of good food–to the point where we have a CHANNEL devoted to it–and, at the same time, the guilt of wanting to look dangerously thinner and thinner?
Bring me those earlier days where voluptuousness still reflected beauty, and where I could hug someone without fear of snapping them in two. Where the Bond girls you saw with Mr. Connery did not incite “ewws” from the audience for looking “chubby”.
Give me a taste of the past, and while you’re there get me a pint of vanilla chocolate chip.
What an honest and engaging post.
I do have to insist though, that people who work in fashion are generally not obsessed with weight. I know that the notion is something that is grossly exaggerated by the media, but the fact is that it is a grueling (and extremely fast paced) profession and people simply do not have the time to sit around exchanging diet tips.
As for the models, you have to keep in mind that these girls are very young (usually 17 and under), and many are naturally small. When their bodies do begin to change, they change careers. That’s it. I am not negating the fact that there are some unhealthy models, but you have to put it in perspective. Designers should be free to choose what form to present their work on, just like everyone is free to make their own choices in regards to their health.
“They were tall and too thin, like giant praying mantises.” True, they’re a certain vermin like quality to it all…
And, yeah, I’m with you on the food-is-king tip. All hail chicken flautas!
E. Shon, are you kidding? People in fashion have ALWAYS been obsessed with weight. It’s all in the image, whether they discuss diet tips or not. While it’s true that models have always been thin, in recent years, that definition of ‘thin’ has changed dramatically. I can’t even stand to look at the Neiman Marcus catalog anymore because the girls look like 11-year old boys in drag. It’s not feminine, it’s not pretty, and it most definitely does NOT motivate me to buy the clothes they are wearing.
Designers need to take responsibility for their actions. The designers are adults. The girls, at 17 and under, are not adults. When these girls stop having their periods and jeapardize their health for the sake of earning money and selling a brand name for these ADULTS, alarms bells should and NEED to start ringing. You say the it’s grossly exaggerated by the media, but the truth is that the media is FINALLY giving this sick, shameful aspect of the fashion industry the attention it deserves. Things need to change and if it takes the current media blitz to make it happen, then more power to the media.
No one else should have to suffer, no one else should die.
K.Larrison: I do agree that it is awful that there are girls out there (not limited to the industry) dying of eating disorders, but it’d be an oversimplified and inaccurate assessment to peg the issue on designers. Body sizes and shapes go in and out of style like any other trend, and the designers are choosing to present their work on forms that reflect the times. Models are hired by casting directors and designers on the basis of a) how well they wear the clothes, and b) how successfully they convey the mood of the collection/ brand. Are the models being viewed as a product? Absolutely, but this has never been a secret. The ethicality of this issue is something that can be debated forever but all I can conclude is that the process is something that cannot be easily or rigidly “regulated.”
I realize that the girls are young and impressionable, and in an ideal world, the designers and agents would always be mindful of what they say (or refrain from saying) in front of the models. At the end of the day, a solid grip on reality and a thick skin are necessary on both ends.
As I said before, no one is being forced into their jobs. I promise that if you ask any of those girls if they are happy with their careers (short lived as they are), 9 out of 10 of them will tell you that they are THRILLED to be doing it. And I believe that it is sincere.