Models and weight.
A topic that is no stranger to most of us.
Recently, some headlines have caught my attention…that I knew we could have a great discussion about.
Headline Maker #1:
Glamour Magazine’s feature of a mostly naked plus-sized model in their September 2009 issue:
When I first saw this picture, I thought two things:
1) She is gorgeous
2) She is plus-sized?!
The feature of this model in Glamour magazine caused a huge stir to say the least. In fact, it inspired a huge body image revolution.
Editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive, was thrilled when Glamour magazine was flooded with supportive letters from readers. Her blog post also received over 1,100 comments, most of which were encouraging.
One woman from Pavo, Georgia said it was, ‘The most amazing photograph I’ve ever seen in any women’s magazine.’
While a man exclaimed, ‘I speak on behalf of all men: she is stunningly beautiful!’
Evidently, the people spoke, and they were saying please, please show these models more frequently!
Is this a genuine effort by Glamour magazine to feature women of all sizes or is it simply a publicity stunt as a way to generate more readers and revenues?
Headline Maker #2:
Karl Lagerfeld recently made headlines after making some shocking remarks when referring to Brigitte Magazine’s decision to feature regular women in the magazine and not professional models.
He said, "These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly,” Karl said in an interview with Focus magazine, adding “no one wants to see round women.” [Source]
Needless to say, Karl offended millions of women around the world with his comments.
Headline Maker #3:
Ralph Lauren recently came under a huge amount of criticism for air-brushing 21-year-old Filippa Hamilton in a recent Ralph Lauren Blue Label campaign featured in Japan.
Here is the ad:
I could not believe this picture when Caitlin posted the article on Twitter tonight. It just sickens me!
This is what she normally looks like below: Obviously very THIN!!!!
Note: She was recently fired due to being ‘too heavy’!!!!
It is clear to me that there is still a huge discrepancy between what the Fashion Industry thinks women want and what women ACTUALLY want!
The Glamour magazine comments clearly show that women want to see a wider range of shapes and sizes in magazines, and I would guess that this would extend to music videos, movies, runways, TV shows, and the like.
I think it is important to show a WIDE range of sizes, from thin to thick. One thing that bothers me is when people say, ‘Oh she is a REAL woman’ if she is curvy and thick. I think that is still a way to put down women who are not of a certain size. We need to accept all sizes, whether you are naturally skinny or curvy and voluptuous!
Skinny women are real women.
Large women are real women.
Period.
We need to accept everything in between and stop this madness of thinking that there is one ideal size. There is not.
Are we always doomed to have this discrepancy? Is Karl just a product of his environment and a man stuck in his ways? Will the runway, magazines, and fashion advertisements ever change?
This is so disgusting and ridiculous!
I’m really happy about what Glamour is doing lately, I’m even considering a subscription.
In their latest issue (with the BEEAAAUUUTIFUL and NATURAL Scarlett Johansson on the cover) they feature more REAL models. They were featured on the Ellen show about a week ago or so and they were wonderful.. as was Ellen. She spoke out about how this pressure and obsession for Hollywood and women in general to be super thin is disgusting.
Also, apparently RL has apologized for the ad…??
The statement is below:
“For over 42 years, we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body.
‘We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the calibre of our artwork represents our brand appropriately,’ the statement concluded.”
Oh this is such a loaded topic for me… while yes, I strive to be thinner and more fit, I am NOT one to subscribe to the idea that a model has to be bone-thin to be beautiful. Or heck, even THIN. Some of the most beautiful women I know are beautiful for reasons beyond their appearance, and some thin women? They are downright hideous due to their attitudes. I think all women want to see REAL women…
I have a problem with the term REAL women. We are all real women. Thin women are real women, so are larger women. You know what I mean? I totally get what you are saying and I agree that beautiful women come in all sizes…but I just have a problem with saying ‘real’ women. I guess it depends on what you mean by the term. If by saying real women you mean ‘women who are happy and secure with themselves’ then yes I would agree to that. :)
Most of the women in magazines have been so totally photo-shopped that you could argue the photographs no longer show “real women”
Just a thought :)
Yea I totally agree with that.
All women all beautiful and the fashion world needs to realize that. Tall, short, curvy, skinny, all beautiful!
I agree with Mara’s comment. Personally, I think the Glamour thing is a publicity stunt. How can they celebrate bodies of ALL sizes and then continue to have advertisements which make women feel bad about their bodies? A lot of people are celebrating it as revolutionary and while I think it’s still a step in the right direction, it has to be genuine. If we really want to boost body image, we have to stop telling women they NEED to diet or eat this, not that or look like the models on a page. There are plenty of magazines who use only advertisers/advertisements with integrity, so until Glamour starts to practice what they preach, I think it’s it’s all a rouse.
I know what you mean. It is hard to believe the magazine is genuine when their ads do not show women of all sizes. It’s an article on accepting yourself and then an advertisement for diet pills!
Oh, and I think there’s a lot of negative implications with using the word “real” in response to women’s bodies and that photograph specifically. Lizzie Miller is a real woman the same way Kate Moss is a real woman, though their body types differ vastly. My body, which is larger than most women’s, does not make me any more or less “real” than the next.
Loved the Galmour photo, also saw the article today about the Ralph Lauren model… after modeling for the company for many years they fired her as she no longer fits in their “sample” sizes. She is obviously a thin model type…. what is the world coming to when even that body type is not good enough? We come in all shapes and sizes…. we need to celebrate health not some ideal of perfection.
Plus, I read the article…didn’t it say she was 5’10” and 120lbs? Isn’t that technically underweight for someone her height (I’m 5’10” , too). It’s not underweight by a lot but I’m pretty sure it is underweight. The image of women in the media needs to change — healthy role models need to exist..not the celebrities so say ‘oh i eat what i want” — but they don’t actually eat ANYTHING. I don’t know…as a tall woman who will NEVER be a size 2…it is a touchy subject. It amazes me that they refer to women who are 8s and 10s and plus size.
Hmmmmm a very controversial subject indeed. I tend go to the side that says don’t blame anyone but you if you have a poor body image. Maybe not the popular opinion, I realize. It’s like if you are sluggish and depleted because you eat junk food everyday, is it the fault of the packaged food companies, or is it that you chose that over fresh and whole foods. After that, you can decide to put your money wherever you want, like subscribing to Glamour, and not buying Ralph Lauren, but you do so feeling good about yourself not needing the magazine to confirm it.
There are many factors that influence body image, but it’s absolutely erroneous to say that cultural standards and media messages aren’t/can’t be apart of that. Even if someone actively avoids these things, is even intellectually above them, the mere fact that they exist within a certain culture means they’re subject to that culture’s messages. We may be able to pick the foods we eat, but by and large, we can’t pick the cultures we live in nor regulate exactly how much we’re influenced by them. For that reason, your argument is what’s known as a “false analogy.”
Now, the popular opinion of scientists right now is that EDs are switches in our DNA waiting to get flipped by external factors. For some, it can be traumatic events. For others, something caused the person to be undernourished (dieting, busy lifestyle, whatever), which essentially caused the ED to “click.” The fact of the matter is, when a certain body type is framed in a positive context, that’s one more pressure against the ED switch. Couple that with our culture’s relentless fat phobia and this obsession that everyone is getting obese (and that “fat” people must be “fat” because they make poor lifestyle choices, which also means that they must be unhealthy!) – there are a lot of messages floating around that demand we get/stay thin. This kind of pressure doesn’t always result in an eating disorder (mostly because not everyone has that genetic predisposition), but body image woes afflict way more than those getting hospitalized for them.
And consider this: in this consumer culture, companies make money off making us feel bad. We’re offered archetypes of what we’re supposed to be, then all the products and processes to get there (for a small fee, of course). It takes Herculean amounts of strength to be completely immune to that, even if we don’t give into it with our money. I applaud those that are immune – envy them, in fact – but for most of us, we’re varying degrees of not there. In fact, I’m someone who consciously refuses to give into certain beauty standards (e.g. I don’t shave or wear deodorant) and makes choices to avoid those extra pressures (e.g. I don’t own a TV or buy magazines); I run anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five miles a week, and I eat a whole-foods vegan diet. Yet still, I struggle immensely with my body image. I have a really hard time keeping a consistent weight (actually, I have health problems because of it), and while those issues would probably still exist in a world without Ralph Lauren, every little message that reinforces my insecurities about my stomach, my hips, my thighs – every message makes my issues that much harder to get over. It’s incredibly short-sighted and ignorant to reduce this issue to “poor choices” and weakness because there’s a hell of a lot that goes into why we feel the way we do about our bodies. And, yes, the media can be a factor in that!
Great thoughts, thanks for sharing.
This reminds me of a concept in psychology called the Ecological Systems Theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner.
Basically it looks at development within the context of the system of relationships that form the environment. http://pt3.nl.edu/paquetteryanwebquest.pdf
I have always agreed with this model and I truly believe that EVERYTHING is related and EVERYTHING is connected. We are not rocks and we are not islands.
I’m going to be really honest with you here. At first I saw plus-sized model’s face and thought “Wow she’s gorgeous!”. Then I saw her belly and as much as I don’t want to think this way, I had a negative thought and was feeling sorry for her. Poor her, she has a belly.
I KNOW that my initial reaction is my real genuine feeling about her, because I mean, look at her, she’s gorgeous. Then came the distortions from magazines and tv shows. The believe that being thin is the only ideal is now so deep within my mind that it PUSHED away the positive thought and replaced it with a negative view about this obviously gorgeous woman.
After thinking that thought, I had to repeat to myself: “No! She’s Perfect! Stop!” It is very hard to step away from all the misconceptions about beauty that is shown to us since we’re little girls. Even going out on the streets, sometimes I look at women adbomens and feel sorry for them. It is a line of thoughts that I’m ashamed of and that try my best to stay away from. Your waist line does NOT define you. It is not an easy process but I try everyday.
I think medias should broadcast women of all sizes. This picture made me realize how deeply their beauty representation affects me and how it needs to change. Now.
That whole “real women have curves” business pisses me off. In fact, I’ve got like my 10th blog post on the subject scheduled to publish within the next 5 days :P
1. Glamour loves featuring “regular women” and patting themselves on the back for encourage us to love our bodies. Flip the page and they’re telling you to lose weight by eating 1200 calories a day, exercising for an hour, and using a stick thin model to illustrate the story. I hate Glamour for this b.s. and womens’ magazines in general – their sole purpose is to make you feel bad about yourself.
2. Karl Lagerfeld is an amazing man. Seriously. Have you seen “Lagerfeld Confidential”? He does not live in a normal world populated by regular looking people – he lives in a world of pure glamour that exists only in his mind! He is batshit crazy and hasn’t eaten anything more in the past 5 years than diet coke. The starvation means the occasional insane comment is bound to eventually escape his lips.
3. That ad really makes me sad. She looks so scary!
Oh, and one more comment: if you have the time, you should definitely read this –> http://www.aef.com/industry/news/data/hot_issues/1361
Amen to all of what you said, Angela! Women come in all shapes and sizes, and a size 2 is NOT what all women are meant to be. That Ralph Lauren ad is just ridiculous, and I get so tired of seeing airbrushed women in magazines. Those women don’t look like that, even in real life.
This video was tweeted by Stacy London of What Not to Wear, and I LOVE IT.
http://www.dove.ca/en/#/features/videos/video_gallery.aspx[cp-documentid=9125381]/
(the Evolution video, in case the link doesn’t work right).
I’m more disturbed by the amount of retouching that goes into magazine photos. Do we even know what’s real anymore? Most movie stars are unrecognizable on magazine covers because their image has been distorted so much to look “better.” When will they realize that eye-catching beauty is NATURAL beauty??
this whole issue just makes my blood boil. i’m trying not to go on a tirade in your comments section lol – but i agree with everything you’ve said. i especially agree that there is no “real” woman. we are all real. we need to stop trying to be something or someone else, and just be who we are.
i actually posted about the glamour photo a few weeks ago: http://www.thewholeplate.com/2009/09/01/high-fashion-forward-thinking/
lagerfeld’s comment drove me nuts – it’s statements like that that make people think you can’t be thin if you eat a normal amount of food, and that if you aren’t the lowest weight possible, you must be lazy and eat horribly.
i truly love fashion as an art form, but i hate so many, many aspects of the industry. it’s a constant struggle for me. i’m glad you posted about this.
I just showed the RL picture to a co-worker of mine..a male..and he goes ‘why didn’t they just keep her the way that she was, she’s smokin’. I think that it is about being healthy, it’s about having a healthy lifestyle and it’s about loving yourself. That’s why I put up my post called “exposed”. I may or may not fit into the size that is protrayed in Glamour…but that most important thing is that women are healthy. Size/Body image is such a fine line to thread because it objectives a standard of beauty that takes into NO consideration diet, mental well-being, personality.
Great post! I think Glamours efforts were likely a mix of publicity & genuine care for promoting positive, REAL body images.
that RL ad SICKENED me. i don’t know anyone who would look at that and admire the fashion OR the model. she is so stunning without being altered. i’d be so curious to know what logic was behind the airbrushing decision
Do you think the ad was air brushed to this extreme because it ran in Japan and women there are under such extreme pressure to be under weight?
I think that’s a good hypothesis. I traveled China last summer (as well as Japan) to do a study abroad program. I remember speaking with my Chinese language partner, who was a perfectly normal thin weight, about how she felt like she was chubby. She would also tell me about how many girls she knew in school took diet pills or skipped dinner in favor of the gym.
It’s a difficult situation because since most Asian women are naturally petite, small boned and thin, the ‘thin ideal’ in many Asian countries seems to be even more radical than what exists in the United States.
It seems as if these companies tailor the degree of air-brushing to suit the norms of that particular country! Its sad.
Ange I’m so glad you are bringing this up! Also,
did you know that they fired the model who was airbrushed from Ralph Lauren? And also, even if the picture was only for Japan-NO country should have that ideal!! Don’t you think?
totally agree…and yes I read that she got fired.
I read in a British paper today that the RL model was fired (or let go) for not being thin enough!!! She was sad about it since she had a contract with them since she was 15, BUT she also said how much pressure she was under and how upset she was when she found out the Japanese ad.
Another controversy was the SELF magazine Kelly Clarkson cover, where she was so blatantly airbrushed, even though the magazine promoted her as being happy ‘at her best self’. I know the editor got a lot of flak in the press and on her blog and suspect they lost a significant number of readers because of the cover, but also because of the editor’s PR lines defending their actions.
There needs to be some change from the ridiculously skinny models we see now, but Angela is right in saying that every type should be respected. Unfortunately there is a lot of money riding on the fashion and advertising industries, but as the Glamour mag cover showed, grassroots can have an impact.