I think it's sad that the fashion industry is so incredibly defensive about this. They act like it's some restraint on their civil liberties to have some restriction placed on the runway models they can use. It's not like they're being asked to use fat models, even size 6 models. When the girls are close to 6 feet tall, it's not going to shut down their industry to be using size 2 girls instead of size 00 girls. It would be one thing if runway models could have any body type except for being extremely thin, but this is an industry where any physical imperfection puts you out of work -- a crooked or long nose, cheekbones that aren't defined enough, a receding jawline, too-large breasts, proportions that aren't perfectly balanced, not being of above average height or below average weight. 99.9% of people cannot be runway models because of how their bodies are naturally made -- I just don't see how it's unfair for the agency that sponsors the fashion shows -- which happens to be the spanish government -- to place one more restriction, one which might actually work towards the wellbeing of the models. The designers and others seem to care absolutely nothing about the health of the models -- they are all incredibly defensive about their own rights to use whatever body types they want in their shows without even considering that maybe rules would help the models, reduce the competition that makes so many of them have to turn to eating disorders and drugs.

The models get blamed for a lot of the bad influence of the fashion industry but that's totally misplaced blame as they're essentially powerless. They're the ones who are out of work if they don't maintain the body types they have. I'm sure that if the models were in charge of the vogue body type that they would relax the rules a bit themselves, so that they didn't have to be so thin that maintaining weight became an all consuming task. Even girls who are naturally thin -- and you do have to have a naturally small frame to be a runway model at all -- don't tend to be runway thin. The ones with the fast metabolisms are still having to work to be as gaunt as they are. I think maybe a bmi of 18 is a little strict a standard, because you can be smaller than that and still be healthy (especially if you're 16), but I bet a lot of these models are secretly hoping the new rules will stick. They can't do anything to change it because if they gain weight, they're out of work, and if they say anything negative about the fashion industry, they're out of work, but they wind up being scapegoated because they're the most visible members of the industry to the general public when they're probably the ones hoping things actually do change.

Who, the lady, Terri Hatcher? From now on Desperate Housewives? The funny thing is I don't believe she is naturally thin, she looks strained and obviously lost weight after Lois and Clark, but Eva Longoria looks naturally teeny tiny and healthy, like she's just that way. (I still think Terri Hatcher is pretty)....

I have always thought Mary Kate and Ashley are naturally very short and small framed but I wouldn't doubt an eating disorder on top of that...when you're naturally 100 pounds I can see trying to be 89 pounds because it is unattainable for so few--and I think that's fucked up. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and ethnicities but a lot of girls equate it ONLY with thinness.

Not only is the industry sick about weight, I remember Nellie Furtado complaining about her pictures being airbrushed to make her look "more white" (Isn't she part Portugese?)

It's sad and I really expect to see headline that some actress has dropped dead from anorexia any day. NO WAY is Nicole Richie an ok weight. She says she knows she's underweight but does not have an eating disorder. Bullshit. She lost a ton of weight. Jennifer Aniston is notorious for using some kind of prescription diuretic that has weight loss a side effect etc.

But look at the shows for young girls...Zoey 101...Hannah Montana...aside from That's So Raven's Raven Simone, most girls on these shows, esp. the stars, are skinny. BTW--Raven is pretty small in person just not next to a size 00.

I've struggled with my own issues, am 30 and still not fully come to terms...but am happier with my natural self. I'm an ok size, just not near a 00! I'd be the 8/10/12 they don't want on the runway. Screw 'em.

I used to be a 4.

After having a baby I can't squeeze my hips into the 4's I used to WEAR but am sure if I shop high end enough I can find a label that says 4 that will fit me if I lose 30 pounds. Sizes have changed over the years...today's 8 (US) was often 10 years ago more like a 12/14.

I think women should try to be HEALTHY and strong and energetic. And screw the scales and the tag. If you aim for healthy-- you will be okay!

Actually I think she meant the girl from Superman the movie, she's blonde and she was in that surfing movie too? But you're right about Terri Hatcher also. She looked so great in the Superman TV show. Nicole Ritchie is too thin but I've seen so many pictures of her I get used to it, which is sad.

kate bosworth

yes. and oh how i remember that avatar

__________________
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situations are long goodbyes

actually i meant kate bosworth. she looks good in the movie, but i've seen magazine pictures lately where she is very thin

teri hatcher looks bad now, she's too thin, though she was lovely in the superman tv show. the other desperate housewives look fine to me though. eva is gorgeous. you can really tell the different between someone whose naturally thin and someone whose starving (like teri)

one of them admitted to an eating disorder. i think they are petite but still they look too thin

it's a very good point about people like paris and nicole being influenced by the catwalk, i didn't really think about it too much before. maybe the catwalk is at the bottom of it all

you are right about this. i read fashion magazines just like any other girl and all i see are these pin thin girls, and 90% of the time they arent even pretty, they are just super thin. i dont even think kate moss is attractive and i never have.

whatever happened to the "thin" models like cindy crawford, linda evangelista, and elle macphearson? they were thin, but healthy looking and attractive.

give me mia tyler over kate moss any day.

I seen pictures of them on the beach when they were 15/ 16 & they were . . . curvy? They were normal looking.

I will admit I am very influenced by what I see on the runway.
But not the dangerously thin..but close to it.
I cant really get away from it.
People who I thought were really skinny before, I now think
'Oh they have a little extra meat on them'
'They could lose like 5 pounds and look so much better'

Or I end up comparing the difference with my arms and legs to theirs. Suddenly my arms and legs are very brittle, and when theirs are next to mine it looks fat.
I cant help it, I try sooo hard. But Im so quick to judge. I might not say it out loud..but if you could see everything I thought, I am a bitch and Im not proud of it.

yeah you said it.

the fashion industry, BY DEFINTION practically, is NOT an equal oppritunity business! SUDDENLY they care about restrictions and people being out of work!?@?@ RIDICULOUS. they INVENTED soooooo many physical restrictions. if youre less than 5'10" you cant be a model! what are you gonna do? nothing! you cant! you're out of work too. WHATS ONE MORE? its not like they dont have enough! its time someone else did the imposing on THEM, rather than them imposing this increasingly stricter and more out of control standard on everyone else. it just gets worse and worse.

give me a break. i LOVE fashion, the art of it is like nothing else. it really make me feel so bad that some of these fashion people are so out of touch with reality. its not so much the designers but t he money/ business end. they control it all.

you know though it is sad for the legitimately skinny girls out there

my sister just turned 15 ans she was 3 months premature weighing just 1lb 11oz. you could fit her in the palm of your hand....

now in her teens at 5'4ish she weighs like 90-95 lbs soaking wet....the girl eats more that i do! the fact is she will always be very skinny even if she gains weight and now she has girls teasing her in high school

so you see i can see both sides of the argument---but i think what they are trying to do now (going by the bmi index to see what models will be allowed to walk in the shows is just awful, and a very good case for a discrimination suit)

Yes, exactly. And if the required body type were more in the healthy range, the need for drugs and eating disorders would be a lot smaller, and thus all the bad press that the fashion industry gets would more or less disappear -- you'd think they'd want that. But it's like they're so bent on making it this exlclusive club that no one can get into that they're terrified of being identified with healthy girls. Personally, I think the clothes would be a lot better if they had to be designed to look good on size 2s and 4s instead of 0s and 00s -- they wouldn't be able to put out all these hideous unwearable tentlike things. But I guess distinguishing themselves from the masses by creating things that we "don't understand" or "can't wear" if we're not models helps them cultivate the unattainable, exclusive image they want to project.

Gualtier swaps Size O models for 'Size 20'
Last updated at 16:51pm on 4th October 2006

Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier found his own way to comment on the 'size zero' debate - by putting a larger model down the catwalk to show off his clothes.
Dressed in a daring black corsetry, the plus-sized model dwarfed her fellow waif-like catwalk queens.

Clearly more of a size 20 than the controversial model Size 0, this voluptuous woman proved big is beautiful as she strutted down the runway at Gaultier's 30th anniversary show yesterday during fashion week in Paris.

You dont get it.
I think its more of a girl thing. Girls are generally more insecure, and their confidence is like . School can be ridicule for some girls..and seeing these women, who everyone know, are famous; have 'tons of money' and 'everything they want' because theyre beautiful can really make you feel down.

Just wanted to comment that if designers' clothes don't look good on a woman of healthy BMI, then the designers' talent is overrrated.

For example, if you have an architect and s/he can't work with a reasonable building site and a building code regulations to build you a well-designed house that suits your needs then you should fire your architect. Same should go for clothing designers.

By the way, I agree -- Eva Longoria looks healthy petite, but good god, Teri Hatcher, Ashley Olsen, Nicole Ritchie, and Kate Bosworth look AWFUL, poor things! If their skinniness is "normal" for them, then they STILL need help! Teri Hatcher looks about 10 years older right now. I feel sorry for her!

I couldn't see the photo, so I'm adding the link here: fat model Personally, I think this designer is mocking the criticism the fashion industry has received. I find that very disturbing, because this model is obviously just as unhealthy and unattractive as the anorexics. Why is just a healthy weight, attractive woman just so hard to ask for? They certainly aren't as scarce as the fashion industry would have us believe! Is it simply a matter of misogynistic impulse?

Eww.
This is missing the point, the point is for them to be healthy & normal.

Is that real?
That shizz is photoshopped lots.

These are the most over used ones i think.