Size Zero Body Revolution
Apparently there is a body revolution happening in the fashion industry!! In a rather strange article, Stefanie Marsh of The Times explains (in between her anti-German rantings) how a weekly German fashion magazine called Brigitte has taken the very brave decision to make the magazine a “model-free zone”.
According to the magazine’s editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert the trend for “exaggeratedly underweight” women being used as models means that they are now in the ludicrous position of having to Photoshop the girls in order to put some weight on them; in particular on their thighs and upper chest area or décolletage, He said “this is disturbing and perverse and what has it got to do with our real readers?” He also pointed out that the average model now weighs around 23 per cent less than the average woman, a figure that had forced him to conclude in a dramatic statement to the press that “the whole industry is anorexic”.
In sightly more balanced articles posted by Kate Connolly (guardian.co.uk), Tony Paterson (independent.co.uk) and Byron Gorgon (telegraph.co.uk) they explain that Brigitte magazine had received complaints from readers who felt they had “no connection with the models and no longer wish to see protruding bones”. Andreas Lebert has therefore decided to ban professional models from appearing in the magazine as of 2010 and has called on German women to apply to be featured instead. “We’re looking for women who have their own identity, whether it be the 18 year old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, or the footballer” said Lebert. Although there are some critics of the idea, as there always are, the readers seem to like it as more than 20,000 put themselves
forward as potential models for the magazine and sales have jumped from 700,000 to more than 790,000.
Do you remember that wonderful Dove skincare advert which featured so-called real women stripped down to their underwear and revelling in their own “natural beauty”. Dove also took out a five-page advertisement in the first new-look Brigitte, commending the magazine on its “bravery”.
However, the elderly German fashion designer Karl Largerfeld has described anyone who criticises skinny models as “fat, chip-eating mummies” and that much of the objection is sheer jealousy. “Nobody wants to see a round woman” says Largerfeld. Personally I couldn’t disagree strongly enough with Largerfeld; I know plenty of non-fat, non-chip-eating mummies who like most people in the real world find extremely skinny models abhorrent and as for “sheer jealousy”, is he seriously suggesting that fit, healthy women look at these near-death size zero’s and think “I wish I looked that ill, I’m so jealous”? With regard to his ridiculous statement about nobody wanting to see round women, I suggest he take a look at a few “modern” men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine such as FHM, Mens Health, GQ, Maxim, Smooth or Nuts.
Brigitte Magazine and Andreas Lebert seem to have the same idea as British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman who recently appealed to major fashion houses to end the “size-zero” culture. I for one can’t wait to see the end of this sick obsession by delusional fashion designers, or should I say fashion dinosaurs, for unnaturally skinny models.
I feel there are two main issues here – first is that the fashion industry feeds off the insecurities of 
“vulnerable” women by selling them an ideal that is completely unobtainable. Even naturally thin models struggle to get down to a size-zero and when they do they have to live in a constant state of starvation which as we know can often be fatal. Even then their pictures may still be Photoshopped to make then look even thinner – how ridiculous? Secondly all employers have a duty of care to their employees so surely there is an issue of health and safety here. If women feel they have no option but to starve themselves to the point where they endanger their own lives in order to get work as models, then it should be the responsibility of the employers to stop that happening. I wonder if it’s now time for a law making it a criminal offence for anyone in the fashion industry to employ a model with a body mass index below a certain level.
Hear are a few facts:
2006 a string of models died as a result of extreme dieting including sisters Luisel and Elianna Ramos. That year models with a body-mass index of less than 18.5 were banned from Madrid’s fashion week and The Council of Fashion Designers of America recommended that runway models should be aged 16 years or over.
2007, Spanish shop window dummies were increased to a size 10 after an agreement between some of the country’s leading retail chains including Zara and Mango and its health ministry.
The following year French MPs, fashion industry leaders and advertisers signed a voluntary charter on promoting healthier body images.
2009 American Glamour magazine was applauded for publishing a picture of a “plus size” model, Lizzie Miller, without airbrushing the image.
American high fashion magazine V took another so-called brave step last year when it published its “Size Issue”, which featured only very thin or plus-size models: a one-off.
I’d like to end on a question for the fashion dinosaurs who advocate size-zero. If size-zero is such a good thing, if it’s so attractive, why are we not seeing the fashion designers and magazine editors dying from excessive dieting?
With all due respect, you’re rather ignorant. Please forgive me if I seem rude, but articles like this really get on my nerves.
Firstly, none of the images used in this article are representative of a real size zero. There are plenty of size zero women (myself included) who are not anorexic and look absolutely nothing like the women in the photos you’ve used. I also know that the 3rd image (baggy blue top) is photoshopped. If you cared to properly research your article, you probably would have found the original image in which there are no ribs and there’s some breast tissue. And the woman generally is larger. So props to you for using doctored images to represent size zero – great idea.
Articles like this are the reason women like me get slated in the media and in society. I’m a size zero, so I MUST have an eating disorder. Well pardon me for my poor genetics, but I’ve been unhappy with my small body since I was 11 (so the last 9 years) and I find it damn near impossible to gain weight. It has taken me 3 years to gain 3kgs – and I think that’s just because I’m still growing. Some of my friends can gain 3kgs in a week, and they eat less than I do.
So how about you add this fact into your ridiculously biased article:
2010: Some women are naturally slim and by saying that they “aren’t real women” or that they are anorexic, people are merely demonstrating their gross ignorance on body-image issues and are no better than the unintelligent bigots who said that it was not okay to be larger.
Hypocritical much?
Shannon – thank you so much for your comments, you make some very interesting points and I genuinely agree with you on many of them.
I would like to make it clear however, that I have absolutely no problem with thin women or men and the same goes for large women and men and I certainly do not “slate” you or anyone else for being thin. Nor at any point do I suggest in the article that thin people are anorexic or that to be a size zero means that one must have an eating disorder. Also at no point do I suggest that naturally (or unnaturally) thin women “aren’t real women”. In fact this article is nothing to do naturally thin or large, women or men. It’s about the fashion industry’s obsession in trying to promote the ludicrous idea that in order to be beautiful you have to be “unnaturally” skinny.
The problem with the term “size zero” is it that refers to measurements for adult women with a bust of 30inch, a waist of 23inch and hips of 32.5inch (approximate) which in the UK is a size 4 and roughly equivalent to a 9-10 year old girl under 5 foot tall. However the term “size zero” is also used to describe measurements less than those mentioned above and never includes height in the equation; meaning that a woman with the above measurements is classed as size zero whether she’s 4’6” or 6’4”. This is why I suggest in the article that a better way would be to use the body mass index.
I am fully aware that the photo you refer to is photoshopped and yes I do have the original (see new pic), that’s the point I’m making and you’ll notice in the last paragraph the statement “even then the pictures may still be photoshopped to make them look even thinner – how ridiculous?”.
My argument is nothing to do with naturally thin and healthy people (however thin they are) but with the fashion industry who perpetuate an ideal about being “unnaturally” skinny that’s simply unobtainable for most women and men; many of whom end up in therapy due to depression, low self esteem, anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder and suicidal thoughts. Some die due to diet (starvation) related illnesses and others take their own lives and I for one believe the fashion industry is directly responsible and should be held accountable.
Mark