Thin models a problrem worldwide: a 21 y.o. Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, 5-foot-8 and just 88 pounds, died in November from complications caused by anorexia nervosa.
New York Fashion Week opened on Friday 2. At BCBG Max Azria show in New York 19 models walked down the white runway in a dreamlike state. Tall, super-skinny and bony girls, romantic, earthy, nymphlike dresses cascading from their stark figures. With catwaks of waiflike models, actually tiny mannequins, the question could be heard from the air (asked by ): why models must be so thin, and whether the industry sets an impossible and potentially dangerous standard of beauty.
Karl Lagerfeld told Women's Wear Daily last week that efforts to regulate models amount to "politically correct fascism."
"Women don't normally look like that and it's very hard on young girls who think that's how they should look," said Vanessa Trump, wife of Donald Trump Jr., who sat in the front row at the BCBG Max Azria show dressed in jeans and a white cotton blouse.
Officials in Spain and Italy have already imposed drastic regulations to eschew skinny girls.
In the U.S. the Council of Fashion Designers issued recommendations aimed at protecting women from becoming thin to the point of bad health. The recommendation included steps such as developing workshops on the nature of eating disorders, avoiding hiring runway models under age 16 and providing "healthy snacks" at fashion shows and photo shoots.
Meanwhile, the fashion world continues to express the idea that moderation is boring, a mere step away from being overlooked, says Sandra Jones in ChicagoTribune.com. Marc Jacobs unveiled his new ad campaign in February's Vogue, casting 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning as his star with pieces from his women's collection custom-made for the 'tween.
And Jean Paul Gaultier turned the tables on the skinny debate at the Paris show in October when he sent 5-foot-8, 290-pound model and actress Velvet d'Amour down the runway in a satin corset and negligee. Why focus on skinny models when America has an obesity epidemic?
"Guidelines are good, but designers also understand that image represents their collections," said Tom Julian, strategic director for trends at McCann-Erickson, a New York-based advertising agency.
Designers prefer thin models because they say that's how the clothes look best. Runway models are taught to think of themselves as walking hangers, so it's the clothes that get noticed, not the bodies.
Former supermodel Tyra Banks is taking the skinny-mongers to task on the current cover of People magazine, appearing in a strapless red swimsuit asking "You Call This Fat?" She is 5 foot 10 and 160 pounds, 50 pounds heavier than her early catwalk days.
The three-day conference "Eating Disorders and the Campus Culture" is to organised at the university in South Bend, Indiana. It will attract several high-profile speakers, including Lauren Greenfield, a pioneer in studying "Girl Culture" and the director of "Thin," an award-winning documentary about eating disorders that debuted on HBO in November. "Awareness is our first goal," added Allison Wilson, 23, co-chairman of the conference. "It's a very pervasive problem on college campuses, and there hasn't been much talk about it."
An estimated 8 million Americans suffer from eating disorders, and 7 million of those are female, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, a Highland Park-based advocacy and support group founded 40 years ago. Nearly 9 out of 10 eating disorders occur in women under age 20, the group said. The association is in the midst of launching a Web campaign to encourage consumers to shop only at companies that promote a healthy body image.
"We think the whole debate shouldn't be about the models, but about the images hundreds of millions of marketing and advertising dollars are spent on to bombard the general public," said Keith Sanderson, spokesman for the association.