Skinny Models
Defining the New Reality By Susan Gazerro
Be Real Campaign
I felt that this article was perfect for the month of April, as we are all starting to think about bathing suit season. Well, it’s about time that fashion companies are waking up and changing the game. We are starting to see more designers, more department stores, and more magazines showing models with all body types, not just ones that are unrealistically super skinny. For too many years, young girls thought that this was the image they had to live up to or they weren’t good enough. I remember once reading that even the models in the magazines don’t look like the models in the magazines. Today, more than ever, we know how easy it is to photoshop any picture. Well, for years, before the general public had all this technology, magazines were photoshopping photos and editing pictures to look a certain way. What we should have been told is that we all come in different shapes and sizes and skinny doesn’t define beauty, and it definitely doesn’t define healthy. We are all born with a “healthy” weight. I have always preached that you need to find that healthy weight, the one you are comfortable at and maintain it. Skinny does not mean healthy. There are skinny people who are very unhealthy and there are larger people who are very healthy. It’s about your 26 Shop In RI
healthy weight and it’s about staying active. Back to the fashion industry. Two of the biggest fashion firms in the world recently criticized the fashion industry for encouraging eating disorders. They went so far as to make changes, such as models must be larger than a French size 32, which typically equates to a UK size six or US size zero. The firms will also not use models under the age of 16 for adult clothes. France actually bans using ultra skinny models. Amen! Denise Hatton, Chief Executive for YMCA England & Wales, a founding partner of the Be Real Campaign for body confidence, said that these are steps in the right direction. While some people are naturally slim, the average woman in the UK wears a size 16 and the average woman in the US wears a size 8/10. It’s time we see more diversity on the catwalk that truthfully reflects our society, with all its shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and more. The two French firms are making the move after a law banning ultra-thin models went into effect in the country in May. Those who break the French law face fines of up to 75,000 euros or jail sentences of up to
