Being Runway Thin Will Kill You

Each Fashion Week season, the issue of models and their weight is brought to our attention. Whether it’s the latest industry initiative to stop designers using unhealthily thin models, or society’s discontent with designers who consistently book underweight models, you can guarantee debate and controversy one way or another.

Russian model, Kira Dikhtyar once told Fox News that “packs of cigarettes, daily colonics, laxatives, Phentermine diet pills, prescription drugs that suppress the appetite,” are just some of the techniques employed by her colleagues to stave off hunger.

The 24-year-old said only one designer had turned her away for being too thin at New York Fashion Week this year. That designer was Elie Tahari. “So I guess I should applaud him,” Dikhtyar said.

So why is it that high-end magazines want more “full-figured” models on their covers these days, while high-end fashion shows are still seeking super thin, super young girls to roam the runway?

Maybe because the people that pick up magazines are consumers. They want to see people that relate to them, which will make the consumer more eager to buy products. But designers are showing their garments to the majority crowd, who are mostly retailers. The collections are also considered ‘drafts’, and those drafts are fitted to a mannequin that is size 0 or 2 dress size. The other concern of the designer is for the garments to flow, as well as be mesmerizing on the catwalk, and the way to accomplish that is for the dress, pants, gown etc. to be long. The only way to fit a long garment is with a model who is thin and tall.

I’m quiet torn with this issue. While it’s good that we are starting to see plus sized models in the industry I believe that we are giving the young women of today mixed messages. You can either be unhealthily skinny and be a model or be unhealthily overweight and be a model…

Where is the size 12 model? Who is 5’6 and is walking in flats. Who can rock a matching bra and pant set because she’s got the curves in just the right places. Where are the real models? xxx

Be Healthy Not Skinny!

I feel that this is an important message that many people forget. Especially being a part of an industry where you are pressured into feeling that you must look a certain way.....skinny is the word that springs to mind.

I have been criticised about my looks countless times by ‘professionals’ telling me what’s wrong with my face and body and why I will never make it. The ridiculous thing was that most of my imperfections that were pointed out are things that I physically cannot do anything about….

I’m too short, my nose is bumpy, I’m too skinny overall yet you can still see fat on my body, my teeth are wonky and my forehead is too big.

So how am I supposed to solve these issues? I can’t and I don’t want to. All of these imperfections make me. I am only human after all. The modelling industry in particular gives a false representation of women to be super skinny….I’ve been that skinny, not by choice believe me! And I hated it, I felt weak, frail and I looked tired and gaunt, it is not an attractive look.

As someone who personally struggles with her weight due to a health condition and being told I need to lose weight is insulting. When I try every day to eat copious amounts of food to gain weight, yes I also eat salads and go to the gym to workout, it’s called balance. Being a healthy is extremely important, but what you see on magazine covers and runways is not healthy!

On a positive note people are starting to take notice, it was big news earlier this year that France are banning super skinny models, the activity of modelling is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labour.

I realise this has turned into a rant rather than being informative, this is just something I am passionate about, I have met my fair share of actors, models, singers who have gone to extreme lengths to look a certain way, it’s unfortunate that my friends felt their talent wasn't enough and felt pressured into doing stupid things for all the wrong reasons.

The point of this blog is just to remind everyone, especially those interested in a career in modelling that it is becoming more accessible and less restrictive. You no longer have to be super skinny in fact we are starting to see more plus sized models! So just be healthy and look after yourself but do it for you. The modelling industry is changing so you don’t have to xxx