Well, I'm naturally skinny, infact if you were going by BMI alone I would fit one of the criteria's of anorexia, in that I have a BMI of something like... 16. I'm naturally like that and I don't have an eating disorder and I can't seem to gain weight either! I don't look 'sick' and I'd be pissed off if I was descriminated by not being allowed to model on a runway (hah, like thats really going to happen anyway). But it's the principle of the thing... I know Nicole Kidman is considered 'underweight' (I think she is anyway), so what are they going to do? Ban her from acting?
Should models fatten up?
- Thread starter wibble
- Start date
allmaple
Judge
maybe they could allow down to 16? i read that giselle budchen has a bmi of 16 (which i dont believe, she is tall and must be more that 100 pounds, she is still very curvy for being thin and looks healthy) i think the ones who died had numbers around 13 or 14. their agents and employers knew there was a problem and yet no one said or did anything, they still sent the girls down the runway. which is probably why they are now being sued...
as for the clothes looking better...maybe its just me but i think they look awful. add on the dark makeup they put on the models and their deadpan expressions it looks like walking corpses coming down the runway. and when i see some of the 'normal' sized actresses on the red carpet, like selma or scarlett or jennifer lopez, i think 'wow that dress looks amazing' but when keira knightly came out i thought 'oh my god i can see her sternum'
i think a rake thin body with bones visible is more distracting than curves that fill out and outfit properly. but thats just me.
as for the clothes looking better...maybe its just me but i think they look awful. add on the dark makeup they put on the models and their deadpan expressions it looks like walking corpses coming down the runway. and when i see some of the 'normal' sized actresses on the red carpet, like selma or scarlett or jennifer lopez, i think 'wow that dress looks amazing' but when keira knightly came out i thought 'oh my god i can see her sternum'
i think a rake thin body with bones visible is more distracting than curves that fill out and outfit properly. but thats just me.
SaraSidle_girl
Pathologist
I don't quite know weather to say "yes' or "no"
Sometimes, when I look at all those skinny models I wish I could be skinnier too but it just won't work.. I somehow keep failing and that sucks but on the other hands.. I do like the way I look.
But sometimes I do feel like you're only something in this world when you are the shape of a model. You only count when you're skinny, tall and pretty. I know that isn't true but the feeling sometimes creeps up on me.
Maybe, for younger girls or for girls who are not as strong as others, it might be good for models to gain a little more weight. So many girls get anorexic because they wanna be just like them. But than, so should all the actresses and singers and any other wellknown person.. If models should fatten up, so should they..
I just odn't know
Sometimes, when I look at all those skinny models I wish I could be skinnier too but it just won't work.. I somehow keep failing and that sucks but on the other hands.. I do like the way I look.
But sometimes I do feel like you're only something in this world when you are the shape of a model. You only count when you're skinny, tall and pretty. I know that isn't true but the feeling sometimes creeps up on me.
Maybe, for younger girls or for girls who are not as strong as others, it might be good for models to gain a little more weight. So many girls get anorexic because they wanna be just like them. But than, so should all the actresses and singers and any other wellknown person.. If models should fatten up, so should they..
I just odn't know
everclaire
Rookie
I am sorry but to be thinner than Marilyn Monroe, who at her largest was a UK 16 and smallest around a 12 is not unhealthy.
I have a bmi of 17 and I am super healthy, I don't think it's fair to say that people who burn up their food quickly are unattractive and unhealthy.
eggbe4thechicken
Pathologist
^Sorry maybe I shouldn't have said unhealthy, but the attractive thing was just my opinion. I prefer curvy women. 
Sorry if I offended you.
Sorry if I offended you.korbjaeger
Pathologist
Well, take a look at 90% of the "fashions" the designers who use ultra-thin models stick on the runway and tell me this...
Would any woman in her right mind actually wear that crap in public?!?!?!
I'm not talking about Lauren, Klein, Von Furstenburg and the designers who actually have some modicum of taste and design clothes for the average modern woman. You guys have seen the ones I'm describing though. And these poor girls trying to swing tiny little hips (I guess to try to emphasize them?) down the catwalk in five-inch heels, and they topple over because those slender little ankles can't structurally support even their modest weight in an unnatural gait like that? That kind of "Fashion" is just ridiculous to me. Who the heck actually buys that stuff?
My issue comes with large size fashion mags/catalogs that show their clothing on size 12 models. If I buy it, I'm not a size 12 and it's not going to LOOK like that on me. I have to try to mentally visualize what it WILL look like on someone heavier who wasn't blessed with long legs. Now, there are some (Silhouettes, JMS, JC Penney) who use large-size models. Actress Camryn Mannheim wrote to Lane Bryant once to ask why they didn't use large models, and they explained that sales were shown to be higher with the smaller models. If we "women of size" are actually that self-loathing, that we prefer trying to visualize ourselves as a manufactured ideal to actually knowing how a garment will look on our zaftig bodies, then we have critical issues that need immediate addressing. I'm WAY past it...but I remember when I wasn't.
Ironically, Camryn was a spokesmodel for LB briefly later... :lol:
Would any woman in her right mind actually wear that crap in public?!?!?!
I'm not talking about Lauren, Klein, Von Furstenburg and the designers who actually have some modicum of taste and design clothes for the average modern woman. You guys have seen the ones I'm describing though. And these poor girls trying to swing tiny little hips (I guess to try to emphasize them?) down the catwalk in five-inch heels, and they topple over because those slender little ankles can't structurally support even their modest weight in an unnatural gait like that? That kind of "Fashion" is just ridiculous to me. Who the heck actually buys that stuff?
My issue comes with large size fashion mags/catalogs that show their clothing on size 12 models. If I buy it, I'm not a size 12 and it's not going to LOOK like that on me. I have to try to mentally visualize what it WILL look like on someone heavier who wasn't blessed with long legs. Now, there are some (Silhouettes, JMS, JC Penney) who use large-size models. Actress Camryn Mannheim wrote to Lane Bryant once to ask why they didn't use large models, and they explained that sales were shown to be higher with the smaller models. If we "women of size" are actually that self-loathing, that we prefer trying to visualize ourselves as a manufactured ideal to actually knowing how a garment will look on our zaftig bodies, then we have critical issues that need immediate addressing. I'm WAY past it...but I remember when I wasn't.
Ironically, Camryn was a spokesmodel for LB briefly later... :lol:
everclaire
Rookie
lol. me.
allmaple
Judge
well some of the fashion shows they do are wearable clothes, but other shows are 'art pieces' or whatever they call them and are not intended to be worn. some of them are interesting but others are hideously ugly.
and its interesting that a store that caters to larger woman would use models that are actually a size smaller than what store carries. i think that says a lot about the mentality in advertising, if not even a plus size store will use plus size models.
and its interesting that a store that caters to larger woman would use models that are actually a size smaller than what store carries. i think that says a lot about the mentality in advertising, if not even a plus size store will use plus size models.
You're right. It's not fair to say that. However, there is a big differnce between people with a fast metabolism, and people who half-starve themselves to be thin. One of my closest friends eats like a pig (no offense intended). But no matter what she does, she cannot get above 100 pounds. She has tired to. She's even gone to the doctor about it. Despite this, she is healthy. It's even possible to find a bit of fat on her. Then there are the people that stop eating so that they won't go over 100 pounds. They could be the same height and weight as my friend, but they'd be unhealthy. And try as you might, you probably wouldn't be able to find a bit of flab to pinch. There's a huge difference.
glam_chic86
Head of the Graveyard Shift
Agreed. Some people are naturally thin & some just have the luck of burning their calories fast. It's all genetics, not eating disorders.
I still don't believe that every single model suffer from anorexia or bulmia. Ok, maybe some do but I'm sure there are some who decide to work extra hard. I'm sure Tyra Banks fits under that catergory.
And also, I wonder how much influence models have on us? I mean, if they all became chubby in a few months does that mean that all the girls who are obsessed with them will put on weight too? It's a tough call.
korbjaeger
Pathologist
Some people are meant to be thin, some are meant to be heavy, and most are meant to be somewhere in between...
I have a male friend who is incredibly thin - he's 6'3" and weighs 130 dripping wet. He eats a LOT. Take him to the Chinese buffet and he's going back for 4ths and 5ths. :lol: Now, he did, briefly, put on a few pounds - just a few...and he felt awful physically. He had to lose it again. I've had other friends who were thin by nature, ate well and otherwise had a healthy lifestyle, and couldn't gain weight no matter how hard they tried.
The root of the problem is the dysfunctional thinking that one extreme has to be marketed as the ideal for everybody. There are plenty of fashions for the thin and super-thin. Bigger gals have to look a little harder to find flattering fashions. I will say that Avenue, Torrid, and the Roaman's, Lane Bryant and JMS catalogs have some great stuff, reasonably priced. Large clothes don't have to be schmattes. Trust me.
I have a male friend who is incredibly thin - he's 6'3" and weighs 130 dripping wet. He eats a LOT. Take him to the Chinese buffet and he's going back for 4ths and 5ths. :lol: Now, he did, briefly, put on a few pounds - just a few...and he felt awful physically. He had to lose it again. I've had other friends who were thin by nature, ate well and otherwise had a healthy lifestyle, and couldn't gain weight no matter how hard they tried.
The root of the problem is the dysfunctional thinking that one extreme has to be marketed as the ideal for everybody. There are plenty of fashions for the thin and super-thin. Bigger gals have to look a little harder to find flattering fashions. I will say that Avenue, Torrid, and the Roaman's, Lane Bryant and JMS catalogs have some great stuff, reasonably priced. Large clothes don't have to be schmattes. Trust me.
Yes..most are in between....but we only idealise the ones that are skinny.
As a teacher..i see and have many of my students that hate the way they look because they dont look lilke people in magasines...no matter what we tell them...the magasine has the most influence on them...so if the magasine says regular HEALTHY size is beautiful....then their self esteem would be much better and they would succeed at everything they try to do....
korbjaeger
Pathologist
You're absolutely right. In some Caribbean countries, where average/large women aren't frowned upon and extremes aren't idealized, women overall have healthy self-esteem and suffer far fewer stress-related health issues than in America.
I'm afraid the road to "universal health care" is going to start with each of us, individually, from the inside out... The "low self-esteem industry", whether fashion designers, diet system corporations, unethical/underethical medical personnel or whoever, have too much money to make on female self-hatred. And the menfolk aren't getting off unscathed anymore either. Sad, sad, sad.
I'm afraid the road to "universal health care" is going to start with each of us, individually, from the inside out...
The "low self-esteem industry", whether fashion designers, diet system corporations, unethical/underethical medical personnel or whoever, have too much money to make on female self-hatred. And the menfolk aren't getting off unscathed anymore either. Sad, sad, sad.eggbe4thechicken
Pathologist
Thanks allmaple! That's incredible when it went from Marilyn to Twiggy.
Did you see the change in average US bmis? It's like the higher the average, the lower the BMIs of the models. Crazy.
Average woman-5'4", 145 lbs, size 11-14, bust - 36-37", waist - 29-31", hips - 40-42"
Barbie- 6'0", 101 lbs, size 4, bust - 39", waist - 19", hips - 33".
Store mannequin - 6'0", size 6, bust - 34", waist - 23", hips - 34".
(This was from a health magazine in Canada.) I thought that was quite funny. Someone said a while back about the mannequins being realistic, so this just proves it.
Did you see the change in average US bmis? It's like the higher the average, the lower the BMIs of the models. Crazy.
Average woman-5'4", 145 lbs, size 11-14, bust - 36-37", waist - 29-31", hips - 40-42"
Barbie- 6'0", 101 lbs, size 4, bust - 39", waist - 19", hips - 33".
Store mannequin - 6'0", size 6, bust - 34", waist - 23", hips - 34".
(This was from a health magazine in Canada.) I thought that was quite funny. Someone said a while back about the mannequins being realistic, so this just proves it.