This is a post I put up almost exactly a year ago on my LiveJournal blog (which is a more personal, “day in the life” type of thing) in reaction to the then-current issue of super thin super models. The Madrid fashion show, which is government run, took a stand and made all the cat walk models undergo BMI testing. There was a lot of hashing about on whether this was fair to the models or the fashion industry and I think the point of “dangerously thin fashion models being bad role models” got a little lost in the specifics. Anyway, this was my reaction to it, and I went and dug it up because have you SEEN the cover of Vanity Fair this month? Giselle is truly beautiful but my ghod she looks like an alien: all legs and bone and neck. I found the photo of her to be incredibly strange, as if some mutant, gorgeous freak of nature found a box of sequins and rolled in it. I cannot argue the obvious artistic merit – gorgeous, yes, it is – but it disturbs me nonetheless.
9/22/06
I am interested by the popular reaction to the government of Madrid’s BMI restriction on runway models. People have either supported the move wholeheartedly, or just as wholeheartedly condemned it. Those who support it feel that the government has a responsibility to step in and hold private companies (such as modeling agencies and fashion design houses) responsible for the selling of an unhealthy image. Those who do not support it believe that the government has no right to interfere with the market (and they always sniff at the end: “anyway, most of these girls are naturally thin. This is reverse discrimination!”).
You can bet that I do not support the fashion industry’s fascination with supremely thin models, and wish for an antidote to the promotion of what is an unrealistic and unhealthy “model thin” ideal. I even applaud Madrid in trying to do something even if, as it surely is, misguided. The critics are correct: the government should not step in and interfere with the market.
The solution is improbable, but precedented: industry self regulation. I don’t think the modeling agencies are going to jump on that band wagon, and this whole mess will get worse before the fashion industry starts taking it seriously. My opinion is that the agencies who represent these women – and sell them, in a literal sense – have the most to gain and the most to lose here, and so therefore should take the lead. They need to start subjecting their models to regular exams and blood tests: are these women menstruating? What is their white cell count? What is their BMI? How is their bone density? If a model is naturally thin, she may still have a low BMI but pass a health check with flying colors, but if a model is suffering from eating disorders, then that will be quickly flagged.
The precedent for this is the sports industry. Athletes are looked up to as role models and they are splashed across news pages, magazine ads, and billboards as the ideal of sport, just as models are treated as the ideal of beauty. These are physical attributes, and as sports has shown again and again, cheating does count, and often adversely. Athletes, coaches and sport agencies know that winning is everything, but winning by dosing will lose everything (such as lucrative endorsement contracts). Modeling agencies need to step up to the plate and recognize that being thin may be everything in turn, but to be thin at the cost of your wellbeing (even your life) will lose you just what you hoped to gain: beauty and health and (for models, at least) wealth. Athletes are constantly subjected to blood, urine, and health checks – regular exams, competition tests, spot checks. It is a part of that world and while it does not stop people from trying to beat the system it does send a strong message to spectators, fans, and aspiring athletes.
The fashion industry is crying that no one has a right to interfere with the creative process, but that is no different than a coach saying that no one has the right to interfere with the performance process. In a sense, that is true…but at what cost? The sports industry has learned that cost the hard way; the fashion industry has a chance to avoid paying the price.
