Although it didn’t escape my notice, it did slip from my radar with the manic days of the Christmas season. Maybe you missed hearing about it, because I haven’t seen it get much mention outside of the back page of my town’s major paper.
This is a good thing, though, as I have found more comprehensive information since.
In late December, news reports emerged from Rome and Milan, leading fashion hotbeds of the world, in which the Italian industry has stated that they now intend to self-regulate in order to ensure that health is not sacrificed for the sake of style.
Meaning, no more anorexic models. Or so they say.
The catalyst? The mid-November death of an anorexic Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, who weighed just 88 pounds at the time of her death. She was 5’8.
The Italians are no stranger to anorexia, where it is the leading psychiatric cause of death. Statistics suggest that more than three million Italians suffer from anorexia, approximately 1 in 20 people throughout the nation. In fact, more than 60% of children between the ages of 12 and 16 believe they’re overweight and need to lose weight. Of those, approximately 11% are reported to possess eating disorders.
The Italian fashion community is covering its ass a little, though, as they’re not implementing rigid standards. It’s self-regulated, meaning those who ignore the new guidelines will simply have less desireable showtimes and things like that. Insiders claim these are heavy punishments, but, really, are they?
And what are those guidelines? Well, they are banning models under the age of 16 now, and any model suiting up for work will have to have a medical certificate saying she is of good health mentally and physically. (And we all know certificates can be believed in HappyHappy/JoyJoyland, where no one ever lies and “forge” is not a verb. Stickgirls will still be allowed on Italian runways if they have this magical piece of paper.)
Nevertheless, it is a start. Not nearly so good a start as Spain got last September, when they passed a decree legally banning models with a body mass index of less than 18. (Body mass is “a ratio of height to weight squared”. Yeah, that clears that up. I hate math.)
But it’s a better start than they’ve had in France, where the talking heads of the fashion world stated that anorexia is a “social” problem and not something that can be solved with “regulation”.
Right. Uh-huh. ‘cause when you’re hiring them and telling them they absolutely must fit into a size zero dress, that’s got nothing to do with the problem. And when the media only projects images of beauty as being size two and under, that has nothing to do with the social ills. Fuck, man. Can someone teach these people remedial math, or what?
At least Italy’s on the gangway if not fully onboard. They’re going to start making larger sizes available for the shows. What they consider “larger” has not been stated. I suppose they’ll get wild and crazy and throw a two or, god forbid, a four into the mix.
Still, it’s a start. Maybe if I keep telling myself, I’ll find a way to start believing it.
It’s when I think about the fashion industry and the shitheads printing the magazines filled with airbrushed Barbies that I get pissed off, because now and then I need to write something like the posting below about the Perenially Disappearing Ass that I see just how much these fucked-up beauty ideals are fucking us up.
We’re talking about one of the nations with some of the best food and wine in the world, and some 5% of the population possesses eating disorders (anorexia or bulimia). That’s just fucking criminal.
Insecurities stay with us for life. It’s easy enough to develop them all on our lonesome without needing magazines and fashion pointing out just how flawed the rest of us are. I don’t know about you, but my makeup routine doesn’t yet include an airbrush.
But it’s not about reality, they’ll tell us. Fashion is about the ideal of beauty, not the reality. It’s what we can strive to be, yet not necessarily are.
Yeah. Tell that to Ana Carolina Reston. She thought beauty was worth dying for, and she won’t be the last. I suppose it’s ironic, but she literally did die in vain.
At least it seems her death wasn’t totally for naught. Italy’s starting. Now we just need Paris, London, and New York to get onboard. As for New York, well, let’s just say I’m not planning to hold my breath. In the meantime, I’ll be over here, pondering the irony of the fattest country in the world perpetuating the myth of the bone-thin beauty. [scoff]
I don’t think I have ever understood why the fashion industry has promoted the thin, stick-like look. When I see a woman like that, all I can think of is how ugly it is.
I heard the fashion industry used really thin models because they use less material. That could be totally wrong though.
I am a “recovering” anorexic but I have never been officially diagnosed. It all started when I was seven years old, and in my case the media didn’t have any impact. I can understand why people blame the media though. However, walking down the street can shatter any confidence.
As for the fashion aspect, I have no interest in the shows but I am all for there being a more diverse range of sizes being shown. After all, what looks good on a very thin girl might not look all that great on someone of a larger size.
I think that as you said, they’re just covering their asses in Milan. There is no way a size four girl will even be allowed to call herself a model, nevermind get on the runway.
And to say that Spain is doing a lot about it… to have a BMI over 18 if you’re 5’10” (178 cm), which is about average for a model, you have to weight over 125 lb (57.2 kg)…
What I really don’t get is how the hell we got from an ideal like Aphrodite to stick figures…
Anon– Yeah, you’n’me both.
Claire– I’m glad you’re recovering! I understand that the media’s not fully to blame. There are jerk parents, cruel everyday people. But in the absence of positivity around us, having a media that reflected real people would go a long ways to help those with fragile self-images. Beign able to look someplace and go “yeah, they look like me” might be all the difference in some cases.
MM– Well, at least Spain has set firm numbers that are now legally enforceable. Italy’s taking the easy way out, and the others are just pussies from the get-go.
Steff, you say “real people” but who are they? What do they look like? I genuinely want to know.
I don’t really understand how the whole BMI thing works (maths really ain’t my thing) but I do remember reading when Spain introduced their law that there was a model who was under the 18 limit but still perfectly healthy. I don’t know how that works out though. I’m sure, in general, BMI is a good method.
Real people? They’re fat, they’re skinny, they’re from all walks of life. They have bad hair days, cellulite, and more. When everyone we see looks perfect 24/7, it sets unrealistic ideals.
The “real people” are the ones you see in malls, at restaurants, at the stores.
I wish there was an easier answer to all this, but there’s not. I just wish the standards were a little lower for the people we see in the media. I remember Jamie Lee Curtis did a cover and full-center spread in a magazine a couple years ago, but only under the agreement that they would also show, from start to finish, just how many people and how much time it took to get her looking like a cover model. You can see the start and finish photos here. And that’s the reality of how much effort it takes to meet the media-induced standards of beauty, but how often do you really see that? Dove made their short film, which I linked to once before, and that’s similarly eye-opening, but I still think Dove’s a little hypocritical, given who they’re owned by and all.
Now I have to go to work.
Ah see it was the normal people who bothered me most because with the media I could hide behind the fact that everyone was beautified. I don’t know why I am typing that in the past tense since it still applies. Obviously I can’t speak for anyone else but I couldn’t/can’t walk down the street without having a confidence crash. I say I’m “recovering” but there are still times (granted, less often and for shorter periods of time) that I just stop eating and start on a plan of excessive exercise.
We need to teach girls and women self acceptance, we think girls developing eating disorders is terrible but don’t mind seeing a young girl get breast implants on her 18th birthday. Many people say I don’t mind plastic surgery if it will raise the person’s self esteem but instead of teaching people to love themselves they way they are we are telling them it’s okay to change yourself to fit society’s beauty norm. I may be way off hear but I tend to believe there are alot more girls out there who want big boobs so guys will think they are attractive than girls who will go to extreme lengths to become a stick figure. Believe me, when I was young my biggest concern was hoping my breast would grow and here I am 10 years later and my bra size is still the size it was when I was 15 and I am okay with that and I don’t care to change it. Just as we shouldn’t tell girls being thin is ideal we shouldn’t tell girls being super skinny is disgusting because they are plenty of naturally skinny girls out there. Self-love and respect is the key.