Was it photoshop or a bigger issue?
I noticed this post at
Styleite.com about the Revolve clothing weight debate.
Revolve said the boney model won't be appearing in their ads anymore, "We are working closely with both the model and her agent to get her to a healthier size. She won’t be appearing in any of our new product batches or in any of our fashion editorial photos moving forward until the issue is adequately addressed." The model (now speculated as Allie Crandell, who you might have seen on MTV's "The City", was booked though, she was just doing her job, she did pose nicely despite leading the consumer concerned for the health of the model, and the company did hire her and her images are still on the site, --I wonder how many of the garments that she wore have been sold. Also I can't help but wonder if the Photoshop thing was at work to cause a media frenzy and get more hits to the site? Now Allie is being punished to not be in any of the new product batches is implying she will not be hired again. When really is she the one to punish? Let's say the model wasn't Allie and instead a newbie excited for one of her first modeling jobs, she was discovered or what not, and wanted to model, and was conforming to the weight that her agency wanted her to be at and obviously the brand asked for a girl of a certain size (measurement or weight), height, look, and the result makes obvious the ways the public views skinny models and that if they were curvier or more realistic and human looking that it wouldn't harm a brands image. The consumer wouldn't mind a humanistic model.
If the collar bone of a model is protruding intensely, it can be a sign of something being not right, ---but some girls are just skinny and have a hard time even gaining weight, even those not in the fashion industry. I have friends who are not models who actually have a hard time gaining weight, even when they try to eat more, better, work out, etc. Without knowing the model's background it is rude to also judge her and pick
on her.
As consumers we should already be aware that the fashion industry is often about fantasy, not reality, the skinner the better is still obviously the drill, but maybe over time the images we see in high fashion will be more about humanistic.
When it comes to skinny models, the models (who are usually teenagers) should not be punished, put down, picked on, despite that they are working in that world, and THAT is also an issue. The skinny model is a person, is a girl who is also figuring our herself, going through a lot of changes as a person, as a girl, as a model.
I hope more modeling agencies consider the psychology comfort that a teen model needs (they are teens, young adults, with a lot of pressure around them and competition) and the support shouldn't be something that comes out of their paycheck, --getting some self esteem, comfort, and information about health and healthy living should be simply just a part of the fashion modeling agencies lifestyle. The client, who asks for a model of a certain type (weight, height), and the agency work together, the model makes the cut or not and the agency makes the money or not based on what the client is asking for and the agency has available. So if fashion models are going to become more humanistic looking in the future, the client and the agency are obviously going to have to experience taking a chance, taking a risk, and believing that a model being a bit bigger is better. An agency will have to not book girls who are super skinny because they simply do not work with models that are, the client is going to have to suggest to the agency to send over models that are not skin and bones but have some meat on them.
Let's not forget some
online retailers do use more humanistic and every day girl realistic looking models, but still recently a friend of mine who is plus-size said she would have bought more clothing at a plus-size online retailers website if the models were not only a size 8 and that it is tough to tell how the clothing will look without seeing it on a figure that is actual to the consumer. I think brands should use all types of models and all sizes of models wearing all the styles of the clothing, yes it is more work for the brand and costly to hire more than one model but the consumer would most likely purchase more items.
Especially in areas of dresses, bra's, and jeans.
Depending on the brand and the view point of the consumer, a "humanistic" image is also different as well.
In print modeling weight and measurements are not such a big deal, and a model can model past her late teens and early twenties, if a model is concerned about the pressures of the fashion industry she should look towards print modeling with a commercial print agency.
~Isobella
