Fashion industry is a type of industry where there are many regulations regarding the looks of the models. One of the most deliberated topics in the fashion business of the United States of America work with the body weight of the models. The critics in this field argue that many of the male and female models are below average weight which is why many of them have developed eating disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. In the fashion capitals of the world including the New York, London, Paris, and Milan, there is a collection of different approaches that have been executed to compact with this issue (Norgaard).
Low Weight and Runway Model
Regulating the Lowest Weight of a Runway Model
Fashion industry is a type of industry where there are many regulations regarding the looks of the models. One of the most deliberated topics in the fashion business of the United States of America work with the body weight of the models. The critics in this field argue that many of the male and female models are below average weight which is why many of them have developed eating disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. In the fashion capitals of the world including the New York, London, Paris, and Milan, there is a collection of different approaches that have been executed to compact with this issue (Norgaard).
In this paper we will look into some of the literature regarding the fact that why the models are so skinny especially runway models and legal implications of how it can be dole out with. It is believed that girls who walk on the ramp need to be skinny because they have to be "invisible." Invisible is the term used to describe a super model when she is at the heights of fitness for becoming a manikin as many designers believe their clothes stand out better when they are on emaciated individual.
Often, the high level models are referred to as hangers, and designers feel that they are in best of health as the designers wanted them to be, walking hangers where it is the clothes that are visible, not the model. Carol White, a former model and founder of Premier Model Management, says, "Designers want to show what they've designed, they don't want the body to overtake it."When it comes to blaming someone for making the outlook requirements of the models so thin and lean, the blame goes to the producers as well. The designers flatly say that it's the producer's requirement more than that of theirs to have thin models (Law).
Like all other issues relating to real life world, the issue of regulating the lowest weight of the runway super model is very important with its pros and cons that help to understand the in depth reasoning.
PROS
1. If a model wants to be signed by a good reputable agency, not only that she requires a good height but she also requires a low weight. Not only the ramp but the models with a lower weight can also get into modeling for magazines which help them to make a lot of money.
2. Regulating the weight of a model to be low is significant because of the truth that there are those individuals who think that the actual look of the dress is modified ten times if the dresses are worn by thin people. Therefore, in order to sell the product, they need to publicize it the way they consider is good for generating more money out of their clothes business (Beyerstein).
3. Low weight models are also easy to be taken along as this profession demands a lot of travelling. The models will low weights would definitely be on special controlled diet that would be based on only salads and juices. Such a diet is easy for the organizers to manage.
4. Modeling can be a great shot in the arm to a models "self-reliance. Seeing the finished photos within the covers of a magazine of a high standard and at a higher level of acceptance is an incredible experience. Most people do not realize how glamorous they can look until they have participated in a professional shoot. This glamour generally counts on the weight of the super model
5. Thin and lean models usually fit into any type of dresses that they are given. Therefore, the regulation of a lower possible weight becomes necessary for the models as it is the requirement of most of the designers.
6. Thin and lean models present a good look at the ramp and the cuts and curves of the dresses can easily be looked upon. This helps in increasing the sales of the designers which in turn encourages them to present models with lowest weights (Wills).
CONS
1. The biggest disadvantage or the drawback of the demand for a thin and lean ramp model is that the girls who wish to achieve success in the modeling career start eating so less that they happen to fall a prey to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This is a condition that makes them harmful for them (Hill).
2. Another disadvantage is that in the race for losing weight, the models usually cross the desired line of thinness and reach at a level of weakness rather than being smart. This has an adverse effect as these models get a break in their career for being too thin rather than getting fame. They tend to slip out of the runway modeling.
The fashion industry hasn't changed since long. Its demands and requirements if not increased, have been religiously the way they were earlier. As we see the inner details of the industry, we see that it is a truth of life that models have always been thin and young regardless of the country they are in. The difference only is that, until in recent times, people understood that models were working women doing a job. This is no recreation for them. They make many sacrifices, leaving home, affecting family life. Not to mention, not eating much, and given a reward for this (Ebony).
This seems very peculiar an seeing the lives of these models, the glamour they have, the fame they receive, makes any human being wish for a life like that of theirs. But on the other offer, if we consider the toughness of their work we feel that nobody in their right mind wants to be these women. They definitely appreciate them in the pages of a glossy magazine and venerate the clothes they wear, but eventually they forget about them and get on with their lives. Models occupy the same obscure stratosphere as the movie stars do.
Besides to blame the fashion industry solely for what is a shared problem is clearly not going to overcome these problematic issues. We need to focus more closely on the society primarily ourselves. We should realize how we are so insecure as to believe in starvation as prime indicator of beauty. Furthermore, we should think about how we seem to have entirely lost our touch with the idea that what shines is not always gold. There are people who do not seem as they actually are. Their interiors are more significant than what is on the exterior. Therefore it is important to recognize that by appreciating them for reducing appetite is an objectionable act on the part of the onlookers (Law).
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