The ugly side of this
industry.
A recent survey in 2014 revealed that 94% of
women said that weighing 10 stone or more was undesirable and unattractive,
however its completely possible to be drastically unhealthy or at peak fitness
at this weight. Other studies showed more worrying results about how women have
been effected by the supposed ideal body that most swimwear and lingerie brands
are helping promote. Results show that women feel the least confident when shopping
if they were looking to purchase a bathing suit. Another study made half of the
participants take a math test in everyday clothing and the other half in
swimwear. Results showed that women in
everyday clothing did significantly better as the women in swimsuits were too
pre-occupied on how they looked rather than how they performed. With swimwear
and lingerie being the most revealing clothing available in the fashion
industry, surely we are going to be seeing more delicately marketed products.
However, against all the criticism the fashion industry has taken over model
sizes, this seems not to be the case.
The
most recent case against the intimate apparel industry is from an Australian
model, whose story was shared all over social media sites in August. She had
participated in a shoot for the newest collection of Fella Swim’s beachwear,
only to see when the pictures were released that the photo had been drastically
photo-shopped. Her naturally slim size 8 body had been skimmed to a very tiny
size 4. She took to instagram with before and after pictures showing her
disgust in the editing that had taken place. She wrote that she thought it
highly unacceptable for people to see these pictures of her and think that they
are realistic. After all, she had a beautiful body in the first place so why
did that have to change? The story went viral and Fella swim were forced to
apologise and remove the edited photo from their site, however this doesn’t
take away the principle of their editing in the first place.
I was also shocked to find that a similar
situation had occurred to more prestigious celebrities. Beyoncé is well known
for her beautifully toned and curvaceous size 12/14 body. However her swim
campaign with H&M last year had similar troubles as the H&M editing
team tried to slim her body and tone down her curves for the campaign posters.
She was absolutely outraged when she found out and disallowed them from
changing her shape and size, forcing them to use the original photos.
Beyoncé was highly criticized for her decision to stay on with H&M
for the campaign, but why should she give it up? This should not make her give
up the campaign just because of her size. By staying and forcing the company to
use the original prints taken, the summer campaign was represented by a woman
who is naturally gorgeous in shape and reflects a positive body image to
millions of teenagers. The spokesperson for H&M released a statement after
the incident stating that they were very pleased to have Beyoncé involved with
their campaign as they wanted to market the brand towards women with all body
shapes. This seemed like it would be a positive outbreak in high street fashion
and one step closer to more realistic models, however they compromised this the
following year and have returned to using unhealthy looking models for their
2014 swim collection.
This was furthered again earlier this year as
H&M featured a woman who looked to be a size 10/12 in their magazine as a
plus size model. This sparked outrage, and although H&M insisted that the
model was in fact a size 14 there was still room for criticism. After all if
the plus size range provides for sizes 16+, why is it being modeled by someone
who doesn’t fit into that size range?
It isn’t just the models brands choose that is
giving the industry a bad name. La Perla were criticized in May this year about
the mannequins that they featured in their New York Soho window. The mannequins
were baring ribs on their skeletal frames as well as having indents between
their chest and around their hips and stomach. La Perla use very slim models in
their campaigns anyway such as Cara Delevigne in last years swim campaign;
therefore they should be more careful about the image that they are projecting.
With the fashion industry at present is very much blamed for encouraging a
slender and anorexic physique, so brands should be more aware of what they are
advertising behind the clothes. Some customers commented on the Vogue article
reguarding this issue that some people are naturally skinny and that sometimes
this look is not about being unhealthy. However there are certain
considerations that need to be made when looking at what kind of body image
they are promoting to the younger generations. There is a line, and in a lot of
cases perforated ribs are not deemed healthy, but a sign of an eating disorder.
However
this isn’t the first run in La Perla have had with their mannequin sizes. 7,500
people signed a petition against their Florida branch when a mannequin with
appallingly stick thin legs appeared in the shop window. With the fight against
model sizes being more prominent in the industry than ever, brands like this
really need to be looking at how actions like this will cause their brand to be
perceived.
Although, more recently some brands have been
neglecting the use of regular skinny models that we see day to day. A recent
brand Dear Kate have released a
collection promoted by normal New York women. The collection is named after the
supposed world first computer programmer Ada Lovelace which works perfectly
with the collection that is modeled by women who work within technology and
have absolutely no modeling experience.
The lingerie is made for purpose and is meant to be the comfiest
everyday underwear around, working perfectly with these normal, but beautiful
women that you would see on a day to day basis. Unfortunately there was a lot
of criticism that surrounded this campaign relating to the models that were
used. One critic showed concern that these women featured in the campaign may
not be taken seriously by male colleagues when they return to work when they
have been privy to the photos of these women in underwear. Why should this make
a difference? There is absolutely no reason that a women cant be independent
and smart as well as confident enough to show off her beautiful body. Another
critic also suggested that this campaign is a set back in the fight for women
to be seen as more than objects. How this objectifies women in any way more
than a regular lingerie campaign where women lounge about in a sexual nature I
couldn’t tell you. If anything this is promising for the reduction of
objectifying women; it shows that women
should be comfortable whatever shape and size they and can wear lingerie without being a typical sex object. Ada
model Arikia Millikan also pressed a very good point. Why should she turn down
the opportunity to go to a photshoot and flaunt herself about in beautiful
lingerie because she looks and feels the best she has in years. All in all, it
really shouldn’t make a difference.
Aside from this negativity from the press, some
high street brands have positively supported the fight against the ‘ideal’
woman. Debehnams and Aerie lingerie have announced that from 2014 onwards they
will not be photo-shopping their lingerie models as well as Debenhams being the
first department store to promote their clothing on size 16 mannequins. Its
changing the little things that will have a massive impact on the fashion
industry. So why are we not using models of all sizes all the time? After
all, isn't it the figure that a lot of men claim is desirable? And I think most
people would definitely agree that it is a more healthy look that will leave a
much better impression on the younger generations who are brainwashed into thinking that
they need to be the size of these unrealistic models. I applaud Dear
Kate, Debenhams and Aerie for their new campaign featuring these beautiful
women, more brands should definitely be following suit.
Ex-ANTM candidate Winnie Harlow quickly became a favourite of mine very quickly. She is a 20 year old model with the skin condition vitiligo. This causes extreme pigmentation in her skin, causing some areas of her body to be different colours to others. To me, this shows a breakthrough from the fashion industry in the models that work the catwalks. No longer are brands consistently using the generically pretty models, but broadening their selection to women such as Winnie. This, by no means is me saying that this woman isn't incredibly stunning, because that really isn't the case. However, by using women who differ from the stereotype is a refreshing change and a much better role model for children and teenagers to look up to. Its so nice to see someone who struggled with her condition when she was younger grow to become this confident and create such beautiful pictures despite how she may not have always liked her condition. The campaign that she did for Desigual is by far one of my favourite campaigns of all. The symmetry in the colouration of her face is amazing against the colours and patterns featured; and seeing a model that genuinely looks like they are having a good time makes such a difference. 
