The Skinny Model Controversy

I realize the skinny model controversy currently raging in the international fashion world isn't about glamour but I find it fairly interesting nonetheless.

The controversy began when Madrid fashion organizers recently took the unprecedented step of rejecting underweight women. Their reason? They said they wanted to project an image of beauty and health -- not a waif-like look.

Glamour, of course, is about beauty and health as well... and sex appeal. Lots of sex appeal. Pretty girl shooters, i.e., nude, fine-art-nude, erotic, and glamour photographers often prefer their models a bit more robust-- somewhat more full-bodied as it were. Especially in certain regions of the body.

The Brits have now jumped into the skinny model fray: England's Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, wants London to follow Madrid's example and ban skinny models. But Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion Council, the organizers of London Fashion Week, rejected British government calls for a ban on wafer-thin models.

BTW, do we have a Secretary of Culture here in the U.S.? Hmmm... I don't think so. Oh, I forgot, most people around the world believe America is void of culture... real culture. All we have, according to many, is Pop Culture. What do they know? Foreigners! Hmmmph!

Anyway, new Spanish rules say models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) -- a ratio of height to weight -- below 18 are not allowed to appear at the shows. Urging London to follow Madrid's example, Ms. Jowell said "The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick-thin is damaging to young girls' self-image and to their health."

As I recall, the trend towards skinny-as-a-rail fashion models began back in the late 60s with super-model, singer, and actress, Twiggy Lawson. Twiggy was 16 when she began her modeling career and she gained her nickname from her stick-thin pubescent figure. She was also known for the high-fashion "mod" look she (and her handlers) created.

The mayor of Milan, in Italy, Letizia Moratti, has said she will seek a similar ban for Milan Fashion Week -- starting in a week's time -- unless it can find a solution to "sick" looking models.

Fearing they could be targeted next, a Milan model agency boss, Riccardo Gay, said "With those kind of rules, we'd have to turn away 80 percent of models. Naomi Campbell wouldn't be able to walk down the catwalk."

What? No Naomi Campbell on the catwalk in Milan? Now I'm depressed. I think I'll pig-out on an extra-large pizza, heavy on the toppings.

After Madrid's shocking ban on waifism, Cathy Gould of New York's Elite modeling agency said the fashion industry was being used as scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.

Supporters of the ban, however, were joined by Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, who told London's Evening Standard she did not want her children to grow up to be "empty-headed, self-obsessed clones."

Are Rowling's kids all blonde? I thought blondes had the monopoly on empty-headed, self-obsessed cloneliness?

Just kidding. No. Really. Just kidding!

Seems to me, given the kind of sick revenue the Harry Potter phenomenon has generated, Ms. Rowling's kids will grow up with opportunities to be whatever they want to be considering Rowling's offspring should be able to afford the best of, worst of, or anything in between, that money can buy.

I suppose we'll have to wait and see if fashion models are allowed to go back to eating. They say everything is cyclical. (Whoever "they" are.) The fashion industry's current view of beauty--stick-thin, malnourished-looking, waifs--hasn't always been in vogue. Who knows? Maybe we'll see the return of a more full-figured woman in the fashion world. Shapely women certainly never left the world of glamour, nude, and erotic art.

The model I selected to accompany this post is Daphne. Daphne is the antithesis of Twiggy and most all contemporary fashion models. Will we ever see the likes of Daphne strutting the catwalks of London, Milan, Paris, or Madrid? Who knows? Stranger things have happened. If nothing else, Daphne and models like Daphne would certainly and dramatically alter the way fashion designers create their wares and they would set a whole different example for young girls world-wide.

Empty-headed, self-obsessed, gargantuan-breasted clones anyone?

Once again, just kidding.