After all the recent negative publicity for the modeling industry, and all that positive changes that were on their way to being made, it appears the US is in no hurry to institute what other countries like Spain have already started : The minimum BMI for runway models. This meant that all runway models would not even be considered for coveted jobs unless they met a certain BMI, or body mass index, which means they have to have a certain amount of body fat to be considered for modeling jobs.
This change occurred in the wake of some high profile model deaths that were linked to anorexia or bulimia, or both. Models, especially the models who were younger and more impressionable, were starving themselves (and still are) to ensure that they would stay deathly thin and fit into the ridiculously small runway clothes to strut their stuff for designers.
Not only that, young women looking to these high fashion models as role models were thinking that being waif thin, as in size zero or smaller, and having no body fat was in style, and many young women look to emulate this look by starving themselves. I was just looking at pictures from New York’s famous Fashion Week fashion shows, and every single model I looked at did not look healthy. They all look like mannequins. Their hip bones are jutting out, their arms and legs are pencil thin, and a stomach? Forget about it – it’s concave!
I’m all for staying health and trim, but there is a point where dieting becomes obsessive and intrudes on a normal, happy and fun life. Beauty is fun, fashion is fun, but we should not be so obsessed with this outrageous beauty ideal of size zero or smaller. I say we ban pictures of Nicole Richie and Kate Bosworth too, while we’re at it. These women are hardly role models for young women to be looking up to.
