Flawless Growing up as a little girl, ever year me and my childhood friends would watch television and read magazines about the numerous designers latest couture fashion shows, like fanatics. Gazing at the flawless runway models, walking and twirling with such grace and confidence in their gorgeous, dramatic, statement pieces, always give little girls hope that they would be beautiful as them one day. My friends and I quickly came to realization that models in advertising provide a false image of woman when majority of the female population did not resembled them. The perception of women’s “real” beauty is distorted in the media, full-figured women is not represented in the high-end fashion shows and advertising portrays women as sex objects. …show more content…
Petite women from size double zero two size two are prevalent on the run way. Full-figured models must have a separate runway show catered to their size. The fashion industry makes it seems as if plus size models is a different breed of humans and modeling opportunities should be limited for them because they embrace their curves and wide hips. Prestigious Designer clothing is not even made for full-figured women. According to a St. Louis Post Dispatch by Fashion Editor Debra D. Bass called “Can plus-size and high-end fashion meet in the middle?” “The controversy is that many people believe that celebrating large-size women, many of them obese, will encourage them to continue tipping the scales.” This theory is completely false in my defense because there is plethora of women who are plus-size and are healthy and athletic. For example, a majority of Professional female shot put and discus throwers are full- figured women and they exercise every day. These women are far from size zero and require bigger sizes in clothing even when they are promoting a healthy life style. Celebrating large-size women does not necessarily mean your encouraging obesity because a majority of women in the United are not petite, but are still healthy. Catering clothing for plus-size models of the double digits should not affect fashion designers who create famine clothing because they are women as well and it is …show more content…
Advertising companies would say this just to exploit the reality of authentic beauty to make money. Every month advertising companies are coming up with different ways to entice customers to buy their products and receive quick revenue even if their ad is a complete lie. This situation is similar to the L’ Oreal cosmetics scandal. Popular company’s like L’Oreal will digitally retouch their ads photos making the model look younger, defining their waist or enlarging their muscles. In return people flock to go buy their items in hope they will look identical to the models. These businesses don’t even care that a lot of women become unsatisfied with their appearance and are dying to reach these level of perfection and sometimes go to extreme measures to achieve the models looks. According to Jo Swinson CNN article, “people unhappy about their bodies can develop eating disorders, turn to diet pills or steroids, or try cosmetic surgery and Botox injections.” These actions would not be taken by women if business and the media was not trying to conform people in society to look a certain way and not appreciate what they already
From Twiggy to Kate Moss, the fashion industry has been attached to idealizing extreme slenderness, encouraging real women to hate their bodies and at extreme, develop anorexia or bulimia. If these models are exemplars of ideal beauty, then the measure for women is that to be beautiful, starvation level is required. It appears that the media and the fashion industry would have the public believe that ultra thinness symbolizes beauty when in reality, the standard represents infertility, and premature death. The public has to realize that Twiggy is different.
Some people may argue that fashion helps express one’s imagination; however, fashion has become one of the major influences that promotes an unrealistic image of women that is detrimental to their bodies. This unrealistic image can lead to health problems, a negative body image, and a society based on appearances which are disadvantageous to our culture as a whole. While most women perceive models as having perfect bodies, that is not always the case. Generally speaking, most of the health issues associated with fashion are emphasized on weight. Most models, if not all, are severely underweight.
...weight with sinfulness (Goldberg 3). This mocking of fat people needs to be transformed into beauty so that the steadfast media can see that larger persons are worthy of beauty as well. They just present themselves in a different manner than thin people do.
The ideal image that the media has created is to be exceptionally thin and tall. This is what the media considers to be beautiful. This ideal image can be seen on a daily basis just about everywhere on advertisements, which promote this unattainable image constantly. Research has proven that women tend to feel more insecure about themselves when they look at a magazine or television, which makes them feel self conscious(Mackler 25). The irony in this is that not even the women in the advertisements are as flawless as they appear to be. In order for a woman to appear in the mass media her image must be enhanced in several ways. A women is often airbrushed to conceal their actual skin but it does not end there. Through various computerized programs a woman's actual features are distorted until a false unrealistic image is reached.
“My lips and fingers were blue because I was so thin that my heart was struggling to pump blood around my body”, said teen model fashion Georgina (Carroll 1). The new skinny has become excessively scrawny. Is it definitely not normal for today’s society models to walk around with blue fingers starving themselves until their organs start failing! As for the model agencies, they couldn’t care less of the pressure and dangerous practices they put the models through in order for them to stay thin for the runway. Even fashion Designers continue to produce the smallest couture sample sizes and scout for the slimiest bodies to wear the designs not aware of the consequences of the pressure they not only put on models, but on the society girls to look like these starving models. And when the models continue to get offers from the most important fashion industries like Prada, it motivates them to keep doing what they are doing to stay in the shape they are in (Carroll 1). But little did the outside world know what this pressure had on the models and what they were doing to their bodies to peruse their modeling careers.
This can then lead to Anorexia. If more plus size models were being shown in stores like Abercrombie and Fitch, then the amount of people struggling with anorexia will go down
Leah Hardy (2010) argues that models in today’s magazines are no more than works of the digital retouching. Digital retouching is the use of computer program to remove unwanted impurities of the body, making a person look ideal. Digital retouching is sending a negative message to women because it sets up a false sense of what beauty is. It is impossible for women to look like a digital retouch models, because they are not real. In the film, Killing Us Softly 4 Jean Kilbourne argues that advertisement sends out the same type of message to women (Kilbourne, 2010). Kilbourne states “Advertisement tells women that what’s most important is how they look, an advertisement surround us with the image of ideal beauty. However, this flawlessness cannot be achieved. It’s a look that’s been created through airbrushing, cosmetics, and computer retouching ” (Kilbourne, 2010). Women are being told that in order to fit in society, they have to look a certain way, yet it is nearly impossible because the standard is too high.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our society today, people would rather see what celebrities are up to than what is going on with our health plan. Watching the news makes us aware of the latest trend, new gadget, who’s in rehab, or who has an eating disorder. In the eyes of society, women like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Fox are the epitome of perfection. What girl wouldn’t want to look like them? Unfortunately, this includes most of the girls in the US. Through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which women emulate. The media has created a puissant social system where everyone must obtain a thin waist and large breasts. As a society, we are so image obsessed with the approval of being thin and disapproval of being overweight, that it is affecting the health of most women. Women much rather try to fit the social acceptance of being thin by focusing on unrealistic body images which causes them to have lower self esteem and are more likely to fall prey to eating disorders, The media has a dangerous influence on the women’s health in the United States.
Fashion models don’t need to be thin, they need to be diverse and healthy at whatever weight that is. Not everyone is supposed to be thin, some women are big boned and curvy, others are naturally slim and small boned, some are tall, others are short, some are light skinned and others are darker. So many diverse looks exist in the world today and the fashion industry need to change their perception of perfect. Body image in our society is out of control. We have young men and women comparing themselves to unrealistic models and images in the media and feeling bad about the way their own bodies look because they somehow don’t measure up. (Dunham, 2011) The struggle for models to be thin has led to models becoming anorexic or bulimic, untimely deaths, and inferiority complexes. Even worse is the fact that they influence a whole generation of young women who look up to these models and think “thin” is how they are supposed to be. They influence what we buy, how we eat and what we wear. Why has this specific group captured our attention so much? Why do we seem to be so fascinated in their lives, to the point where we try to look and act just like them? The media is largely to be blamed for this, many people believe the media has forced the notion that everything supermodels do is ideal. Others believe that the society is to be blamed because we have created a fascination with their lives. There are many opinions, and I agree with both of these specific opinions. We allow ourselves to be captivated by these people's lives, and the media portrayal of their lives seem to also enthrall us. (Customessaymeister, 2013) Despite the severe risks of forcing models to become too thin, designers, fashion editors, fashion brands and agencies still ...
Are models really the perfect beauty queens society thinks they are? Whether it is “perfect” bodies or “perfect” faces; Are they really that perfect that teens and the fashion industry idolize them? Medical professionals say that 20% to 40% of models have eating disorders currently. From Anorexia to bulimia, models will do anything to get that size 0. Not only is this way of life giving a false perception on true beauty, but it is also influencing teens and children that they also must go to these extreme measures to get the “perfect body”. A whopping 5% of teens die of an eating disorder every year. These teens see a model with her bones protruding from her skinny waistline and think “why don’t I look like that?” The models sporting the very unfashionable bone accessory not only harm themselves, but everyone around them. So should there be a weight limit put upon these models? Should there be a standard BMI that every brand and part of the fashion industry should instill? Although many argue that the model and designer have the freedom to do and imagine any design or figure they want for their “artwork” to be displayed upon, is fashion really an excuse to let people die from? In reality, the only way to stop the drastic measures of models and teens alike is to strictly set a BMI upon the fashion industry.
Step out into the everyday world as an average American and you will witness an entanglement of varied body size, and shape. Now, enter the world of the media, a world in which you are formally introduced to high fashion, where flashing lights, money, glamour and riches crash around you, satiating every crevice of your being. Here, you will find two unified body types, divided into two categories of shape in women; thin, and thick. Naturally, any woman who wishes to someday strut down the catwalk in Zac Posen, or pose in Marie Claire wearing Dolce and Cabana must have a body that fits one of these required molds, right? It is a well-known reality that many women who cannot reach by healthy means, or do not already have, the desired body type for fashion industries, will develop an eating disorder to starve their way into the position. However, most fail to address the issue of obesity that curdles on the other end of the physical spectrum; the plus size modeling industry. This statement not only boils the blood of millions of American Women, but begs the question: If extremely thin models promote eating disorders, should we prohibit advertisers, especially those in fashion, from using plus size models, as they may promote obesity? To put it simply, no. Plus size models do not promote obesity because they only provide thicker, much larger women, confidence and appreciation for their body without pressuring them to take unhealthy means to shed pounds; they do not encourage overeating and lack of exercise.
Nowadays, the fashion industry is such a negative push on teenagers’ standard of beauty that it is now becoming an unsolved dilemma for our society. Firstly, Sarah Murdoch, the representative of Bonds underwear, is of the opinion that the fashion industry encourages “unhealthy body images” (Dunkerley, 2008) that are thought to be unrealistic and unhealthy for most women and girls. Besides, the fact that most designers prefer to choose thin models than bigger size ones (Bolger, 2007) shows us an astonishing phenomenon that there are series of clothes from size 0 to size 4 seen not only in the fashion shows but also even in the sale markets because they think that there will be “stigma attached” when doing something for “plus-size people” (Stevens, 2010). Naomi Crafti, representing Eating Disorders Victoria, thinks that teenagers are becoming obsessed with “the very skinny models on the catwalk” in the fashion shows (Stevens, 2010) which gradually leads to “eating disorders, mental health” and “negative body image in young people” (Stevens, 2010).
Society is now so used to seeing these models who have their beauty and superiority idolized that they feel all women must look this way. However, looking like a model is becoming increasingly unattainable. According to Bennett the difference between the catwalk and reality is so stark that the slightest change in a girls form makes them self-conscious because they are constantly sizing themselves up to models (Bennett). Today models are dramatically thinner and taller than they were a few years a...
.... Of course these women are not "real" women, but far to often do women take drastic measures look like these fashion models; this eventually will lead to eating disorders or severe depression. According to Natural Health magazine, 44% of women who are average or underweight think that they are overweight. The average woman's dress size is 12 and the average mannequin/model's dress size is 4 (NBC.com); this makes women feel as if they will never be good enough. According to Melissa Raftery, "When we open a magazine, we never see some 400-pound woman on the first page. Instead we see a woman who is 23% skinnier that the average American woman" (What Is Beauty?). Unfortunately, Estee Lauder is not the only beauty product company that puts forth this “definition of Beauty” and beauty product companies are not the only companies “defining beauty.” As long as the targeted market continues to buy into the advertisers “perfection line,” the advertisers will continue to deceive the public. For those who are gullible enough to believe this line of advertising, Estee Lauder ensures confidence and beauty all in one product. After all, their slogan does read, “ESTEE LAUDER. Defining Beauty!”
Show business promotes commercials, print advertisements, films and shows where unbelievably perfect women are seen as the ‘ideal beauty’ The ‘ideal beauty’ controls the behavior of young girls and manipulates their perception of beauty. The term ‘ideal beauty’ is defined to be a conception of something that is perfect, especially that which one seeks to attain. Many young girls everyday are exposed to fashion and beauty advertisements that feature models who are portrayed as ‘perfect’. Due to this Technological Age, girls are exposed to many advertisements that encourage them to be like the featured models- tall, skinny, and foreign. There is also a survey conducted by Renee Hobbs, EdD, associate professor of communications at Temple University which states that, “The average teenage girl gets about 180 minutes of media exposure daily and only about ten minutes of parental interaction a day.” Moreover, media also promotes and advertises cosmetics, apparel, diet pills and exercise gears in the name of beauty and fitness, convincing girls to buy and ultimately patronize their products. Becoming very addicted with using such products can eventually lead to overdoes and becoming vainer. It may seem obvious to most of us that people prefer to look at beautiful faces. While beauty itself may be only skin deep, studies show our perception of beauty may be hard-wired in our brains (Stossel,