Models are eating tissues to trick their stomachs into feeling full.
Models are regularly fainting from hunger before taking to the set for a photo shoot.
In fact, models are so starving they can’t function enough to keep their eyes open.
Brace yourselves. Because these anecdotes are just the beginning of the fairly horrific details about what goes on in the fashion and modelling industry, as recounted by the former editor of Vogue Australia.
At the helm of our country’s premier fashion glossy for thirteen years (before being unceremoniously dumped from the position), Kirstie Clements has spoken out against the use of skinny and anorexic models in her autobiography, The Vogue Factor. She wrote about one model who had scabs on her knees caused by falling on the ground from being so faint she could no longer stand up.
Clements recalled a trip to Marrakesh where she didn’t see the booked model – a Russian girl- eat a single meal for the whole three days they were shooting there. By the end of the trip, Clements wrote, she could barely stand up. Yep, that’s right. The shoot didn’t get cancelled. No one intervened or took her to get help. The industry wheels kept grinding – the blatant starvation worked around – all to get “the shot”.
I feel like now I understand that vacant stare you so often see in fashion editorials; it’s the starving model dreaming about eating the photographer’s arm off. I feel horrified that I was unknowingly complicit in this. It makes me feel sick to know that I’ve bought magazines and poured over fashion editorial shots of models who were quite literally starving themselves to death. But I wouldn’t and couldn’t know what I was actually looking at because the tell tale signs of anorexia – the fuzzy facial hair, the sunken cheeks, the jaunty collarbones – are photoshopped out.
Sometimes we get to see how the fashion industry misrepresent the female form. Take a look at this gallery of photoshop fails:
In a radio interview with Richard Fidler on Conversation Hour yesterday, Clements spoke about how Vogue readers requested that a more diverse range of body sizes be represented in the magazine. And she obliged featuring model Robyn Lawley in Vogue Australia’s first ever ‘plus sized’ shoot inside the magazine – but not on the cover.
“I think that the audience wants to see more plus size models but I do think what will be interesting to see is if they want to see them on the cover. Often want readers say they want to see, they don’t follow through and buy. And editors live and die by their sales,” Clements said.
A recent study has found that skinny models don’t sell products. When consumers are blatantly exposed to idealised images of thin and beautiful women they are more likely to use a defensive coping strategy – scorn – to boost their self-esteem by denigrating the model.
Another study reveals that most American women want to see a ban on size zero models used during fashion week. Thirty-one percent of the survey respondents stated the reason for this was because the models looked dangerously unhealthy, so it was unsafe to have them walking the runway. More than half of the respondents (57 percent) said the fashion industry should stop using size-zero models. Interestingly, when asked what size model they would prefer to see on catwalks and in magazines, most women said size 14.
So readers don’t want to see anorexic women. And many fashion editors don’t want to feature anorexic models. So why exactly are these models starving themselves to death?
Clements argues the conundrum surrounding body image in the media and in this instance fashion magazines is too complex to simply blame fashion editors (or misogynistic male fashion designers). But I disagree with that statement completely. In the radio interview one thing she said has stayed with me, Vogue’s mantra or at least the one she lived by during her time at the influential fashion magazine was this: “Vogue should never follow. It should always lead.”
Change has to start somewhere. And it requires a publication in the fashion and modelling industry – with the necessary clout and influence – to lead it. But given Clements’ unceremonious dumping from the publication, and the fact she is only speaking out about it now, we doubt it will be Vogue.
Top Comments
So Celments is saying that she was horrified that no one intervened in Marrakesh to help out the model that could barely stand up - but did she herself say or do anything??
I think the issue is that there is no endpoint once one begins acting on eating disordered thoughts. The goalposts don't usually have a defined point (e.g. "I am going to lose weight until i get to X kilos. Then I will stop because that is what i'd like my body to look like."). If a person believes "I want to lose weight/I am going to get skinnier"- yes, this very thing well may happen>and there is no limit when you don't have a defined stopping point. And if a person has the self-esteem in the first place that tells them that they will only get relief in life once they start looking like they take up less space, where on earth would they get an injection of confidence FROM THEIR OWN MIND, WHO WAS THE PERSON TELLING THEM TO/TAKING ON SUGGESTIONS AND ACTING ON THEM to go "hey, yep, i look GREAT where i am now. I'm stopping here and my life is perfect now." the problems? most prevalent are:
a) the thoughts will permeate their lives because they will likely be avoiding anything that will take this satisfaction/comfortable weight/body shape away: they will get stressed at having to eat/wear certain things, not getting in their usual level/type of physical activity
b) If they believed there was something that they needed to be different in the first place, it is likely they will keep finding little things they can/should/'need to' change/maintain about their body. If a glimpse in the mirror says 'hey, you're [body part] is lookin good today/ all the components of my self work well together and i look amazing in this [clothing item]' that voice will like stop and say 'who, me? but only X days/minutes ago it looked like i needed to [change] that [body part]. I must be kidding myself.' OR 'I'm ok with this body part now-that must mean i'm moving my standards to accept a bigger body! What happens if i keep getting bigger and blindly move my happy bar and get fat without realising it/before its too late'?
I think its disgusting that models are categorised into 'normal' or 'plus-sized.' Sure, their different body shapes/sizes will be noticeable. but they are all models, and all chosen for this industry because at whatever size they are, that person is seen as physically beautiful in some way.
As someone diagnosed with, and recovering from anorexia nervosa, i think it may be helpful, instead of pointing out/degrading the physical characteristics of a friend whom you may perceives requires medical/psychological intervention (i.e. 'your hair is disgusting and ratty/ boys were looking at you disgusted / your knobbly knees make you look like a scarecrow/ i can see all your veins/bones' etc)... but instead to help reinforce things like 'its not a normal part of life to be dizzy-something negative is causing that. Lets go and get it checked up to see what we can do to fix this. you don't want to faint in the middle of work/ keep being too dizzy to complete orders and get fired coz someone who can do the job better can replace you.' 'its not normal to talk about and/or be preoccupied with food as much as you are. Lets go see if you are deficient in something to see what your body is unconsciously telling you to ask for.'
As with lots of scenarios in life, i think yours 'Anonymous' comes down to communication issues. Before intervening in someone's work/life by talking to their colleagues/boss, talk to them first. This is only likely to get them fired, and may even in your friend's case result in her losing confidence in her body even more ("I'm not pretty/thin/feminine enough to be a model [anymore]"). I appreciate what you were trying to do. But depending on the work environment and colleagues, it may actually give her confidence in her body, enough to let her decide where she can benchmark a 'healthier' (higher) weight etc. Sufferers need to have a direction, a life-goal directing them somewhere which will prompt them to gain and maintain weight and health in order to achieve that. If this career is all she has going, she might become hopeless and will spend all her time only focused on physical appearance, particularly hers. She might be planning to remove herself from modelling but is too embarrassed to let others know for fear of their judgements (of why she quit/had to quit-was she fired?) /(others then questioning her beauty/weight/shape/credibility/professional capabilities).
Remember: an eating disorder is a psychiatric illness. A lot of us who have them have no idea why we 'have' to do certain things that we panic if we don't do "correctly" (like certain food 'rituals' e.g. cutting food up small, sorting into colours, only eating certain food groups) of which OCD is tied into quite prevalently.
Your friend will unveil whether or not this career is actually helpful or detrimental to her recovery. Treatment in her program will probably clarify this for her. Best of luck and know that zero focus on weight/exercise/body (POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE) is an amazing thing to help to encourage-for everyone, not just those diagnosed with an ED. Because its not important. Pretend you don't care and don't have any conversations around this, and others will see the importance of and presence of the wider world and other skills, hobbies and activities if your life. A career, art and craft, travel, hobbies, activities with friends and family are what life should be about. Help her focus on these which are there to give actual enjoyment, fulfilment and direction in life. Baby steps.
Best of luck and kudos for your courage.
Success and happiness in life,
V x