Don't Feed the Models

I finally got around to watch the documentary Super Slim Me yesterday. Dawn Porter takes it on to reach a size zero (UK4) in 6 weeks. She fails, but honestly we can't blame her!

The documentary was released almost two years ago now, just before the LFW (London Fashion week. It was one of the cries to the BFC (British Fashion Council) to ban underweight models from the shows.

It failed.

The 'Big Four' fashion weeks are just over, and the models were no bigger this year that before the outrage. If you have a BMI of 16 and are five times taller than the designer employing you, you're good to go!

The fashion conclusion? Statement bows and bones are in next season.

To be honest I don't blame the BFC either, I am not arguing in favour of having a size 14 on the catwalk. Or even a size 12. Not that either size aren't fine (and healthy), it's just that I see size 12 girls every day.

Fashion is about inspiration.

But who wants to be inspired by a malnourished celery-stick looking teenager, who probably eats less than a 3 year old!

When you read Dawn Porter's journal, the whole idea of trying to reach size zero is a bit of a joke:

"I feel utterly miserable. So starving and I can't sleep. [...] today I had to get up to go see the doctor. She thought I had terrible concentration and seemed edgy. I showed her the inside of my mouth. It is full of ulcers. I caught myself chewing it - my body is trying to eat itself!"

Not very nice sounding! She is making herself almost become anorexic. I say almost, because anorexia is a mental illness first and foremost, but the report does show how much food can affect your mood and your life.

The woman out there trying their hardest - and you can't really go harder than a crash diet! - are just killing themselves slowly, but they are also "learning" an illness that 50000 people in Britain are fighting each day.

All that to look like a bony carrot that has probably been photoshoped in order to hide the damages a little.

I think that having people on the bridge of starvation in fashion shows is insulting: to people who are really starving out there, and to people with an eating disorder, who are really struggling every day to regain a couple of pounds. And not for vanity. Just so they don't drop dead.

I think Dawn Porter's documentary ending is spot on!

Is fashion body or clothes?

In LA, most of the girls on the streets are a size 0 (UK 4) to 4 (UK 8). Not quite what you see when you're walking down Oxford street!

In Britain, a UK 6 is pretty hard to spot. Girls prefer to show off their clothes than their bones. Not a bad thing in my opinion.

Indeed, London streets are full of fashion forward ideas and experimental trends. No one really seems to care whether she's too "fat" to wear pink tights, or if her cincher belt is more than 22 inches.

The result? In my opinion: crazy styles and happier faces. It's a fact that a girl gets cranky when she's hungry.

What is really puzzling me though is, why do LA girls hide their "media perfect" bodies under tracksuits? I would think that if you go to the gym three times every day you would want to show it off.

One of my friends says it's laziness. It is true that after two miles on the treadmill, a body combat class, a swimming session and half an apple in your stomach you just want to collapse on the spot and in comfy clothes.

The relationship with fashion and the body is still so different I cannot get my head around it. This is a matter that need further looking into...