Food or model? A bit of a silly question don’t you think, but it is one that makes or break a model. The world of modelling is a fascinating one. One most young girls crave to be in and some will do about anything to get there and I mean anything. But what is so compelling about it? yes, they’re glamorous and yes, they have amazing bodies to die for! But at what price?
Two models have recently spoken out about the fashion industry and the pressures it puts models under to stay skinny. This is nothing new and has been the great global debate for some time now. The modelling industry has been targeted as the main machine that exploits and promotes unhealthy or inappropriate body image to the public.
Erin Heatherton, a former Victoria Secret model, has shed some light on this ‘glamorous’ industry and revealed that she was bulldozed to lose weight in order to maintain the image that Victoria’s Secret portrays, despite the fact that she already looked slim and pretty healthy, even exercising twice a day.
In a recent interview with Time Magazine, she revealed being told to lose weight to walk the VS runways, “my last two Victoria’s Secret shows, I was told I had to lose weight. I was really depressed because I was working so hard and I felt my body was resisting me. I look back like, ‘Really?’” Following her unravelling of VS, other models have come forward and corroborated Heatherton’s experience, with some models having rather severe experiences, that they developed into an eating disorder.
The modelling industry is known for strict rules when it comes to measurement. 5ft 11 is roughly the standard. The taller the better. The slimmer the better. All because of designers’ needs to flaunt their latest clothes. So how long will this carry on? Even though there has been a bill in California aiming to reduce eating disorder among models, plus other laws across the world coming into effect.
Beauty shouldn’t be a series of strict guidelines, beauty is skin deep. However in a world of appearances and money, the battle to look good still lingers, until someone hears you’re good enough now… The modelling industry is an interchangeable one, no matter what they make it out to be.
#Peace.Love.FoodForThought
