Is the fashion industry obsessed with all things skinny and white?
The fashion industry is getting a backlash but it's nothing new. For years, the leaders of style have been accused of being obsessed with gaunt white models but all the media hype hasn't produced any real change, and the latest headlines are a clear indication that maybe it's time someone, somewhere do something about it.
The skinny on skinny
The industry has been accused of going too far in pushing dangerously thin images that women, and even very young girls, may try to emulate. It's Ralph Lauren's turn on the hot seat.
Model Filippa Hamilton, who worked for RL ince 2002, alleges that she was fired for being too fat. The 5-foot-10 stunner is all of 120 pounds!
Filippa was shocked to find that her body digitally touched-up in an ad that appeared only in Japan and drew the ire of critics who though it appeared emaciated and unrealistic. In the image, Filippa’s hip looked slimmer than her head.
Hamilton is concerned about its impact on the public. "I think they owe American women an apology, a big apology," she said. "I'm very proud of what I look like, and I think a role model should look healthy."
In a statement, Ralh Lauren said that that Filippa is a "beautiful and healthy" woman but their relationship ended "as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us."
In a recent interview with Focus magazine, Designer Karl Lagerfeld responded to claims that people prefer to look at skinny women and those who complain about the size zero trend are just jealous chubbies: “These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.” The creative director of the fashion house Chanel added that the world of fashion was all to do “with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women”.
Blackface time
In equally astonishing news, Carine Roitfeld, Editor-in-Chief of the French edition of Vogue, is accused of turning the latest issue of French Vogue into a modern minstrel show. A multiple page spread of model Lara Stone shows her transformed from little Dutch girl to imitation black woman.
The October issue of French Vogue, billed as a ‘Top Models Special’ features Lara in “ethnic” clothing and black face. Interestingly, there are no black models in the issue.
“It’s horrible, there’s nothing else to describe it,” says Nana A Tamakloe, founder of Confidence Model Management, which has a diverse range of models on its books. “The image says we’d rather turn a European model white than hire a black model.”
There’s been no response from the magazine.
Stereotypes embodied in the stock characters of blackface minstrels played a significant role in cementing and proliferating racist images, attitudes and perceptions worldwide.
Reactions have varied widely -- from bloggers calling the images extremely racist to others seeing the French Vogue team as simply pushing the envelope by using historically charged symbols to give people a visceral reaction to fashion. What do you think?
