Vogue's "9 Models on the pressure to lose weight and body image"

[stargirl]

Gemma Ward and Ali Michael, amongst others, complaining that they got themselves fat and people had shit to say about it. Boohoo. Being told you don't fit clothes? That you have a month to prepare yourself for a job? Cry me a fucking river. You work for industry, the industry does not work for you. The only model I feel bad for, and am kinda surprised is in this video, is Aiden. I'm just glad that she's apparently in a healthier mental state without also being 40lbs heavier. Good for her, obvi. But admittedly I kinda stopped taking the video seriously when Sports Illustrated and plus-sized girls starting acting like their body standards were ever the backbones of their career. Thoughts? Sorry if this video is too dumb to even be considered for a thread in the first place.

 

[stardust]

Gemma Ward and Ali Michael, amongst others, complaining that they got themselves fat and people had shit to say about it. Boohoo. Being told you don't fit clothes? That you have a month to prepare yourself for a job? Cry me a fucking river. You work for industry, the industry does not work for you. The only model I feel bad for, and am kinda surprised is in this video, is Aiden. I'm just glad that she's apparently in a healthier mental state without also being 40lbs heavier. Good for her, obvi. But admittedly I kinda stopped taking the video seriously when Sports Illustrated and plus-sized girls starting acting like their body standards were ever the backbones of their career. Thoughts? Sorry if this video is too dumb to even be considered for a thread in the first place.

I don't know, I think with Gemma it was a bit of a sad situation since it was after she quit modelling, had a baby and she never appeared to be one to complain about the weight requirements for jobs (like Ali for example)

 

[Kit]

Gemma Ward and Ali Michael, amongst others, complaining that they got themselves fat and people had shit to say about it. Boohoo. Being told you don't fit clothes? That you have a month to prepare yourself for a job? Cry me a fucking river. You work for industry, the industry does not work for you. The only model I feel bad for, and am kinda surprised is in this video, is Aiden. I'm just glad that she's apparently in a healthier mental state without also being 40lbs heavier. Good for her, obvi. But admittedly I kinda stopped taking the video seriously when Sports Illustrated and plus-sized girls starting acting like their body standards were ever the backbones of their career. Thoughts? Sorry if this video is too dumb to even be considered for a thread in the first place.

I do feel bad for those women. I don't think any of them are saying that models have to be allowed to gain weight to be in the industry. I think they're saying, "hey, when I do gain weight or my body changes, can I still be treated like a human?" I get that it is probably super frustrating for a designer and team to work on a look for a runway or photo shoot, but don't they have a backup? Couldn't they say, "this isn't working out, please go home" instead of leaving someone naked on the set? If it's a huge deal, take it up with the agency that sent a bad model to you.

Like Aiden said, she had her best season when she was suffering so are we supposed to turn around and say, "okay, now I will keep you suffering so you do good work". Any other line of work and I hope we would say that inhumane, but because they're models it's okay? Or god forbid someone goes through puberty and they're body changes. That's not that models fault.

I think, as shown again and again, models are treated inhumanely and they focused this video on weight, but it's the same root issue that has left them standing on dark staircases and forces them to resort to stealing food to eat.

 

[proseccoprincess]

I did feel bad for them at some points, despite my better judgment, not because they gained weight and couldn't work, but because of how they were treated. The bodysuit situation and the newspaper headline were a bit unnecessary imo, and Gemma crying is just as sad/adorable as it was 15 years ago in that one runway show.

HOWEVER I know most people are going to take this as "modeling= eating disorders, fuck the industry, all models should be plus size!!!!!!!11" which is annoying af. If you're overly sensitive/prone to eating disorders/don't know how to lose weight healthily, maybe don't be a runway model? And of course I skipped over all the plus size model parts

 

[proseccoprincess]

Like Aiden said, she had her best season when she was suffering so are we supposed to turn around and say, "okay, now I will keep you suffering so you do good work".

Wasn't she suffering because of a personal issue though? The modeling industry can't really "keep her suffering" when it has nothing to do with them. She also didn't specify in the vid if she told anyone about it; she just said that her resulting weight loss was good for her career.

 

[Skinnybubbly]

I’m sorry but I’ve said it 100 times and I’ll say it again. Why didn’t they just quit? There’s a bunch of models who have a great time modeling and will gladly take their spots at once. All I hear is excuses lol

 

[Skinnybubbly]

Also to add on, I feel like some people become a model for the wrong reasons. The modeling industry isn’t here for your feelings and your body and body positivity it’s here for the clothes and you need to be a hanger/mannequin. You’re signing up to be a hanger

 

[Kit]

Wasn't she suffering because of a personal issue though? The modeling industry can't really "keep her suffering" when it has nothing to do with them. She also didn't specify in the vid if she told anyone about it; she just said that her resulting weight loss was good for her career.

It's because it's my personal belief that if they knew making people sad made them skinny, someone out there would force that model to be sad for money. But that's not a real argument, so I guess it's a really irrelevant point.

I’m sorry but I’ve said it 100 times and I’ll say it again. Why didn’t they just quit? There’s a bunch of models who have a great time modeling and will gladly take their spots at once. All I hear is excuses lol

I mean, there are plenty of reasons not to quit a job you hate and it's hard to make that leap of faith. And models are a pretty vulnerable group of people as a whole. Plenty of them are young, plenty of them are immigrants. I've stayed in an abusive job far longer than I would have liked because I thought it would get me somewhere great. Also, who wants to be known as a quitter? I bet they're all friends with models who are having a great time modelling and they probably think if they work just a little bit harder, they will be having all the fun too.

Or worse, they were pulled in as teenagers, had all that fun, and now can't seem to hit the stride again. That's worse because they know how great it can be, they've invested all this time into a career that is no longer working for them, but when you've done something for six years, how do you make a shift into something else? It's why people stay in shitty relationships, can't the same be true for a shitty job?

EDIT: Sorry if I'm coming off as a total SJW lately. I have been reading a ton of books about second-wave feminism and it makes me look at things in a different light. But at least it's something to talk about? Maybe? I'll see myself out

 

[Diamndgrl]

The amount of whining in this is astounding! Come on.....like you didn’t know you had to be skinny in high fashion modeling?!!! It’s your job, shut up and do it or someone else will be glad to!

 

[marieebo]

The amount of whining in this is astounding! Come on.....like you didn’t know you had to be skinny in high fashion modeling?!!! It’s your job, shut up and do it or someone else will be glad to!

I think it’s quite a sensitive topic that can’t be treated this way. I 100% support the fact that modelling, just like a sport or any other work requires certain things and staying a size 0 is one of them and there is nothing wrong with that, some girls bodies are suited for that, some are not. But I think there is an huge difference between complaining like ‘as a model I can’t eat Big Macs before fitting and I have to fast!!!1’ or just simply saying how difficult is it when your bodies just doesn’t fit in anymore, it fucks you up mentally to have a Wall Street journal article about how you got rejected from Paris fashion week because how you weight, especially (If I am correctly) when Ali Michael already had an eating disorder during that time. I think most of the models of the video didn’t lack the discipline, but were really vulnerable emotionally which fucks you up in a world like that, and they were also v young. I do think it’s funny how Vogue is doing those video though, as if they still kept calling these girls after they gained

 

[Diamndgrl]

I think it’s quite a sensitive topic that can’t be treated this way. I 100% support the fact that modelling, just like a sport or any other work requires certain things and staying a size 0 is one of them and there is nothing wrong with that, some girls bodies are suited for that, some are not. But I think there is an huge difference between complaining like ‘as a model I can’t eat Big Macs before fitting and I have to fast!!!1’ or just simply saying how difficult is it when your bodies just doesn’t fit in anymore, it fucks you up mentally to have a Wall Street journal article about how you got rejected from Paris fashion week because how you weight, especially (If I am correctly) when Ali Michael already had an eating disorder during that time. I think most of the models of the video didn’t lack the discipline, but were really vulnerable emotionally which fucks you up in a world like that, and they were also v young. I do think it’s funny how Vogue is doing those video though, as if they still kept calling these girls after they gained

I can see that point of view too...I guess it’s important to see it in a hindsight point of view. I can see where that could really mess with a young girls mind. I know I heard plenty of hurtful things about my body growing up and I wasn’t a model!

 

[Plume]

*agrees with every post on this thread despite them being contradictary because I have such mixed feelings about all of this*

 

[No One]

it fucks you up mentally to have a Wall Street journal article about how you got rejected from Paris fashion week because how you weight

OK but if anybody deserves that, it's Ali Michael.

 

[71000]

I agree that models are a vulnerable group as a whole. Obviously it's wrong for them to be exploited or mistreated, and more regulation would probably help.

But THESE girls? These girls from wealthy countries (aside from Caroline) who had access to other opportunities but chose to model anyway? I don't feel that bad for them. Maybe I lack empathy, or maybe I'm a just a bad person. But every job has its downsides, and modeling is hardly the only job where workers are treated inhumanely sometimes. I'm not saying that justifies harsh treatment of models (and of course humiliation is never okay), but at the same time...I have mixed feelings about this because I feel like many of the complaints in these videos are trivial in comparison to the expectations for other tough industries.

 

[Blair Waldorf]

Julia Ratner posted this on her story -

And then linked this video...

 

[sentier]

I don't know, I think with Gemma it was a bit of a sad situation since it was after she quit modelling, had a baby and she never appeared to be one to complain about the weight requirements for jobs (like Ali for example)

Actually Gem is referring to the Chanel bikini situation where she was shamed by Karl for her weight. The Aussie media were especially brutal. She was going through a lot at the time and it was a pretty horrid situation for someone so young.

 

[sentier]

I did feel bad for them at some points, despite my better judgment, not because they gained weight and couldn't work, but because of how they were treated. The bodysuit situation and the newspaper headline were a bit unnecessary imo, and Gemma crying is just as sad/adorable as it was 15 years ago in that one runway show.

HOWEVER I know most people are going to take this as "modeling= eating disorders, fuck the industry, all models should be plus size!!!!!!!11" which is annoying af. If you're overly sensitive/prone to eating disorders/don't know how to lose weight healthily, maybe don't be a runway model? And of course I skipped over all the plus size model parts

Exactly. The fuck was that story from Sarah about an adult designer smirking at a minor's body? Absolutely stupid. This isn't about enforcing standards, it is about remembering models are human beings.

The situation with Myla working for a month was pretty whatever - I mean just get a new job, not everyone is cut our ro be a model and she seemed to be well into her 20s. WSJ using Ali's humiliating situation for clickbait was low, but that is the choice you make when becoming a public figure - it is their job to write about relevant topics and they weren't insulting here so eh.

 

[FashionThin]

an adult designer smirking at a minor's body?

Actually Gem is referring to the Chanel bikini situation where she was shamed by Karl for her weight. The Aussie media were especially brutal. She was going through a lot at the time and it was a pretty horrid situation for someone so young.

Uh no. Gemma doesn't get to make herself a victim now. She gained the weight on purpose and to be a rebellious brat and make everyone else's life difficult too. She was going through a big "fuck you" phase and being rude and not listening to anyone. She is the only model I've ever seen get slapped in front of everyone backstage (totally deserved btw). She was warned so many times that she was gaining and had to be careful. She didn't listen.

People now try to say it's because she was depressed and upset about Heath Ledger dying. But Heath Ledger died a long time after she started gaining weight. One thing I do agree with is that her agencies shouldn't have let anyone book her when she was fat. She should have been on hiatus, no exceptions. But some clients insisted, at least one major one that I know of, and they knew she was fat. Then they bitched about how disgusting she looked.. like "omg yeah I know you told me she was fat I just didn't think you meant like FAT fat". That's the only part that isn't her fault. But no one except Gemma put the food in her mouth.

 

[sabine]

Seems like a strange double standard to post this video. Is Vogue really going to do anything to ensure that no model they use henceforth is going to suffer from the same pressure and shame? I somehow doubt it.

 

[art hoe]

Seems like a strange double standard to post this video. Is Vogue really going to do anything to ensure that no model they use henceforth is going to suffer from the same pressure and shame? I somehow doubt it.

Pandering to an audience who can’t understand or appreciate high fashion content has been Vogue’s sort of niche of late, unfortunately. I anticipate more clickbaity feelgood nonsense that appears progressive but is truly shallow.

Sorry if I’m being insensitive or rude, but I have so little patience for pieces like this. There are many ways to explore mental health issues in industry settings, and there are many ways to discuss appreciation of many types of the (usually female) body, and there are many conversations to be had validly critiquing industry practice, like Gucci’s insistent inclusion of multicultural artifacts, often to the dismay of the cultures affected.

But fashion is not an layman’s game. It is an elite group’s artistic practice. And exclusivity/high standard is not something to be shamed, but rather what keeps the industry extraordinary.

When that ends, the magic does.