9.10.2006

Too Skinny for the Runway?


While reading my daily RSS feeds, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this little article - "Skinny Models Banned From Top Fashion Show." At first I thought "oops, this must be from "The Onion," because clearly, it would seem highly unlikely that the waifs that have donned our runways would be criticized by the very industry that created them.

But, I was wrong. This is actually a real story.

Apparently, the organizers of Madrid's Fashion week, The Fashion Designers of Spain and the Madrid regional government have decided to use the BMI Index to calculate each of the model's mass index. Any model with a BMI of under 18 was considered too underweight to take part in the shows. Ironically enough, this BMI (which is still very low) precluded Spain's top model, Esther Canadas from participating in Fashion Week.

I applaud this decision. Now, don't get me wrong - staying in shape and taking care of oneself is very important to me (increasingly so as I get older - gulp). I am not one of these women who will hate another woman simply because she is too beautiful (like any other natural born attribute, good for them). I appreciate beauty in other women, and I sincerely admire the looks of these drop-dead gorgeous runway models, including the aforementioned Canadas. BUT, I sincerely believe that many of these Super Models would be even more lethally stunning with just a few more pounds on their undernourished frames.

Of course, not being male, I am not an expert in what is considered the "ideal" female physique. I am also not naive enough to believe that beauty has a uniform definition (what is beautiful to one, may not be to another) and that this ideal encompasses so much more than just the outer packaging. But, I do wonder what the American male thinks about this article - care to chime in? The definition of beauty has vacillated over time, and will continue to do so. Are we on the cusp of another change?

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don’t think that runway models represent the ideal of the female physique for the typical beer guzzling, NFL watching, high BMI index, American male. I’ll refer you to the pages of Maxim or Playboy for what does. Most runway models are chosen by designers (mostly women or gay men) to highlight the attributes of the clothing they are attempting to market. I don’t know much about the fashion industry, but apparently ludicrously thin women are preferred for this purpose.

9:38 PM

 

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