Ever since the infamous Twiggy – all 91 pounds of her – emerged from the English fashion scene and made the emaciated look the biggest thing in American fashion as well, aspiring models have been dying to look just like her – now literally as well as figuratively.
On Aug. 2, 2006, Luisel Ramos, a model from Uruguay, died from heart failure caused by her severe case of anorexia nervosa. At 5-foot-9 inches tall, Ramos weighed only 98 pounds when she died, and was rumored to have dieted solely on lettuce leaves and diet soda for months beforehand.
Despite Ramos’ death, American designers have yet to place any regulations on the size of girls that walk down their runways. However, designers in European countries such as Italy, Spain and England have started to place bans on ultra-thin models, hoping to dissuade models from self-destructive behavior like Ramos’.
However, these fashion-forward countries haven’t stopped their progressive thinking at the catwalk. Some Spanish designers whose lines are sold at Zara, a popular European clothing chain, even agreed to participate in a program started by the country’s health ministry to regulate women’s clothing sizes from brand to brand. The ministry and designers believe that regulation will make it less likely for women to feel obligated to lose weight if they fit in a certain size of one clothing line – for example, a size six in Guess or Calvin Klein – but a larger size in another, like a size 10 in Miss Sixty or True Religion. The program is also trying to mandate a minimum size that they will allow for Zara’s window displays, which would be equivalent to an American size 8.
While the Council of Fashion Designers of America has acknowledged that the fashion industry has an impact on how women perceive their physical appearances, it is unlikely that it will follow in the footsteps of its European counterparts and regulate the sizes of its models.
And most of us, women at least, have witnessed firsthand that a size 8 at Banana Republic, for example, is not always the same as a size 8 at Old Navy – an odd phenomenon, because both chains are owned by the same company. But the mystery remains, why hasn’t the CFDA caught on to the European idea of size regulation and promoting a healthy self-image?
University alumna Janine Bell, who moved to New York after graduation in 2006 to pursue a modeling career, says, “I think [the modeling industry] sets a bad image to America, that this [incredibly skinny size] is what you should be. But those models – when you can see their bones – that is despicable.”
Bell, who is 5-foot-10 inches tall, wears around a size zero in American sizes, but is “naturally built this way,” she says. And although she doesn’t support the American trend of shrinking models (10 years ago, the average size in the business was a six or eight, while it is now a zero or two), Bell also said that is just the way the American modeling business works.
“I think a size 6 would look better than a size 2,” she says. But, “the industry would pay me no mind if I gained 10, 15, 20 pounds … and I want to reach the top,” she added.
While Bell is happy with her current weight, Ramos was undoubtedly not, and Brazilian model Ana Reston, who died of a the same condition three months later with only 88 pounds on her 5-foot-8-inch frame, probably wasn’t either. As Bell says, “Those models, they went too far. … But then again, the industry sort of tells you [that] you have to.” And sadly, many models are still listening.
Contact reporter Courtney Pomeroy at diversions@dbk.umd.edu.
