by Estella Ogbonna (Article written for a newspaper)
When you think of the word 'model', what comes to the mind of so many people is stick thin girls running or rather, shall I say, strutting down the runway in dresses that rarely fit them. And even if the dresses do fit them, one wonders how many people in the audience are actually those models' sizes.
Dress size 0. How about that? How many people in the population, with high spending power are that dress size?
This is a major concern that the Council of Fashion Designers in America (CFDA) is presently addressing - the issue of models' sizes. And this is a welcome development. Models are being advised to eat healthy and stay healthy and these days, designers are gearing towards employing models that are not thin, almost to the tone of anorexic.
And who is to be blamed for this must-be-thin habit in models? The media some say. The overload of the thin images in the media affects the average woman. The idea of the media's (and consequently, everybody else's) "ideal" woman often makes "normal" woman self-conscious -- even if they have nothing to be self-conscious about. The use of PhotoShop to tweak images into almost like a 'Barbie-doll' state also does not help matters.
Also, the definite impact Hollywood role models have on younger viewers. For most teenagers, the ideal person they want to be usually is a famous model or actress - with emphasis on external appearance. Perhaps this is part of the reason that so many teenagers today are unhappy with their appearances, and going as far as starving themselves almost to death.
These are major concerns that everyone in the fashion industry should go out of their ways to address. And more reason seminars and workshops should be organized for models and aspiring models.
Designers should also be applauded and encouraged to hire models who are not thin, as that would make more room for others in the not-so-thin ranges to develop more confidence in themselves.
These trend is already tickling into the Washington DC metro areas. As we see more of curvy models on runways now and we hope this continues. These fusion of the thin, not so thin, curvy and very curvy models - on the runway. After all, the shops sell dresses and garments of diverse sizes, so, the runways should reflect that too.
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