"If you look at the girls, they are not beautiful like models were 20 years ago...The girls are thin, they have strange faces... At first, you look at them and you're not sure if they're beautiful or disgusting." - Jimmy Pihet, Spokesman for the Federation Française de la Couture, in the Wall Street Journal, in relation to Ali Michael being sent home from Paris for having gained five pounds.
Feb 28, 2008 @ 1:39pm
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 2:11PM
so trueeee most the girls now are scary and i know cause i see um first hand
posted by shinyredthermos
Feb 28, 2008 2:15PM
that article is very sad. sure high fashion clothes look better on tall and slender figures, and their is the fantasy and artistic aspect to fashion that asks us to suspend reality. and of course fashion should be taken and interpreted idividually.but these models are real 16 year old girls, who are not only still physically growing, but emotionally too. is it fair to ask them to keep off that extra five pounds? absolutely not.
i would love to see a popular designer take a stand and have their models be sizes 6 or 8.
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 2:36PM
Ali is an incredible model and I hope that the industry stands behind her. Also, I hope that it doesn't affect her career, or worse, make her not eat again. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment and the French certainly aren't helping the fact that people think they are snobs!
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 2:42PM
that is disgusting that they would be that upset over FIVE POUNDS. also im surprised that more people arent upset about this. honestly, as a "normal sized" person, this makes me so mad.
posted by leia
Feb 28, 2008 3:18PM
The fact that she was sent home over five pounds makes me so mad! After all the stink last season about the underweight models, then they turn around and send Ali home, but it seems Lily Donaldson's new bobble-head look is all the rage this season!
Hmmpph!
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 3:26PM
This is disgraceful. I had finally warmed up to Ali Michaels' look this season, she was positively glowing. If that healthy beauty comes with five pounds, then screw anyone who would tell her she somehow failed as a model. French designers are officially dead to me.
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 5:44PM
like there would even BE anyone on here commenting or reading for that matter if it weren't for lily-alikes. this is FASHION. if the girls resembled "real" women then what's the point of a runway show? why wouldn't it be enough just to see that fabulous executive walking down sixth in her louboutins and chanel tweed suit jacket? the girls are advertising the clothing and we've worked out how it looks best. end of discussion.
posted by Jac
Feb 28, 2008 6:21PM
Guest 5:44, your argument isn't very compelling, nor does it really address the matter at hand. 5 pounds does not make someone too big to look incredibly skinny and fill out the clothes in the proper way. You're basically advocating that people be very unhealthy for the sake of fashion. It's kind of stupid. Skinny skinny is one thing, but emaciated is another. If people (like the commenters above) stand up to this trend, it can be stopped. And what would be wrong with having girls that are a little healthier on the run way? Just because "it's the way it is." doesnt make it right. Anorexia apologists make me sick.
posted by RayBay
Feb 28, 2008 6:46PM
5:44: I, for one, would still be here commenting and reading if Lily and her scary arms were to morph into something less likely to splinter on contact.
And don't fool yourself. A strikingly beautiful woman is exceptional, no matter what her size. It's not like the minute somebody tips past 120 lbs they become a pedestrian mess.
And finally, who the eff are you to say "end of discussion"? I mean, who says that, except ....Mom?
If so, um, pardon my french.
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 6:57PM
Guest 5:44 is an idiot. Probably a scary looking model as Jimmy Pihet would say.
posted by guest
Feb 28, 2008 8:46PM
Reading that article made my stomach turn. Ali Michael looks stunning - and not even 'real person' stunning, still model stunning. What is wrong with this world??
posted by erinclaire
Feb 28, 2008 9:32PM
I guess Ali's a role model in a way, you'd expect a growing teenager to put on at least a couple of kilograms of weight over time.. Good on her for not conforming and starving herself like it says her model friends are doing in that article.
posted by Lou
Feb 29, 2008 8:30AM
I actually think models are much more beautiful now than in the old days, and no I'm not young and being partial I'm from this old days that everyone keeps talking about like they were something special. Sometimes I'm amazed how beautiful this girls can be. I cannot understand why people would want to see a reflexion of themselfs in the catwalk, I certainly do not want to see mine.
i think it's wrong to send a model home just because she gained weigh, the beauty of a model should be evaluated in general, Lara Stone certainly is not a size 0 and she's drop dead gorgeous, Gemma ward in my opinion looked better when she was skinnier, Fashion does not own people a career.
posted by guest
Feb 29, 2008 10:34AM
Today models are no longer role models but a wrong in our society. In the past models were looked up to, healthy, and absolutely gorgeous. I am so proud of Ali to have gained those 5 pounds which i think is not even a big deal, if it was going to make her look better and healthier why try and keep the usual model sterotype going and send her home?
posted by FWD
Feb 29, 2008 11:03AM
I thought promoting unhealthy body issues was passé now, like It bags and fur.
posted by piccolina42
Feb 29, 2008 1:50PM
Good for Ali for refusing to starve herself, if what her mother said is true. The worst part about the whole thing is that most of these girls will NEVER be anything but skinny, but they encouraged to get to a point where they are so thin that they're really no longer beautiful. I understand why rail thin models are used on the runway, and I am not about to go advocating a parade of size 12s marching down. But the fact of the matter remains that some of them clearly lose so much weight between seasons that they just aren't pretty anymore. It's stupid.
3dsunglasses.blogspot.com
posted by guest
Feb 29, 2008 2:08PM
What always gets me about situations like these surrounding models' weights is that people seem to forget that those girls are a very small percentage of the entire modeling industry. Skinny girls being 'au courrant?' Come on. This all depends on how you define fashion! Open up a JJill, JC Penny catalog or any other high volume retailer's marketing-those women are size 4-6-even 8(!). There is a market for those size models-I know because I AM one working successfully and frequently for one of these massive retailers. All the models I know, including myself fluctuate throughout the whole month 5 lbs up and 5lbs down (it's called being a woman!). And we still get booked for editorials and more "trendy" designers. There is massively incorrect stereotyping of this industry that hurts EVERYONE...not just women who starve themselves to 'look' like (14-year old!) models or models who starve themselves to work in 'high fashion.' My point is, there is no need for these extremes. If you are a model you can still work and not starve! It's a job like any other and there is very little real glory in it-except maybe for some money. Media be damned. Modeling, at it's core is just advertising and why should any of us be slaves to that? For what?
posted by guest
Mar 01, 2008 12:13AM
5:44, models ARE real women. You can't just dehumanize them because they're models. They have issues to worry about just like everyone; especially because their health and lives can be at risk. Do you propose that young and beautiful girls (lucky enough to be models) with so much to look forward to stop being real and give up everything to advertise clothes? if so, shame on you. Model murderer!
posted by guest
Mar 04, 2008 3:01PM
Hi! (Sorry if my English is not good enough) The point is I would like to see healthy models on the runway. It won't kill anybody to watch a HEALTHY girl walking down the runway. I mean, c'mon!
We have to deal with the fact that they are teenagers who have a lot of things to learn about life, and now this girls with (and I dare to say) awkawrd faces and tooth-brush-alike bodies are the biggest hit!
I'm not saying that you have to be extremely beautiful to be a model. I think that it could bring more publicity to the designer using standard girls and not alien girls.
posted by guest
Apr 04, 2008 1:14PM
I know that even five pounds on a very thin frame can make a HUGE difference in your appearance. I weigh 117, and if I gain any weight, I don't even have to step on the scale to know. I just look at myself and I can actually see where I gained it. I do think, however, that it would not make enough of a difference for her to be excluded from all of those shows. That is a little ridiculous, I know she could still fit the clothes. Unfortunately, this is the image that the designer chooses to represent themself, and we as a public have no say in that. I still believe that they should have to have a BMI of at least 18 just for the sake of their own health and well being. I feel bad for her being excluded for something so trite.
posted by old soul
Feb 28, 2008 2:02PM
This article kind of broke my heart -- I feel bad for Ali Michael, but maybe it's better for her in the long run.