This Whole Models-as-Hangers Thing

This whole “models should be thin because they are the hangers for the clothing” thing… it’s got to stop. And while people watching such statements on television pull a face or look at each other surreptitiously behind the designer’s back, someone needs to turn to the designers that repeat this adage, and say clearly in a way that cannot be misunderstood: “You, sir/madam, are an asshole.” Comparisons to Hitler would also be accurate, effective, and encouraged.

While fashion designers certainly consider themselves artists – so much so that it’s actually impossible to make a parody of the fashion world because of some of the exaggerated things they do – this insistence that modeling be about the clothing and not about the body beneath it is a screaming logical hole. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the fashion industry has gotten away with telling us what we should do with/about our bodies to fit into their clothing, aesthetics, and whims. I suspect it’s the fashion lobby that’s somehow prevented the completely useless BMI from being dropped as a government medical standard. All I can figure is that the people impacted first by these demands on our physique are starved stupid already so can’t process what they’re being told is false and damaging.

A conscious designer appreciates the human body as a palate, and recognizes that human bodies vary. An excellent designer steps up, takes body variations into account, and can produce clothing suitable for different body types. So perhaps this deadly conspiracy of convincing models that they should be inanimate clothes hangers is far more petty than what initially thought: it could well be to hide a massive lack of talent across the design industry.

When it comes down to it, someone has to wear their clothing, and there are less and less people with $3000 to spend on a handback and $5000 to spend on a dress plus the $4 for the seam ripper to get out of the dress. Being dangerously thin isn’t a good idea for anyone – and the actresses that show both ribs and vertebrae sticking out of their bodies are being rewarded when they really need treatment (has anyone seen Natalie Portman? It’s terrifying!)

I don’t care what kind of electroshock therapy it takes, but these designers need to start taking into account that there are real people modeling their clothing. The models need to eat and sleep – because they are not actually hangers. And if you’ve made something with a model in mind, don’t you dare tell her she needs a few inches off her hips when she weighs what she did at your last show – change your design and let the hips out. Get over yourself. Your designs only work by the consent of people, not because of how they look on the hanger.

Fashion Sanity proposes an interesting step towards resolving this horrendous condition: a plus size Fashion Runway. I also think reintroducing a plus fashion magazine that is more than just a never-ending clothing and diet commercial would be beneficial and have real social impact. The trick: write it like any other fashion magazine, except use actual plus size models, and adjust the writing to include people of size. Plus women are not so different from smaller women, and it’s insulting to see a reminder that the daily calorie allowance is 2000 or less in ever single issue of certain plus-directed magazines.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Culture, Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.