Bright Lights, High Fashion, and the Runway

By Owen Tran, staff writer
Wednesday October 11, 2006

Bright lights, high fashion, and the runway are common terms associated with a model. The modern day supermodel dominates the metropolitan scene of high class and glamour. As the epitome of beauty and perfection, models are pressured to maintain their form and appearance. But what is the accepted appearance? What is “in” and what is “out”?

For men, being a model is as simple as staying in shape and having a beautiful face. For women, unfortunately, this is not the case. Fragile faces and slim figures grace magazines and advertisements. Eighteen-inch waists have become a standard for Dolce and Gabbana and Gucci models.

How do these women become so skinny? Their emaciated figures, skeletons with a layer of beautiful layer of skin, have led teens to look to anorexia and bulimia, two of the most common eating disorders, as cure-alls. With increasing trends in anorexic and bulimic behavior amongst women, especially teenagers, it seems inappropriate to further promote anorexics as the definition of beauty. Viewers, however, still get the impression that ultra thin is attractive.

At the Madrid fashion show, five models were banned from the catwalk because they were over 5 feet 7 inches and weighed less than 121.25 pounds. These women failed the body mass index test used to weed out the unhealthily thin. Body mass index can be found by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared and by multiplying that total by 703. The five models who were not allowed to walk scored below the healthy, normal scores of 18.5-24.9 BMI.

Fashion show organizer Cuca Solana stated, “I don't want walking skeletons.”

Hopefully, Solana's powerful words will influence London 's fashion show to follow Madrid's example. Other fashion industries are encouraged to follow the example of promoting a healthier image of beauty.

However, models are not only associated with extremely thin bodies, but many other qualities describe these beauty queens. Usually, models are stereotyped as dumb, beautiful divas with fierce personalities. Although this is a common misconception, stereotypes always have some truth to them, otherwise they simply wouldn't exist.

The Wired Baron surveyed several students to see if their image of a model correlated with the common stereotypes. Each individual was asked about what reminded them of a model. This included characteristics, personality, or appearance of a model. Take a look at what these FVHS students had to say:

Models are……

Titus Jahng (Junior, '08): All body, no brains. Brainless beauty.
(Titus appealed to a stereotype and obviously did not have confidence in a model's intelligence.)

Adam Truong (Senior, '07): Zoolander. Being a model is about looking really, really ridiculously good-looking. Models are also oblivious to everything.
(Adam quoted Derek Zoolander from the movie, “Zoolander." As they say, “3% body fat, 1% brain activity.”)

Lizzy Watkins (Junior, '08): Anorexic and not smart!
(As Lizzy says, “1% body fat, 0% brain activity.”)

Dennis Dalisay (Junior, '08): Sexy, self-centered, non-eating, self-hating, and cocaine-snorting.
(Drug addiction is yet another stereotype that Dennis seems to be familiar with. No, he isn't familiar with drug addiction!)

Thao and Anna Nguyen (Juniors, '08): Classy, beautiful, poised, and confident
(Girls are too easy on these models!)

Andy Tran (Junior, '08): Victoria Secret.
(Ah, yes. We can't forget the bodacious beauties, and neither can Andy.)

Ivan Zheng (Senior, '07): BLT.
(The anatomy of a sandwich: bacon, lettuce, and tomato. The anatomy of a woman: breast, legs, and thighs. Are Andy and Ivan related?)

As you can see, some people adhered to the common stereotypes of a model: beautiful, narcissistic, physically fit, incapable of thinking, and super thin. But do you believe that runway models should be sporting the look of a skeleton?

With the ever-growing media, more and more young girls turn toward anorexia and bulimia with the hopes of being as “good-looking” as their model counterparts. It only follows suit that Mrs. Foley's human skeleton model will be the standard of beauty.

What do you think about a model?