It seems the fashion industry is seeing thinner and thinner models each year, which quite frankly has been doing society no favours. With role models such as Kate Moss uttering words that can only shatter self esteem levels to a groundbreaking low, 'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' I ask myself just how much thinner can we get?
As designers continue to create unreasonably small sample sizes, the 'Paris thin' look is becoming more and more prominent on our catwalks, as models must have an incredibly slight, size zero frame to even fit into the clothes in the first place. On from this when magazines shoot, featuring garments from the catwalk collections, they too can only hire models who can get into the clothes, which only means this vicious circle continues.
But It isn't just the 'Paris thin' models that are contributing to the eating disorders, body image anxiety and depression we are seeing more and more of within society. We are set unrealistic and unachievable expectations through the use of photoshop. During the week we are exposed to 5000 photo-shopped images and with 90% of British women suffering with body image anxiety, it's unsurprising that research has shown that the 'airbrushing culture' leads to self esteem issues. Due to this deceiving use of airbrush, I feel that young girls have absolutely no hope of feeling comfortable in their own skin. How can they? They are comparing themselves to something which is completely unrealistic, because in reality these models don't look how they do post photoshop so the young women of society can't expect to either.
Eating disorders have doubled over the past 15 years and depression in women has doubled between 2000 and 2010. These statistics suggest that the desire to look 'perfect' is taking a horrifying toll on society. However many high profile stars are beginning to fight back to photoshop including, Lady Gaga, Ashley Benson, Keira Knightley and Beyonc
é. To the right is an image from H&M's 2013 swimwear campaign in which Beyonc
é featured. The singer was incredibly offended when she discovered that H&M had altered her image to which she immediately fought back, refusing to allow the fast fashion brand to airbrush the images. The images were later released without airbrushing which I think sends a great message out to the young girls of society. After all Beyonc
é is know for her beautiful curves, why should they be airbrushed?
Many young women are too self conscious that they don't even feel comfortable exercising, I think that these insecurities are heavily influenced by social media. It seems everyones lives are occupied with taking the perfect selfie and stalking gorgeous Australian blondes with the perfect pearly white smile and a dirty tan (we all do it girls). This social media obsession is clearly having an affect on our self esteem levels and with our appearance being graded by the amount of likes our selfies get, is there any wonder? This desire to look 'perfect' on social media is becoming increasingly out of control, so much so that now many are editing the photos they post on sites such as Instagram and Facebook.
You have probably began to notice the 'plus size model' trend that has become prominent within the fashion industry over the past few years. We are now seeing curvier women on catwalks and many more plus size clothing ranges and brands. The gap in the market for plus size has been spotted by mass market fashion brands who are now using plus size models within campaigns, advertising and dedicating whole plus size ranges to the curvier woman. High street brands who now offer a plus size range include Misguided, Forever 21 and H&M. Plus size models are becoming much more high profile than they have been before. Katya Zharkova is the first plus size model to appear in Cosmopolitan Russia and has worked with labels including Forever 21 and Silver Jeans. She supports the idea that we have right to live healthily but without the pressure to obey society’s standards when it comes to beauty and image.
I hope that this post has made you a little more aware of the process images go through to create 'perfection' these days, so remember to bear that in mind next time you have the urge to compare yourself with an airbrushed model!
Love, Isabella x
Photo Credits: Google images
