BY MEAGAN HU

In print | November 15, 2007

Flipping through a March 1924 issue of “Today’s Housewife” that I recently received as a gift, I was amused by how archaic most of the topics were. One article advised that if young girls watched the movement of their jaws as they chewed gum in front of a mirror, they would be reminded of a “patient cow” and be convinced never to chew gum in public again. Another passage cautioned that bare knees (in public conveyances!) are inexcusable. And then I came across an ad that proclaimed: “Stout women, you too can dress as fashionably as your slender sister.”

Although historical currents since that 1924 advertisement have caused the link between slender and fashion-forward to waver at times, the association is still a deeply entrenched idea. Fast-forward 82 years from the publication of that magazine to 2006, when Uruguay Fashion Week made international headlines after model Luisel Ramos died of a heart attack caused by anorexia nervosa after collapsing on the runway. A few weeks later, the regional government of Madrid issued an order demanding that models for Madrid Fashion Week have a body-mass index of at least 18. The World Health Organization considers a healthy BMI to be between 18.5 and 24.9. The National Eating Dis-orders Association says the world’s top models have an average BMI of 16.3. Ramos’ was 14.5.

The fact that the fashion world is currently experiencing a “tyranny of thinness” is testament to the lasting power of skinniness in fashion. The pose of model Olga Sherer for a recent ad for the fashion house Lanvin is representative of the type of figure the fashion world currently embraces. Sherer stands in profile, her silhouette making an S-shape with her back curved out, chest sunk in and pelvis pushed out. Her head extends forward like a Galapagos tortoise reaching out for sustenance. The lighting projects directly on her front, and the background is pitch black, so that only the front of her body is highlighted, the backs of her legs and arms remaining hidden in shadows. This unique posture and lighting accentuates Sherer’s lanky frame and minimizes any overtly feminine features.

While Lanvin’s gaunt, android silhouette is extreme on the spectrum of thin figures in fashion media, it is still representative of the ideal body type: tall, thin and androgynous. There is nothing conventionally attractive about the model in this advertisement, certainly nothing that would attract a straight male audience the way that women represented in men’s magazines would.

So what is behind this drive towards the ultra-thin figure? One factor is the emphasis in recent years on big volume and size in clothing and accessories, which make the body seem even slimmer by comparison. In a world that loves to play with opposites, it becomes almost formulaic that oversized designs should accompany an undersized frame. One reassuring antidote to this phenomenon is the way the sartorial landscape seems to be retreating from the oversized, presenting clothes that are more restrained and controlled.

Another factor is that the ideal body type for women in high fashion has moved away from catering to a conventionally male gaze. Models are now pushed to lose more weight by another set of predominantly male eyes, this time those of the fashion designers. While there are incredibly influential women designers, like Miuccia Prada and Diane von Furstenberg, the world of fashion is still largely ruled by (gay) men, including Karl Lagerfeld, Zac Posen, Tom Ford and many more, whose aesthetic sensibilities are geared towards super-skinny bodies. Therefore, while the regulations and guidelines from health associations regarding models’ weights are a step in the right direction, at the end of the day, these rules are hard to enforce. Call it their creative license, but designers won’t stop making clothes that fit ultra-skinny bodies if that’s what they are inspired to do. On the other side, it’s difficult to prevent models from harming their bodies to get work. As long as there are designers who want to create clothes for super skinny bodies, there will be models to fill the demand to wear them. Once under the influence of the patriarchy, now at the mercy of the gay-triarchy, today’s models are a far cry from our “slender sisters” of yesteryear.

Meagan is a senior. You can reach her at mhu1@swarthmore.edu.

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