‘Too fat’ for fashion: the desperate things models do to stay thin
Danis model Ulrikke Hoyer was told to only have water because she was 'too bloated'. Photo: Instagram
It is surprising, if not highly ironic, that a law has just passed in France that bans the use of unhealthily thin fashion models.
Apparently, models will need to provide a doctor’s certificate to prove their overall physical health, especially to their body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight in relation to height.
In my experience in the industry, France, and in particular Paris, has always promoted thin as the height of chic.
I would go so far as to say its part of their culture, the Jane Birkin ideal of the gamine, the boyish figure with shaggy hair and endless legs.
Dieting is not considered oppressive or dangerous, it’s more de rigueur, something one is unquestionably required to do in order to stay fashionable and sexy.
I recall once having afternoon tea at a very posh restaurant in Paris and being shown the dessert trolley laden with delicacies.
My companion, a very slim French PR in her late 30s, looked at the waiter and said “Mais non, I just had a baby”. He nodded understandingly and without a word passing between them returned with a bowl of tiny strawberries (no sugar on top of course) and a black tea. Imagine that in an Aussie restaurant.
When I worked in magazines, the samples from the French design houses were always the smallest, and models had to be cast to fit the clothes, no doubt spurring all sorts of intense weight-loss regimes for those girls who wanted to wear the “hottest” label.
Danish model Ulrikke Hoyer took to social media recently to report that she was told by a casting director to drink nothing but water for 24 hours and was then dropped by Louis Vuitton because she was too bloated and “fat” to walk the runway at their Cruise show in Kyoto (she’s a European size 4, an Australian size 8).
It’s not right, it’s not healthy, anyone would agree. But I am also wary of the idea of insisting that models come with health certificates, or BMI scores.
It’s a commodification of women that does not allow for natural anomalies, and it is in no way a true measure as to whether a person is healthy or not.
Models can binge, starve, over-exercise, and unless you are monitoring them 24/7, 365 days a year, you really don’t know.
The health ministry claimed “the aim is to fight eating disorders and inaccessible ideals of beauty”, and of course the model agencies aren’t happy, because the simple truth is that casting agents and designers will always want the girls to be thin.
Gigi Hadid at the beginning of her career looked like a healthy, real girl. Not so many bookings. Look at her now, after dropping serious kilos. She’s at the top of the modelling tree.
Yes, there are bigger models making some inroads – Robyn Lawley, Kate Upton and Ashley Graham. But their lovely curves tend to cast them in the area of swimwear, and lingerie, not so much opening and closing a high-fashion Paris show.
Some designers are pushing the boundaries, casting real people, of all sizes, different ethnicities and different ages and this may one day become the norm.
But until then, expect armies of slim young girls, some armed with fake doctor’s certificates. For an industry that says it likes to break the rules, fashion mostly doesn’t – especially when it comes to body shape.
