The fashion industry is once again at the center of controversy. All too often it acts as if all women are skinny Caucasians. Now, some members of the industry have turned to using models who may be too young.
Here is a screenshot of a page from the ABC News website:
The ABC News story says a 14-year-old girl “is sultry, sophisticated and wore a barely-there sheer white gown as she led a parade of models at Christian Dior’s Paris fashion show earlier this month.”
A 14-year-old girl is “sultry” and “sophisticated”? Really?
Christian Dior’s choice for a leading model fits the narrow mold that the industry favors: light-haired pale-skinned females who look as if they have an eating disorder.
Why isn’t this particular industry more diverse? Fashion critic Robin Givhan states, “Part of the reason I think it remains challenging is because of our fundamental belief in what defines classic beauty, at least the Western version of it. Everything else is a riff on that — subverting it, pulling away from it. But the standard is the blue-eyed blonde.”
Usually, if an industry were to have a policy favoring blue-eyed blonde people, then the mainstream media would complain about it until the policy was changed. Yet, it took the work of bloggers to get such a thing done.
From Fashionista.com: “How Bloggers Made The Fashion Industry Pay More Attention To Minorities”
Fashion blogging, despite its reputation for over-Photoshopped Instagrams posted by wannabe models with heads full of hot air, has also forced the industry to recognize groups of women that have been ignored in the past. When we criticize the fashion industry, we often talk about how we can’t see ourselves on the pages of magazines, or even on the racks at the store. We complain about how the industry dictates beauty standards that are unachievable for the majority of the population. But while there are bloggers who perpetuate those stereotypes, there are also many popular ones who don’t. And they are the ones moving the needle.
Congratulations to the female bloggers who did the job that the mainstream media wouldn’t do, because if the public is to be subjected to models who are blue-eyed blondes, then the latter should look like Kate Upton …
… because she actually eats.
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CREDITS:
Featured Image from Featureflash / Shutterstock.com.
Image of Kate Upton from FashionStock.com / Shutterstock.com
Screenshot made by post’s author.
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