Fashion Forum

I honestly think people have become too politically correct; heaven forbid you call an obese person "fat", but if you call someone of a slim-to-average build "anorexic", despite the insulting nature of accusing someone of having a serious mental disorder, it's viewed as being a 'compliment'.

"Curvy" has become a euphemism for overweight because we are pandering to the vast percentage of overweight individuals to the degree that people have forgotten that 'curvy' is a term designed to describe shape, not size.

The fashion industry is not about promoting the average or ordinary - it's about the fantasy it creates.

Why would we want to buy a magazine that shows what we could see if we just walked down the street or looked out our kitchen windows? The average height of the Australian woman is 5'4.5". 5'4.5" at a size 12? No matter how many ways you try to sell it, unless they're a protein-pumped, beefcake, female body-builder, that is not a healthy size. Why promote the 'average, everyday, [so-called] "real"' woman if that image is contributing to the obesity epidemic? There are only so many times you can listen to "this is how women are suppose to look!" [insert suction knickers advertisement here].

The size of models is not meant to be the focal point of a fashion show or a fashion shoot - guess what? The fashion is! Lumps, bumps and boobs get in the way and distract from the purpose of these shows and shoots - looking at the clothes.

The fashion industry isn't based around taking care of the fragile self esteem of the overly-sensitive and excessively politically correct looking for a scapegoat for the problems in the world. It's about selling clothes. Seems to be doing okay so far.

Very well argued Courtenay, I can't help but agree that political correctness is far too rife these days.

Why thank you :P It frustrates me quite a bit and I'm not exactly the quiet sort :P

Courtenay you said it perfectly.

I am 5"10 and i'm a healthy size 6 thanks to good genes, however i get called anorexic on a daily basis by random people i have never met before, On one occasion i had a woman on chapel st come out of her commission flat and told me i need to come home with her for a meal!
I found that pretty insulting.

I wouldn't dream of calling an obese person fat, or a curvy person fat for that matter yet why does society feel they can poke sticks at a slim person?

I find what Lagerfield said to be correct to a certain point although I wouldn't put obese and curvy in the same box.....

There ARE are too many obese women on couches with a bag of chips saying supermodels are ugly.
I've certainly witnessed it first hand.

I get the same thing! Ironically enough, it often occurs while I'm eating XD

I overheard a young girl (about 12? 13?) about a metre away from me tell her mum she thought I was pretty; her mum responded with a scoff and "eating disorders are not attractive".

I was gob-smacked.

So I finished the last of my large smoothie and threw the cup in the bin with a glare at the mother.

Talk about a double standard :/

Karl x TokiDoki

I think Karl did cross the line a bit, no ned to be insulting. However, Courtenay summed it up pretty well: fashion is about selling clothes, not models.
I'm no model, I'm 5'4.5" but still a size 6 and I get the ugliest comments from people. Do i eat? Yes, more than you probably do. Am I anorexic? No. Am I healthy? Hell yes. I wish people would stop being hypocrites since most of these women criticize you while they starve themselves.

I agree with Lauren and Courtenay completely. We have become way too PC, but more importantly we know as a world we are getting so sendintary, lazy, and Fat.

I've heard the argument that women in previous decades were heavy and that was beautiful, or that women with "curves" should be "accepted". The truth is, they were seen as such because having food and the results of eating alot was sexy because it conveyed affluence and a certain unattainablity. Today, staying in shape, keeping a thin figure and 'looking good in Barney's' covneys that very same aire.

These are women with curves: http://www.fashionising.com/pictures/p--Pirelli-2010-Calendar-Preview-NSFW-3181-46079.html. The woman in the Glamour piece is fat!

As an American, I see how people suck down the soda and fries and it disgusts me. I, myself, am a lover of food (especially pizza and pasta) and have vasilated from a little fat to having a very atheltic build (several times) over the last 10 yrs. If my comments above sound mean, people ought to should consider that caring for your body is something that can be acheived and should be a priority.

-mas

I wrote about this subject in my high school newspaper three years ago. Courtenay, you said it beautifully. It something that I am extremely passionate about.
I have been 100 lbs for nearly 8 years now. I have ALWAYS been a skinny girl with small bones and skinny genes. My mother is small just like me. It is so hard to gain weight and it can be really frustrating at times.
I find it ridiculous that someone can walk up to me everyday and call me "anorexic" "bulimic" or "too-skinny".. but cannot walk up to someone and call them "overweight." It is both insulting and rude to be called "too-skinny." People dont realize the impact their words have on others and it is frankly very sad.
I know it is rude to call someone fat, but it is just as insulting to assume that someone skinny does not eat. When in fact, we eat a lot of food. A LOT. Do not assume anything about anyone because you do not know that person.
Calling someone anorexic and bulimic is just the same as calling someone obese or fat. It is just "socially acceptable" to call someone a "twig." heaven forbid we allow someone to be called "obese" to their face.
The fashion industry is an illusion in my opinion. I love everything about fashion, dont get me wrong. But I do not think that the fashion industry will allow larger more curvy women into runway or modeling just for the sheer fact that it is an "illusion world." It is based of appearance and status and beauty and skinny genes. And in todays society if you do not have all of those things, you are not considered to be "ideal." That is the sad truth but that is just how it is in the fashion world.

I completely disagree with the notion that curvy individuals are real whereas those who are naturally thin are disgusting. I eat a lot but am naturally thin and have heard the words, "you must work really hard to keep your figure that way" because the current ideal in the media is for models to be thin and therefore most women think it's what everyone tries to be like and say it's unhealthy. I agree that women becoming anorexic to strive for a thinner body is unhealthy and wrong, but what about those that are naturally that way, are they fake? Also, if trends start moving toward naturally curvy women, will it then become unhealthy and wrong for those that are naturally thin to start trying to gain weight and add breast and butt implants? Will thin women then rebel by creating a magazine with real thin women? clothes are best shown on thin bodies. It's easier to make clothes for women that have a specific body type and therefore show off the clothes and not the curves of the woman.