Fashion Forum

The wankery continues!

From LMFF we discover:

The LOréal Melbourne Fashion Festival is excited by an initiative developed by the Victorian State Government to develop a Media Code of Conduct around body image.

This will set guidelines for the ways in which fashion and related images are projected through media channels. Like Victoria, the French fashion industry is also getting in on the action, having recently signed a charter to promote healthy body images in magazine advertisements and on the catwalks of Paris. This got the Festival team thinking how vital a positive concept of ones own image relates to self esteem and confidence.

When was the last time you got a little boost of your ego with a compliment from a friend, colleague or even stranger? All too often we dont tell those around us how fabulous they look even though we are thinking it.

At the Festival office we are all for spreading the love.

LMFF suggests we all start a campaign to get fashionistas to spread supporting words by complimenting friends and strangers on how great they look; it might be the way they are wearing a piece of clothing, the way they have styled their hair or make up or it might just be that they have an air of confidence that is worth commending. Youll be surprised how good youll feel for telling someone else they look great (and it will no doubt make them feel great as well).

To become involved, read about the Code and its champions, find out more, make suggestions or get a speaker to an event, visit www.youth.vic.gov.au or ring 03 9208 3220.

There's gotta be an election coming up.

Sadly it seems they're not joking, and think they might be doing some good here;

Altered and Enhanced Images
The use of unachievable and unrealistic digitally manipulated images of people in the media is discouraged. If such alteration has occurred, digitally altered images should be disclosed and accompanied by a tag stating that this image has been digitally altered to help young people make a balanced appraisal.

Diversity in Shapes
Consideration should be given to the inclusion of a variety of body shapes, to provide fair representation in both editorial and advertising images.

Fair Placement
Consideration should be given to the editorial context in which diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery advertising is placed.

Modelling Health
Glamorisation of severely underweight models or celebrities is potentially dangerous; effort should be made to depict people of healthy weight and size.

I'll be writing to ask what they'll be doing to discourage the inclusion of people who are severely overweight in media sources.

A healthy size is not 24 either.

If they're against people in the media who are seen as "severely underweight" then discourage those who are above a healthy BMI.

It's ridiculous and represents a double standard.

*agrees with courtenay*
instead of attacking the problem, they are taking the easy option with a scapegoat.
ask anybody who has had an eating disorder (hell ask me- been there, done that) its not about the media, its not about other people, its not abotu wanting to be skinny like the models, its about looking at yourself and your body and thinking "im too fat". my BMI for most of my life was under 18, and i still thought i was fat- not because there were skinnier people on tv, but because i could see it on myself.

and whats healthy anyway? the population is getting FATTER. most women have noticed sizes on the increase (there is no bloody way in hell i am smaller than a size 6, but lately they are all too frikken big for me!) so where 50 years ago the average woman was a few sizes smaller than they are now- does this mean our notion of what is "healthy" is changing as well? Obiesity int his country is a far bigger problem than anorexia- maybe those in power should be attakcing the real problem instead of the one that everybody can get behind and add their 2 cents to.

*end of rant*

Post by ruru

most women have noticed sizes on the increase (there is no bloody way in hell i am smaller than a size 6, but lately they are all too frikken big for me!)

Vanity sizing has become a massive problem. Cue's sizes have gone that way recently with your girls no a size smaller in their clothing than they normally would be. I've even seen it in men's - I'm a 32" waist and there are certain labels where I fit into their 30"s. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought inches were a universal measurement that couldn't change.

i think airbrushing should be pointed out, however not for teenage girls but rather teenage boys
being bombarded with these images, they establish a norm which is then hard to maintain for girls,
girls look for approval from boys not from magazines and guys are somehwat ignorant to the fact that what is shown in the magazines is unachievable

i cant buy any tops from cue, only skirts and pants in a six... and dont even get me started on veronika maine :S HUGE!
kaz has a point too- some of that airbrushing is ridiculous!

*agrees with ruru* (hehe, sorry, couldn't resist)

Vanity sizing annoys me; my friend lent my other (size 10) friend a size 6 dress and it fit with room to spare.

Eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and EDNOS, are psychological disorders. You don't wake up one day and go "Hmm... I don't think I'll eat today or tomorrow... or the day after... and if I do I'll hate myself and purge... oh, and everytime I look in the mirror what I see won't actually be reality, it will be a warped perception of myself, which will further incline me not to eat... yeah, sounds like a plan... now where did I put my mobile...?"

To be diagnosed as having anorexia nervosa, according to the DSM-IV-TR, a person must display:

1. Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height (e.g., weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected; or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected).
2. Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese.
3. Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
4. The absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles (amenorrhea), in women who have had their first menstrual period but have not yet gone through menopause (postmenarcheal, premenopausal females).
5. Or other eating related disorders.

Furthermore, the DSM-IV-TR specifies two subtypes:
1. Restricting Type: during the current episode of anorexia nervosa, the person has not regularly engaged in binge-eating or purging behavior (that is, self-induced vomiting, over-exercise or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas)
2. Binge-Eating Type or Purging Type: during the current episode of anorexia nervosa, the person has regularly engaged in binge-eating OR purging behavior (that is, self-induced vomiting, over-exercise or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas).

The ICD-10 criteria are similar, but in addition, specifically mention:
1. The ways that individuals might induce weight-loss or maintain low body weight (avoiding fattening foods, self-induced vomiting, self-induced purging, excessive exercise, excessive use of appetite suppressants or diuretics).
2. Certain physiological features, including "widespread endocrine disorder involving hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis is manifest in women as amenorrhoea and in men as loss of sexual interest and potency. There may also be elevated levels of growth hormones, raised cortisol levels, changes in the peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormone and abnormalities of insulin secretion".
3. If onset is before puberty, that development is delayed or arrested.

If the government are up in arms about putting a stop to eating disorders commonly associated with the modelling industry, why not focus on COE (compulsive over eating) or BED (binge eating disorder) as well? It's still an eating disorder!

Is that yet another double standard I smell?

I hate this topic. It's been bugging me since I was a wee one, at 12 years old. Always, almost every day having someone state that I 'looked anorexic', or some other insult regarding my size. For almost my whole life I've weighed under 45 kilos (I was 55 for a few months - I lived on pasta and rice when I had no money lol) but I stand at 157cm tall and I have an asian background. Of course I'm small. I'm tiny. I have a miniature frame. But let me tell you, offer to take me to a restaurant and I will burn a goddamn hole into your pocket. I am not anorexic.

I'm tired of hearing people constantly complaining that no one represents 'real women'. Am I not real? What about us naturally smaller people? I'm sorry you're having trouble finding clothes that fit, but I have the same problem. I have to order bras from interstate or from Europe because no one carries a size 8 backing. I can't find size 6 jeans or dresses when I want them. I always find items of clothing I love, only to be disappointed because they haven't catered for my size. Every time I see an article on the news about overweight people complaining that no one considers them my ears burn.

Soon enough I'm going to have to order all my clothes from Japan or the Philippines or something.
*sigh*
That's my rant. lol. It's a touchy subject with me.