Well, it was too good to be true: last year, Alexandra Shulman, the editor of Vogue, launched her war against size zero with a letter to some of the world’s leading designers, accusing them of pushing for increasingly thinner models.The letter was not intended for publication, but ‘has been seen’ by The Times and its content has leaked to the public nevertheless. I am sure Alexandra Shulman, and thus Vogue, earned a few brownie points for taking a stand in this whole discussion.
Unfortunately, flipping through the latest edition of Vogue, the words ‘lip service’ and ‘publicity stunt’ crossed my mind.
I know that neither Alexandra Shulman personally nor Vogue as an institution have a say when it comes to casting models for the catwalk. But would it be so hard to reject pictures that show anorexic models? Or at least not print labels like ‘girlie’ or ‘womanly’ on emaciated bodies?
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London mum, writer and amateur illustrator. Hopes to navigate through motherhood without losing herself.
Their waists are like my thigh!
WHAT! Yes I did shout that. For once I am speechless. Womanly? Hardly! Shame on Vogue and shame on Alexandra Shulman. Simply disgraceful. I’m outraged. Is it obvious?!
Girly??? she looks like a zombie! and if that is womanly i’m a bloke lol! xxx
Hear hear, well said!
It was clearly just lip service….sorry, but those models are just horrible….what are we teaching our children….and other woman….ugh.
I hate that it really seems to have just been lip service – I was hoping that it was the start of a real change in the images we are bombarded with
And that model is ANYTHING but girly in my view
Also in ‘fash mag speak’ it’s odd when they use the words ‘womanly curves’ for stick thin model with tits…..
Good lord
Can I suggest alternative titles:
1) Girly (as if) =Freaky
2) Womanly (wahh)= Scary
3) Avantgarde (no s***) = Alien
These 3 women are a bit scary :-S
You think the pics are bad, try standing next to them on the underground in Milan.
I get scared that Son of Thor might bump into one of them and break her.
you are so right- when they write womanly next to people who are tiny it drives me mad. They call people like Kelly Brooke curvy or fuller figured and in real life they are all a size 8 or less
Totally concur. And also: love your new profile picture!
I’m absolutely disgusted. I bet the memo was mistakenly-on-purpose seen by The Times. When will our howls of protest be heard?
ohmygawd…no way!! I thought those labels were yours, cleverly photoshopped on or something! How can they possibly call that poor girl ‘womanly’. Tragic. Whatever happened to the gorgeous Sophie Dahl?? xx
I feel sorry for these girls. Most of them are probably bullied by their agencies into existing on one apple a week, and a few have that gawky, bony body that preternaturally tall teenage girls have before they fill out a bit in their twenties. They’re often incredibly young, so there’s no way they’re going to look ‘womanly’ for another five or six years. And we talk about them like they’re not even human! (Sorry, not getting an anyone, but was a skinny teenager myself and I honestly couldn’t help it. Certainly never looked like a supermodel though).
Couldn’t have said it better than Big M. These ladies are in no way shape or form, girly or womanly, they are plain scray. Yeah I have to admit that they are beautiful and have sthg beautiful about their faces and style but why can’t they eat more than a leaf of lettuce once in a while! Enjoy CH.:) xxx LZ
Scary and quite quite ill looking ‘women’?!
You might be interested in seeing this link though.
http://loveobsessinspire.typepad.com/my-blog/2010/01/inspire-curves-ahead.html
Ah – womanly = witchy this season.
Girlie has always meant half-witted I think.
Beautiful faces, but imagine how scared you’d be if you saw them from the neck down walking towards you? The captions should all read ‘zombie’.
apologies for the late comment! I completely agree with notwavingbut ironing. Its worth remembering a lot of models are around 15 and 16 years old (you hit 20, you’re an oldie) so to label them ‘freaks’ and ‘zombies’ is a bit cruel (sorry, I don’t want to offend anyone and yes we are all entitled to an opinion – this is mine) They are children who have yet to develop. Yes it is wrong that designers use them to model adult clothing, but lets vent our frustration out on the designers who use these girls (and no doubt encourage them to stay slim) rather than the girls themselves.