In August 2006, after the death of super-thin Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos (shown above), officials in Madrid and Milan announced that all models had to have a body mass index of no less than 18.
The reason? Ramos had apparently fasted on a diet of vegetables and diet soda a week before her last show, and collapsed and died of heart failure just moments after coming off the catwalk.
Models are getting thinner and thinner each day and for some reason, designers' requirements are getting harder and harder to meet. According to Christina Binkley, a writer for the Wall Street Journal who attended Paris' fall fashion week in February, no mention was made of the weight restrictions decided on just a year ago. In fact, the models look thinner than usual.
The reason for the recent disturbance in the fashion world is because at the fashion week in Paris, Ali Michaels, an 18-yr-old model from Texas, was told that her legs and ankles were too fat. This girl is 5'9" with a 23" waistline! She told her story to Teen Vogue, beginning with how she lost weight when she first started modelling, and that even though she did what the designers asked, she was never thin enough. So she started throwing up after meals and subsisting on a diet of oatmeal for breakfast, fruits for lunch, and lettuce for dinner. Then she added laxative to the mix. The result? A malnurished teenager who stopped getting her period, became dependent on the laxatives and whose hair started falling out.
After all the hype about "change" in 2006, many of us thought that there actually would be a change in the industry. What we didn't realize is that all that changed was the fact that the designers' extreme requirements were being swept under the rug, and models are still pressured to lose more and more weight.
Michaels says of her peers: "Sometimes it's obvious. You compare a picture of a model from two seasons ago to a photo of her now, and she looks completely different. Her skin is dull, her hair is thin. She's shrinking away. The sad thing is, some of those girls are the ones who are walking the most shows."
When will all the talk about change actually become a reality? When will designers start making clothing for real people instead of those made of skin and bones? Instead of giving in to the designers' requests as usual, this time, Michaels packed her bags and went home. That may not be enough to change the industry, but it is a start.
Ali Michaels at the start of her career:
Michaels after gaining 5 lbs. for fall fashion week:
