Sick and tired of size zeros

I know many an article has been written like this, and there appears to be a trend moving towards using fuller models in advertising– my question is, where is the evidence of it?


America’s Next Top Model contestants are all still stick-thin and look as if they may snap like a twig at any second. Los Angeles stores have started stocking a new size – Double 00 (equivalent to a South African size 2) for the pre-pubescent and skeletal waists of Victoria and Nicole. Anorexia and Bulimia statistics are rising, not declining. Although adverts may be using slightly bigger girls, role models have not changed their weight and are setting the bar at way too skinny for normal girls to healthily compete with.

While actresses such as America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) may be appearing on the screens and back articles of fashion magazines, the ones gracing the celeb pages are still as skinny as ever. Granted, clothes look better on slimmer frames and designers will agree that it’s easier to design clothes for a skinny model as she has less to cover up. However, that does not justify a multi-billion dollar industry which glorifies women who look like they stepped out of war-torn African country.

With starvation figures throughout the world what they are, and the growing level of poverty in Africa, surely this craze to spend hundreds of rands on no-carb sushi and weightless rice cakes is something of a slap in the face? If the models want to starve themselves to near-death, at least let them do it cheaply.

On the other hand, I have serious praise for companies who have started using more natural looking girls in their advertising campaigns. And no, I’m not talking overweight or chubby, but normal size 10 and 12 girls with beautiful bodies and lovely faces. I will buy their clothes simply because I can see they design for the girl on the street, not some emaciated lollipop who lives on celery sticks and a treadmill.

Designers need to become aware of the growing need for girls to see their own bodies as the models for the clothing which they buy. I personally cannot wait for the day when models look human and feminine again, not like some late-developing teenage boy.