Lizzie Miller in Glamour

The best-selling German women’s magazine Brigitte announced last month that as of 2010, it would no longer feature professional models with “size zero” figures, opting instead for “real life” women. Editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert said that the move is a response to readers complaining that they felt no connection to models in the magazine’s editorials. Lebert explained that “the whole modeling industry is anorexic” and that the magazine would now choose its models from unknown German women, whether it be “the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, or the footballer”.

This follows a similar announcement by the U.S. magazine Glamour after they published a nude photo of model Lizzie Miller featuring her rolls of belly fat. The photo received such a positive reaction from television, press and the magazine’s readership that it pledged to include more diversity of body types within its pages.

Since 2004, the cosmetic company Dove has been shaping a campaign around a similar philosophy in order to offer a “broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty” and address body-related self-esteem issues that women have as a result of images in the media.

Shock to the system

The debate over extreme thinness in the modeling industry is nothing new. In 2006 the 22-year-old Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos collapsed after walking off the runway and subsequently died from a heart attack. She had been living for three months on Diet Coke and lettuce, a practice which pro-anorexics say gives “that bubbly, full feeling in your stomach” without adding any calories. At the time of her death, Ramos had a Body Mass Index of 14.5. The World Health Organization considers a BMI of around 16 to be starvation. Ramos’ 18-year-old sister Eliana, also a model, died only six months later from a similar heart attack related to malnutrition.

In November 2006 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died of a generalized infection caused by anorexia nerviosa. She had allegedly been living on a diet of tomatoes and apples.

Anti-anorexia ad campaign in Rome

The Spanish fashion industry was one of the first to react to the deaths with an act of self-censure and regulation. Madrid’s Pasarela Cibeles announced that for the next show they would not accept models with a BMI of less than 18 (around 56 kilos for a height of 1.75 meters), a minimum that would present a healthy image, according to nutritionists and endocrinologists. The show’s organizers reportedly turned away 30 percent of the models from the casting for not meeting the set standards.

Similarly, BCN Bridal Week (Gaudí Novias) announced that none of their models would be measure anything less than a size 38.

The Italian government and fashion industry followed suit, creating a new self regulation code which pledged that all models in future shows would be “full bodied, healthy and radiant Mediterranean types.” Even Giorgio Armani, for whom Reston had modeled, spoke out against thin models, saying, “I have never liked thin girls and I have never made them go on the catwalk.”

Photo galleries with examples of anorexia on the fashion runway can be found here and here.

Photoshopped to death

More recently, a scandal has arisen over two photos published by the blog Photoshop Disasters which show an embarrassingly obvious Photoshop chop-job on Filippa Hamilton. Ralph Lauren unwisely responded with a DMCA infringement takedown notice, which caused a reaction known as the Streisand effect on several websites throughout the internet. Tech and culture blog BoingBoing reported the story, prompting the LA Times, MSNBC and ABC News to comment as well (and reprint the photos, of course).

In an interview with the New York Daily News, model Hamilton said her contract was terminated because she was too fat. “They fired me because they said I was overweight and I couldn’t fit in their clothes anymore … It’s very sad, I think, that Ralph Lauren could do something like that.”

Finally, Extra printed the following statement from Polo Ralph Lauren about the retouched ad: “For over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately.”

As for Photoshop’s role in the pro-”real girl” side of the debate, Brigitte’s editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert claims that for the past few years he has gotten “fed up” with having to “fatten the girls up” with Photoshop. Glamour also posted a manifesto of sorts stating that in the future they will continue to show a variety of body types without imperfections removed in photos like those of the “just barely overweight” Lizzie Miller.

Fat mamas with their bags of chips

Some, however, disagree with the new trend in portlier forms, seeing it as a capitulation to those resentful towards ideal beauty. In comments to the German magazine Focus, Karl Lagerfeld said, “It’s fat mamas sitting with their bags of chips in front of the TV saying, ‘thin models are ugly’.”

A roundish mother interviewed in an AP video report on Brigitte’s announcement says she fears her daughter will think that many women aren’t “normal” if she only sees thin women in magazines.

“The problem with using ‘real women’,” retorts InStyle Magazine’s Hal Rubenstein in the same video, “is that women don’t necessarily want to look like real women. They want to look like beautiful women.”

Or perhaps the problem is with snappy comments that muddle the discourse and insult both models and non-models alike. If a beautiful woman is not real, and a real woman cannot be beautiful, it’s no wonder there are so many people up in arms over the issue.

Photos: Glamour; bettyx1138; BoingBoing; ! *S4N7Y* !