The skinny on the modeling world
I found this column online yesterday, which intrigued me. Back in the day – and I mean back, way back – more than two decades ago, I spent some time in the modeling industry. I wasn’t very good at it partly because I found it stupid, partly because my face, apparently, is asymmetrical and partly because I was too voluptuous. Voluptuous, by the way, is code for too big. That’s right, with a BMI of 17.5, I was too big for runway.
The industry, at least at that time, was a cesspool of agents trying to find the next ‘It’ girl who would make them famous, and a ton of dough in the process. They would lie about your age to clients (to make you younger than you truly were). Add height if you weren’t quite tall enough. Take away pounds if you strayed from your diet that week. One time I dared eat a sandwich within sight of my own agent who then promptly stalked over and literally removed it from my hands. Eating was bad.
I don’t think anything’s going to change much in the industry but pictorials like this one may help.
That article and the images are quite startling. I too spent some time a loooong time ago in the modelling world. I was a bit too short at 5’7″ and also found it quite stupid. It makes me sad to see these girls, usually under 18, being discouraged from nourishing themselves. It usually happens when they start to turn from gangly teens into women with hips & breasts. Sigh. “Eating is bad” just makes me shake my head & makes me sad.
Daly Beauty (@daly_beauty)
January 16, 2012 at 12:09 pm