Thursday, October 15, 2009

Healthy women

I haven't posted in a while, however I feel now is the time to start posting again. I read a few articles in regards to Ralph lauren firing a beautiful young model who he claimed was "healthy" at 120 pounds and 5'8". "She no longer fits into his clothes. I think that the one thing that Ralph forgot was that 99.9% of his customers are healthy and maybe a little too healthy. The average women today is a size 14 by American Measurement Standards. Just ask my Apparel class, they'll tell you! If you go to a department store and you look on the racks for a size 0 or 2, the perfect model size for Ralph you will not find those sizes. Instead you will find numerous, 10's, 12's and 14's. These are the sizes the American women wear. Not a 0 or a 2. I fully understand the concept of putting your clothes on a stick figure because they fall better, but isn't that why we invented mannequins. The "healthy " women has a shape. And she should be proud of it. Look back to the days of Marie Antoinette, women were considered beautiful with the more curves they had. If they were scrawney, they were known to live on the street. I think that the message that Ralph is portraying is a poor one. Although not a new one. This has been going on for many years in the fashion industry. And although designers keep stating they do not condone skinny models I've yet to see a "healthy"one on the runway.
Another question arises, will this girl ever work again. Well, I doubt it. She went public and she put Ralph's name in the mud. He has a lot of pull with modeling agencies. And i would bet just like the model he "supposedly" had an affair with, never worked again after she went public. I am sure this one will follow in the same path. I wish her luck, maybe she will coome up with her own clothing line like everyone else