Of Ugly Beauty And Dying Models

We’ve all seen them. Beauties strutting their stuff on high-end international catwalks. Models are considered the cream of society as far as beauty goes. They seem to lead this glamorous life which sucks young girls into the modeling world in droves every year. For those who make it, there is immense wealth and a glamorous lifestyle working with top designers and jet-setting from city to city. The allure of modeling gowns worth thousands of dollars which could then very easily land in Halle Berry’s or Catherine Zeta Jone’s body is too much for them to resist. That is the beautiful. Now the ugly.

Most models are spotted by hawkeyed model scouts at a very tender age. In the past there were mothers sending children as young as 12 to the modeling world, or to the wolves if truth be told. The message to these young girls is simple. Loose weight and you’ll join this glamorous exiting world where you’ll make lots of money. Surviving on a diet of lettuce, diet coke and laxatives for months never won anyone anything. But in the modeling world it could win you lucrative contracts with major fashion houses that need human hangers with the least amount of flesh possible.

It is this pressure to lose weight that gives rise to dangerous eating disorders, malnutrition and even death which can directly be linked to prolonged poor eating habits. The lengths to which some girls will go to for that super svelte body are bizarre. And still the agencies want them thinner. The pressure is viewed as a small price to pay for the lucrative deals that skinnier models get. Small price? When you get so thin your boobs disappear? When you look so pale, gaunt and run down? When there is the possibility of dying of malnutrition like those two model sisters who died from extreme diets? I don’t think so. I think real beauty is in natural curves.

Hollywood has not been spared the weight loss madness either, although not to the extent of models. There have been rumours that Nicole Richie once held a party and dictated beforehand that guests beyond a certain weight would not be allowed in. It is said she had a scale at the door! I wouldn’t have a hard time believing that. Last I saw her picture she looked rather malnourished herself. And Beyonce has been known to at one time cut 1¹/₂ stone in a fortnight of drinking diluted maple syrup. The mere mention by a celebrity that she’s on a certain diet is enough to send thousands on girls clamouring for the same.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Over the last few years, with protests from governments and women rights crusaders, the fashion world began to see the creepiness of the demands they had been making on the girls. Major modeling agencies and advertising networks are now refusing to use waif-like models and those under the age of 16. Some are requiring models to produce medical certificates of health before they can get contracts. Some like the Melbourne Fashion Week even employ nutritional experts to monitor the health of the models. There are success stories of models who have come back from the thin world in good time and still continue being successful.

Luckily, locally we do not have these extreme problems. Or do we?

See Also: Magical Kenya.