I’ve modeled since I was 13 years old, the fashion industry is a huge part of my life and its shaped who I am today. In those many years I’ve seen changing notions of what ‘beauty’ is. When I was in my early teens the age of ‘heroin chic’ was predominant. Malnourished, waif-like girls who were highly androgynous. Now in my thirties I gladly welcome the movements supporting ‘real beauty’. Women’s bodies come in all shapes and sizes, something that should be celebrated.
The fashion industry is responsible for setting a realistic view of what ‘beauty’ consists of. In this age of celeb-mania, nothing can govern a girls perspective on their own image more so than the images they are bombarded with on a daily basis from glossy magazines.
However its nothing new to promote the idea of healthy living with exercise and a balanced diet. What concerns me is the power of digital manipulation, and how it creates false ideals for women to aspire too. Some images which can be so heavily manipulated that they are anatomically impossible to achieve.
I don’t believe that the general public understands the multitude of sins that can be vanished away with one click of a mouse button. Waist lines can be shrunk, legs can be lengthened, complexions can be evened. The final image of your favourite model or celebrity can be a far cry away from what the original was.
But what does that mean for the viewer? Fad diets, work out DVDS, highly priced miracle creams all in aid of recreating an image that was never real to begin with. With of a surge of interest in ‘thinspiration’ or ‘proana’, perhaps its time that the fashion and entertainment industry reveal the truth behind their images? Or are we to ever be following this concept of ‘treadmill happiness’, always aspiring and aiming for a body that can never be realized, as it simple doesn’t exist.
- Asha Leo
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