Friday, February 02, 2007

Welcome to my blog! I created it last June, and never posted once. Better late than never?

There is an article in today's Washington Post about shrinking models in the fashion industry. The author notes that the average size of a model is down from sizes 4-6 to a 0-2. The average model is 5'10" with measurements of 33-23-34. Certainly not a Barbie doll. They're concerned that this is adding to the stress of young women to fit into this mold.

What I find contradictory, and which isn't mentioned in the article, is that the size labels in clothing have changed over the decades as well. What was considered a size 10 in the '60s and '70s has been re-labelled a size 6. People within the clothing industry have been quoted in recent years as purposely changing the sizing, to make women feel better about their larger size. (Is this their version of the dumbing down of America?)

So my question is... if the sizes have changed, and the models have changed, in roughly the same amount... are we not exactly where we started decades ago? Twiggy had a boyish figure in the 60s, looking remarkably like today's models.

Just a thought....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020102068.html

1 comment:

Rachel said...

I heard that same information on TV and was thinking the same things you are. It's crazy that clothesmakers are making their sizes bigger just to make women feel better - I think in some ways this is contributing to the obesity epidemic and the fact that more people are overweight than in the past. I think that women's sizing should be done in the same way as men's... rather than 2, 4, 6, 8 which can drastically vary by style and brand, size clothes by actual inches, like 30 inch waist, whatever. That way, it's a fact. There's no exaggeration and it would be much more consistent and make shopping a hell of a lot easier!!!