Paris is one of the major centers of fashion, a statement so obvious even I know it, and I don’t even have matching socks today. What happens in France will then have a ripple effect across the entire fashion industry, and eventually affect the entire world of clothing. This makes it very important that France is now planning to make it illegal to use anorexic models.
The overly thin model has been a staple of the fashion industry for a while now. From what I can tell, it’s mostly due to laziness – it’s much easier to fit clothes when you have a minimal amount of body to cover, and much easier to make something flattering when you’ve got very little actual body to design around. Tiny models are easier, even if they’re far from representative, very unhealthy and likely not the most attractive body type anyway. They also happen to be the people chosen for magazine covers to represent what looks good, distorting the image of what the ideal body type actually is. It also makes it difficult for larger members of the population to find clothing, I know there are brands out there that I can’t possibly wear because even in large sizes they are cut for people who don’t resemble me. I say this as a man, and frankly we have much less societal pressure to conform to a made up ideal.
In this case, France has decided that enough is enough, and they’re planning to take on anorexia and attempt to wipe it out. Models will now have to hit a healthy target for height to mass, including doctors reports that state the models are maintaining a healthy weight. They will also fine anyone seen as promoting anorexic behaviors, such as people who operate pro-anorexic websites – those people could even face a year in prison. The logic is that if women – the vast majority of people who are affected by anorexia – do not feel pressure to conform to an unhealthy body type, they will not develop the body issues in the first place, making for a healthier, happier population.
They are not the first country to do this, Spain and Israel have already enacted their own laws surrounding models. But it’s important in ways that those countries aren’t, because it is France. That’s where a lot of these clothes come from, and more importantly, that’s where the image surrounding fashion itself comes from. If France is on board, it makes a difference for everyone else, because they set the trends and they are also a market that needs to be addressed. If you can’t use an anorexic model there, what’s the point of using one anywhere?
There have been plenty of attempts to push standards back to a more attainable direction, whether it’s a soap company campaigning for real beauty or a swimsuit catalog making a big deal about hiring someone “plus-size.” And it fails because they’re the exceptions, rather than the rule. None of the soap models are on the cover of a magazine like Vogue, the swimsuit model is still the exception rather than the rule – and if she was plus-size I don’t even want to know the terminology for someone my size. After decades, it feels as though we’ve failed to actually make any progress, so if legal intervention is required, so be it. It’s likely baby steps, but if France’s laws can influence Canadian girls to stop worrying about their weight, it’s a good thing.
