What About the Skinny Bitch?!

Throughout the modelling industry we’ve all been hearing time and time again how unhealthy models are, how unattractive being skinny is, that real women don’t look like that...but when is enough, enough?

Karl Lagerfeld the German-born world-renowned fashion designer at the House of Chanel who renowned the designs for three labels: his own, Chanel and Fendi famously lost 90 pounds in 13 months because he wanted to wear other kind of clothes. Lagerfeld explained during a CNN interview “I went to see my doctor who before had never said you are too fat, you are not too fat, because he was quite big himself. Then, I said but you are big, yes? He said, ‘But that's different. My wife likes me like this.’ So this is something you cannot discuss. But single people have to see that differently,” after he woke up one morning and decided that what he saw in the mirror was enough, he wanted something else. "I only like the things that I'm allowed to eat, so it's not like I have to avoid anything, which is how I don't put on weight." Lagerfeld says “some people would like me to be round again,” when asked if he was looked at differently after losing so much weight. “Some people say to me you're too skinny, but never a skinny person says that to me, only people who could lose a few pounds say that.”

According to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 86 percent of Americans could be overweight or obese by 2030. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey around two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight, and almost one-third are obese.

“In France there are, I think, less than one per cent of people who are too skinny. There are nearly 30 per cent of young people who are too fat. So let's take care of the zillions of the too fat before we talk about the percentage that's left,” Karl Lagerfeld states. He says countries such as France have problems with a rise in overweight people rather than underweight.

So why all the pressure on the skinny bitches?

Germany’s most popular magazine Brigitte announced they would only be using “ordinary, realistic” looking women instead of professional models in future fashion spreads. Brigitte magazine is planning to release their first edition with non-professional models on January 2nd and are urging readers to sign up for photo sessions, saying that they are tired of having to “fatten up” pictures. Editor Andrea Lebert states, “We will show women that have their own identity, the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, the footballer.” Lagerfeld felt Brigitte Magazine's plan was "absurd," and that the women complaining about too-skinny models were just fat and jealous. The decision to use ordinary realistic women instead of professional models was driven by overweight women who did not like to be reminded of their weight issues.

19-years-old Natasha Issajenko a Canadian athlete who was Canada’s 3rd fastest women is sure watching television subconsciously affects her body image. She states this is because “most people on T.V are supposed to be “beautiful,” skinny on T.V is what men want, all women want men to want them.” When asked if watching anything in particular sparked immediate body consciousness she nonchalantly replied “well if I was fat, yeah. But I’m not, so no.” When asked if she considered herself skinny she responded “yes. Well not skinny, but on the skinny side.”

“These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.” Lagerfeld boldly defended skinny models. Fashion designer John Ribbe also spoke out, aiding Lagerfeld’s model defence. John Ribbe feels the row over models’ weight is becoming hysterical. “It’s just as much a cliche as saying that all models take drugs and get drunk at sex orgies. Ninety per cent of them are quite normal, properly proportioned girls with less fat and more muscles who also eat pizzas and burgers.”

“We don't see anorexic (girls). The girls are skinny. They have skinny bones,” Lagerfeld told reporters after his show. When asked whether the fashion industry was to blame for eating disorders, he replied: “No, that is something to sell papers.”

Natasha believes there are naturally skinny models out there who can eat anything and not gain weight, “everyone has a different body type,” she says. “I know many people like that.” In her opinion, skinny models look gross- however in regards to the complaining “mummies” Lagerfeld referred to she adds “there is no excuse to be fat and sit on your couch everyday.” She feels their revolt against skinny models could be “jealousy on their part, or it could also be a genuine concern. Models don’t have to be that skinny. I think it looks ugly personally.” She believes there should not be so much commotion surrounding models. “If someone wants to not eat and be skinny let them do their thing. There’s help out there for everyone.”

Lagerfeld fearlessly defends skinny models stating: “No one wants to see curvy women. Fashion is about dreams and illusions.”

Many celebrities such as Missy Elliot have lost weight for health reasons. Missy felt like she was too young to be was dealing with high blood pressure, and kidney stones. She states in an interview with XXL Magazine: “You can be big and sexy. I believe you can make people think you fly and sexy no matter how many pounds you are. You have to be confident in yourself, which is hard, because people can detect when you not confident. But when you show that confidence, you make them be like, ‘Oh, she’s fly.’ ”