Fashion Studies
I apologise in advance for the thread drift, but I wanted to just mention a couple of things: First, I went to Sheridan College in the 1970s and lived in their residence for two years - and the basement floor was reserved for Fashion School students and their classes. The floor of the residence just below me was all fashion students - women - and I and other Sheridan students in totally different fields of study interacted with these future fashion designers and models on a daily basis, and I have to say that based on my experience, the old stereotype of fashion models not having an opinion on anything or not well educated is total bunk. Those students had a really intensive study schedule probably more time-consuming than any others except those in art and photography fields. Second, I saw on the news recently that Vogue magazine is tightening up its rules on models under 16, and they're looking more for models with full figures. I don't have a link to the story, sorry.
Definitely not drift, BB. Thanks for sharing! The Vogue story you're talking about is here:
Vogue magazine has decided that it will no longer run photographs of models under the age of 16 or those who appear to have an eating disorder. Granted, this sort of sounds like something that any magazine with a shred of conscience would have done years ago, but we suppose we'll have to cut a little slack to the fashion industry, which we're pretty certain actually does exist in an alternate reality. The editors of the various Vouge iterations – there are 19 different editions around the world – will print a six-point explanation of the new policy in the upcoming June issue, because this, being the fashion industry, just had to bring attention to their noble and altruistic plight instead of merely stopping the practice and continuing on as usual. Anyhow, the Model Alliance, an industry association, says it welcomes the change, saying that "14 is too young to be working in this very grown-up industry." Which should really go without saying – We were barely able to wash dishes in a pizza parlour at 14, let alone able to have our sexuality and body paraded in front of the lustful and scornful eyes of millions for the sake of selling overpriced cloth while trying to avoid the allure of coke, pills, and a cheeseburger or two. But hey, it's progress – just last year, the French edition of Voguepublished a spread featuring a heavily-made-up 10-year-old girl. Any controversy that leads us toagreeing with Heather Mallick clearly needs a-fixin'.
Yup - that's the one!