October 5, 2023

"While the runways featured many palettes, there were far fewer body types. Aside from at the Nina Ricci show in Paris, where people of different sizes walked the runway..."

"... models were as skinny as I’ve seen them in the more than 10 years I’ve been documenting fashion weeks." 

Look at these models. They all look famished and 5 out of 6 seem deeply depressed about it:


That's just part of the photo. I wanted to stress the evident starvation.

The whole photo — at the link — is something that deserves its caption: "Miu Miu’s latest collection included Speedo-style briefs in several colors. Only time will tell if they become as ubiquitous as its miniskirt."

The captions, by the way, are excellent. For example: "Feathers also appeared on the runway at Nina Ricci, where they protruded from this gown like acupuncture needle." And: "Walking with purpose can make a good outfit look even better." And: "Her crouched posture made the tiny bag seem that much bigger"... which I like to think of as small bag the size of a large bag.

Or... minuscule bag the size of a ludicrously capacious bag.

47 comments:

rehajm said...

That's just part of the photo. I wanted to stress the evident starvation

This is ignorant skinny shaming…

Enigma said...

Feathers? The third model from the left may have an entire dead bird in her mouth. I want to see feathers on the lips of these famished people, as they likely must scarf up street pigeons for sustenance.

The "fat acceptance" branch of Woke was apparently ideological astroturfing.

Breezy said...

Five of these models reflect the anger of the uniparty and the media, the other one reflects the satisfaction of Gaetz.

Iman said...

"You have disturbed me almost to the point of insanity...There. I am insane now."

—- Dieter (Sprockets)

RideSpaceMountain said...

The Fine Young Cannibals have turned into Fine Young Transsexuals so fast our heads have spun. When you make it to the big time, nothing satiates like human flesh. Nothing.

Biff said...

Aside from the usual fashion BS, I'm trying to reconcile myself to glancing at a photo of a person I thought was Madonna and then reading the photo's caption to learn that the person was Cher.

I really don't understand celebrity plastic surgery.

retail lawyer said...

The models all seem to be in their 20s.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"You have disturbed me almost to the point of insanity...There. I am insane now."

—- Dieter (Sprockets)"

Liebe Meine Abschminke! Underrated post.

Old and slow said...

I don't see starvation. I see potential runners!

mikee said...

Fashion. like art today, is made to sell, not to express anything other than a price tag. The small bag the size of a large bag uses less material, fewer stitches, shorter zippers, and has a higher profit margin than an actually capacious bag. The heroin chic waif models, well, they are just tradition at this point, I think, and have less and less value to add over time. Expect to see them replaced with average-sized human models only when the clothing designs look better on larger bodies, however. The runway is still used to sell the clothing, and the model used will be the one best able to sell it.

Kate said...

Clothes nowadays are cut for women built like sticks. This is why we wear the much-derided yet accommodating yoga pant.

cassandra lite said...

Glasses are in!

Heartless Aztec said...

Each of them unattractive. What's with the Dachau look anyways? Fashion designers aren't interested in a larger - no pun intended - physical palette?

Whiskeybum said...

What's with the fashion industry's infatuation with long stringy greasy hair? It looks like they were all in a highway accident with a tallow truck.

Earnest Prole said...

Unappetizing.

BudBrown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Narr said...

The sort of people and activity that make me think sometimes that Islamic fundamentalists may have a point.

n.n said...

The female sex is necessarily, naturally more fatty. The boyish waif look appeals to minority interests.

Quaestor said...

They certainly look depressed, but whether it's hunger, I'm none too sanguine. I would sooner believe that if there were a few Somali baby bellies in evidence. Don't see any. In my estimation, they're depressed over being runaway models in the Age of Ugly. I know I am. Too bad Miuccia Prada won't get what's coming to her in this life. They say the Devil wears Prada. If so, He has an interstellar-sized bone to pick with her in the next.

Mom was a model in the Age of Dior when famous women weren't paid hefty sums to look ridiculous on Oscar Night. She was bored by the monotony of modeling, but from time to time she got to wear something very expensive and impressive out in public, a perquisite, I suppose, but never depressed or drenched in self-pity. In her worst moments, she never looked like a filthy fentanyl addict like these discomfited buffoni.

Rocco said...

Here's what I see them thinking (from left to right):
#1: Those f#$$^ing speedos were horrible! What was Miu Miu thinking? ... You know, I would look good in a speedo.
#3: I'm not really #2's sister. We only said that and made out at the club last night to titilate everyone watching us. Got my boyfriend hot and bothered.
#2: #3 is a terrible kisser. I feel sorry for her boyfriend.
#4: Is this over yet. My mom says I have a curfew.
#5: I got busted at the Climate Change rally yesterday, and now I'm gonna have a record! Daddy's gonna be so pissed!! Hehehehehe!
#6 (#3's boyfriend): How's that "Blue Steel" thing go again?

Fred Drinkwater said...

Having just returned from The Land of Size 4 Women, where Size 2 women were not uncommon, I am worrying about the provincialism of our hostess's perspective.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

starvation chic'

Anita said...

I had never heard of Miu Miu until I saw this woman on Instagram recreating the Miu Miu styles.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cq5cqp6AoHT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

RideSpaceMountain said...

"The boyish waif look appeals to minority interests."

David Brock could not be reached for comment.

Iman said...

RideSpaceMountain!
Leave that monkey alone!

Jamie said...

The boyish waif look appeals to minority interests.

I remember reading a long article, long ago, about the dominance of gay men in fashion (no surprises there), and the deep misogyny of those men (more surprising to me - I've never understood why they cared). It made much of the transition of female models from relatively normal if idealized female proportions through Twiggy (who looks positively ordinary to me now) to the supermodel look with the square shoulders, narrow hips, big breasts, and rather masculine facial bones, and finally to this boyish waif thing (known back then as heroin chic rather than starvation chic). I wish I could remember where I read that...

wild chicken said...

Oh hell no prob, they have drugs that'll do this now with no hunger...but they tend to make you look washed out.

Say goodbye to any muscle mass.

hombre said...

Girly men and flat chests. The clothes are the show.

Ann Althouse said...

“ Having just returned from The Land of Size 4 Women, where Size 2 women were not uncommon, I am worrying about …”

What kind of man looks at a woman and thinks about what clothes size she wears… let alone thinks he knows what size she wears?

Kevin said...

models were as skinny as I’ve seen them in the more than 10 years I’ve been documenting fashion weeks

Body positivity is a tactic skinny girls use to eliminate their competition.

Tom T. said...

Designers like the skeletal models because they are essentially walking clothes racks. You're seeing the garment, not the wearer. It's also a lot easier to produce bespoke runway items for a standard form. Variations in breast or butt size will complicate the making and the fitting of the garment.

Jupiter said...

You know, the reason these young people are starving themselves is because people like you pay fat old people to pay them to starve.

Joe Smith said...

They look like healthy, young people in the before times (pre '00s) used to look.

Admittedly, they woman do not seem to be on the busty side, but I think that's because it would mess with the clothes design.

Otherwise, I do not sense 'starving' in this photo.

"What kind of man looks at a woman and thinks about what clothes size she wears… let alone thinks he knows what size she wears?"

When you've lived in a different culture, the comparison to U.S. body types is quite jarring.

In a year and a half in Japan I saw less than 5 or 10 obese adults. I don't think (other than Sumo) I saw a single morbidly obese person.

loudogblog said...

When I was in college, I was a classic, starving student. My family had moved out of state so I couldn't live at home. I had a (very part time) work study job at my University. Someone took a photo of me at a party and when I saw it I was horrified because I looked like skin and bones. (Just like the models in that photo.) It wasn't that I felt unhealthy; I realized that I actually looked unhealthy.

Quaestor said...

Depression and hunger. I've know a few jockeys over the years. By and large they are cocky and jovial lot, and not depressed though they're well-acquainted with missing meals to keep a job.

Quaestor said...

The boyish waif look appeals to minority interests.

I continue to hope the paedophiles are a minority interest.

Static Ping said...

They use these sorts of models because it works, supposedly. Thin models do a better job of showing off the clothing. Not healthy? Almost certainly. It is the not the first or last time that individuals will do unhealthy things to benefit. The bizarre costumes are mainly there to attract attention, though I suspect some the designers are, indeed, nuts.

It is a similar reason why shopping catalogs and web sites feature attractive models, despite most of the buyers not being to that standard of attractiveness. It makes the clothes look nicer. Unattractive models are not nearly as effective. Note that this is a woman thing; women prefer the more attractive models. (Men also prefer the more attractive models, but they are not buying the clothes, and if they are it is not for the same reasons.)

Rabel said...

"Miu Miu’s latest collection included Speedo-style briefs in several colors. Only time will tell if they become as ubiquitous as its miniskirt."

Transport teenage Althouse to 2023 - Would she wear the Speedo briefs to school? For fashion.

MacMacConnell said...

All the models look like they need to wash their hair.

chuck said...

Do they bite?

JaimeRoberto said...

They sure look like a lot of fun.

Fred Drinkwater said...

"What kind of man looks at a woman and thinks about what clothes size she wears… let alone thinks he knows what size she wears?"

An ordinary man, who is a brother and a father and has daughters and nieces and a wife and sisters-in-law and female colleagues, some of whom value my opinion about clothing and style.

"Open my eyes, that I may see." It's hardly rocket surgery, noticing things.

Iman said...

“What kind of man looks at a woman and thinks about what clothes size she wears… let alone thinks he knows what size she wears?”

What kind of woman looks at an old man wearing short pants and thinks he should be imprisoned?

JAORE said...

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Oligonicella said...

Twiggy geebed me out and these cadavers do too.

Oligonicella said...

Throughout history fashion has been a joke played on the moneyed gullible.

As the threshold for monetary entry lowered, the base of gullibles grew eventually hitting average teens.

Narr said...

Fashion, as much as we mock it, was and is--in the form of demand for new ways to display wealth and be beautiful--a major driving force in the development of the world economy.

See V. Postrel's "The Fabric of Civilization."