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Monday
Nov272006

Petition to Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London

Magritte-Philosophyintheboudoir.jpg

Magritte - Philosophy in the boudoir (fashion and the body's influence on one another)

AnyBody has sent the below letter to Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, following his statement that he will withdraw London Fashion Week funding if they continue to use underweight models. AnyBody has suggested an alternative positive initiative for the funding and local fashion designers.  Sign or comment below; the response will be passed on to Ken, and we will keep you updated....

October 16th, 2006

Dear Ken,

What a great thing you have done by withdrawing financial support from London Fashion Week unless they diversify their models.

The UK style industries contribute fabulously to the economy of London and the country and yet often, inadvertently, disastrously to girls and women’s feelings about their bodies and their self worth. I have the research to prove it.

For many years through various different organisations and agitations, I have been working to represent girls and women’s bodies in greater variety: by size, ethnicity and age. 

Through an activist group AnyBody www.any-body.org, I, with others, have been trying to raise money and awareness with fashion design schools to change the practice of only cutting final year shows for models whose size represents only a few very women. Members of AnyBody who trained at Fashion schools here talk of their struggles to produce clothing on mannequins that were larger than size 8. They failed.

What about putting that £620,000 towards a fund for innovative fashion designers to create clothing that is inclusive without any sacrifice to dynamic designs? We know they can do it. They just haven’t been given the support.

Putting together these various challenges with support from the Mayor’s office both monetarily and politically could be just the tipping point that is needed to challenge the scourge of those who breed body insecurity (for profit).

The Government’s Body Image Summit in 1999 of which I was a Keynote Speaker, was followed by retreat from the Government of the very issues they knew were essential to raise. It has taken another 7 years to raise public consciousness sufficiently. Can you help out by going a step further or two so we can challenge the theft of our children’s childhoods and the horror of troubled eating and self image that so besets hundreds of thousands of women and young women in London.

Could we have a brief meeting to talk about this?

Susie Orbach 

Reader Comments (9)

Celeb styling is wearing thin

Josephine Collins
Online editor, Drapers

I read with some relish this week that Nicole Richie, who is famous for I’m not sure what, has parted company with her stylist, the more-famous-than-her clients Rachel Zoe, on somewhat acrimonious terms. And it appears that the terms involved one of them encouraging the other to be too thin. Miss Richie is now being talked up as part of a backlash against the size zero (that’s size 4 in the UK). She has even admitted in a Vogue interview that she has been too thin.

Rachel Zoe has made her name by dressing a whole cohort of clones (Richie, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan among them) in bug-eye sun glasses a la Jackie Onassis, plus oversized tops and dresses. They have to have skinny legs, either bare or clad.

One thing I can’t understand about celebrities is why they would want to look so similar to the celebrity next door – and to be known to be relying on a stylist to do that for them. Any 16-year-old worth their salt tries to bring a touch of their own style to the ubiquitous high street offer.

Ironically, as the number of celebrities confessing to eating disorders – or at least to becoming too thin – goes up, most of the rest of us are being nagged by health ministers for putting on the pounds. And for retailers, independent and high street multiples alike, the ‘bigger’ concern is adding credibly fashionable larger, rather than smaller, sizes to the offer.

Nonetheless, last September’s London Fashion Week was overshadowed by the size zero debate, to the detriment of reports on the collections on show. I’m not that bothered about models being skinny – it is part of their job and clothes look better from a distance on a tall and slender frame. But close up, slim is attractive, while skinny simply looks unhealthy. I’m looking forward to more of Zoe’s celebrity clients seeing sense and treating themselves to a slap-up meal.
December 5, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterDrapers Magazine Letter
Size zero trend disturbing: Winslet

Article from the Metro.co.uk
Sunday 10 December 2006

British Hollywood star Kate Winslet has said that the current trend for actresses and models to be a tiny "size zero" was "unbelievably disturbing".

The Oscar-nominated actress said she refused to have any magazines showing the skinny stars in her house, because of the damaging effect it could have on her six-year-old daughter.

And she said she hoped that "in some small way" her success would show girls they did not need to be thin to find happiness.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday AM, the Titanic star said: "It is unbelievably disturbing what's going on at the moment."

While she said she did not want to point fingers or sound like a hypocrite, she told Andrew Marr: "It's so disturbing because young girls are impressionable from 11 up to 19 or 20 even, women are very impressionable at those ages.

"They're trying to figure out who they are and they want to be loved, and what I resent is that there is an image of perfection that is getting thinner and thinner and it's truly upsetting to me."

Winslet, whose new film The Holiday was released this weekend, said she had a rule not to let any magazines in her home, because "it's so damaging" and she was worried about her daughter, Mia.

"It's only a matter of time before she becomes aware of it and it frightens the life out of me."

But she said: "I hope that in some small way I'm able to say 'I'm a normal person, I'm doing all right, I've got a lovely husband and children and I didn't lose weight to find those things, and those things are what should be important'."

Her comments come as the controversy grows over the use of super-thin models in the fashion world, which has recently seen two young women in the industry die from weight-related illness.

SKINNY STARS' PHOTOS ARE BANNED IN MY HOUSE, SAYS WINSLET

By Emily Beament, PA
December 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterElise
One thing I can’t understand about celebrities is why they would want to look so similar to the celebrity next door – and to be known to be relying on a stylist to do that for them. Any 16-year-old worth their salt tries to bring a touch of their own style to the ubiquitous high street offer. Ironically, as the number of celebrities confessing to eating disorders – or at least to becoming too thin – goes up, most of the rest of us are being nagged by health ministers for putting on the pounds. And for retailers, independent and high street multiples alike, the ‘bigger’ concern is adding credibly fashionable larger, rather than smaller, sizes to the offer.
August 27, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCelebrities Nude
I am reminded every time I go to a department store to buy a bra. Everything in an A is either a push-up, or for little girls. Real women come in all types.
October 29, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterugg shoes
This was a very noble thing that has helped the fashion industry to diversify its models.

Having super thin models sets a bad image - its creates the impression that beauty is only found in very thing and underweight women.

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January 23, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLisaHayne
I agree that the UK style industries contribute fabulously to the economy of London. However, it is also costing the health service lots of money to treat aneroxic girls who want to become size zero. We must strike a balance here!
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August 3, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLinda
Thin models put pressure on women to be thin. Thin is not healthy at all. Women can be of different sizes - they dont have to be all thin.
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