It wasn't so long ago that I remember flipping through various fashion magazines with my friends. We gawked at the ridiculous prices of haute couture, admired the latest collections from Paris and memorized the names of all the supermodels. Perhaps we did these things because we are girls and these are typical, girly things to do. More likely, we were already beginning to feel society's influence at the tender young ages of 12.
Various debutantes featured in the magazines stated, "You can never be too thin" (or too rich was another oft-implied mantra). Statements such as these fit in nicely with the ethos the magazines propagated every month. What was Vogue without a picture of the requisite lanky six-foot supermodel gracing its cover? Or W for that matter? All of the spreads in Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire and countless other fashion bibles showcased these young, borderline anorexic models. To pick up one of these magazines was not simply to read them. Rather, it was akin to being transported to a different dimension, where skinny girls ruled all (cat) walks of life and their plump counterparts were hidden from view, much like last season's stilettos.
In a sentiment that reverberates through every corridor of the entertainment industry, especially the fashion business, Americans hold the belief that the media is unfairly biased toward skinny people. They proclaim that fashion magazines should stick to more realistic images. They also continually beg the question: if the average American woman is five-four and 150 pounds, why do magazines and movies insist on producing stretched out images of women?
The answer can be found in the underpinnings that hold our country together. In a word, it's all about capitalism. The purpose of fashion magazines is to sell issues and the clothing that advertised in them. What is honeyed to the average American women's eyes is what she is most likely to pick up at the check-out line in the grocery store. And that is precisely what Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, will choose to put on the cover of her magazine.
Fashion can be thought of as an extension of the movie industry. What transpires on a movie set is similar to what goes on behind a fashion photographer's camera. Should we censure all forms of media that predominantly portray the thin? If magazines and movie producers maximize their profits by using a certain type of actress or model, how can we stand in their way? Using the same logic, should Hopkins change its admissions criterion and admit students with lower standardized test scores, because of an "unfair" bias toward the smarter students? What makes Hopkins a great institution is the caliber of academic excellence each class brings. This is analogous to "scholastic currency." Admissions has a set of criterion that enable them to maximize the "scholastic currency" of each incoming class. If we cannot stand in the way of admissions maximizing their own "profits," how can we do the same for the fashion magazines?
Lighten up, this is Hollywood -- it's not exactly the essence of realism. My friends and I, once avid subscribers of the aforementioned fashion magazines, knew that what we saw in the glossy pictures was not a mandate to starve ourselves. We were able to separate fact from fiction.
Society cannot place blame on the heads of skinny fashion editors for "corrupting" our nation's young minds with notions that only svelte girls can wear glamorous furs and dazzle the paparazzi at societal benefits. That is not the job of the fashion, or entertainment industry. They sell clothing, magazines and movie tickets! If we were to look to the fashion industry to tell us how to eat (or not to, at all), then perhaps we should also look to them for advice on how to file our taxes. Simply stated, the glamour industry is inept at making such decisions on our behalves. Instead, let us look to nutritionists and doctors to show us what bastion of healthy is. After all, they are the experts in that field.
Image is what propels sales. If society buys those magazines with skinny models on the cover, then they are only fueling advertising executives' notions that skinny sells.
