Miscellaneous news items of interest...
Even Petra Nemcova had to diet to be a runway model
Petra Nemcova, an outlier among fashion models, specifically for not being manly, had to lose her curves to be a runway model:
Model Petra Nemcova knows what it's like to struggle to be a size zero in order to stay on the runway – and says she went on brutal diets and even took laxatives to stay thin.
“I went through so many diets in my life. I've been very, very skinny. I've been a size zero but I'm naturally more curvy,” she tells PEOPLE. “I ate just vegetables, carrots, tomatoes. I went from a just-protein diet to just eating apples to eating no carbs. I took laxatives. I went through all of it just to be able to model.” (Sep. 21, 2006)
Comment: More evidence regarding how well gay fashion designers tolerate femininity...the woman was far from voluptuous to start with.
Fashion models and their agencies ready to sue over weight regulations
It was about time:
Agencies are threatening to take legal action on the new regulations (Italy, Spain), citing discrimination. Alexandra Shulmna, Editor of Vogue and member of the London Fashion Council, says, “We would not be allowed to discriminate in that way. It would be like saying you can't have black or white models. By imposing new rules on models' size, you would be trying to prove whether someone was ill or well.”
Melissa Richardson, director of Take Two modeling agency, adds, “Although being thin is a prerequisite for this kind of work, it's also important that you eat well. Lots of models eat a lot and stay thin. They do not deserve to be pilloried. They have got more litigious.” (Feb. 11, 2007)
Comment: Look who is complaining about discrimination! The industry has little tolerance for femininity and would force the likes of Petra Nemcova to lose her curves, not ample to start with, in order to model on the runway, but is complaining about discrimination when ultra-skinny models are banned. Regarding Richardson’s comment, if lots of models eat a lot and stay skinny, then the industry should not object to medical testing to prove this, but it is not difficult to figure out just how willing it will be to get its ultra skinny models medically examined for health.
Instead of an outright ban on models below a certain BMI threshold, the rule should be that models below a specified BMI threshold must provide medical proof of health in order to model. The modeling agency representing the model will have to foot the bill for the medical examination and also random blood testing by heath authorities in the neighborhood of Fashion Week. Such legislation will be more immune to challenge in court than an outright ban on models below a certain BMI, as well as fair to naturally ultra-skinny models who are healthy.