Fashion Forward

I love Fashion ...  always have. For me fashion is beautiful like art is beautiful, like interior design, architecture, food and words are beautiful. I can't wait to see what each season's trends throw up - and love it when I spot artful recycling, or the re-invention of a look from my youth. Fashion makes me happy.

These days I can't afford to buy the all the mags like I used to (the international issues are around $17 in SA). So once a week I head to Exclusive Books, order an Americano in their coffee shop and read a couple of titles. Exclusive are OK with this - a friend of mine runs the company and says this is his "USP": because browsing sells books. In return, I buy my favourite local SA mags from them... so it works

Promo trips often took me to Milan and Paris with Rock Bands.  Rock Bands attract Models. The Italian company used to take bands to a club called "Shocking" where they would be hosted by the owners and provided with everything they needed - including model adoration. In return, the owners of Shocking fed the girls and encouraged them to show their gratitude by 'entertaining' the club's VIP guests.  

I hated this - and if I had the chance, I would vet any girl who accompanied a band member back to the hotel. They had to be over 18 (and show me ID). I had once been woken at 3am in Paris by the furious father of a 14-year-old who had "gone home" with one of the members of the boy band I was chaperoning. Seeing her in the neon-lit reception, without the full face of make-up she had presented the night before, was devastating. And hearing her Dad's howling heartbreak was even worse. I vowed never to be party (albeit unknowingly in this case) to that again.


Fast forward to one night in Milan, with The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was a nightmare tour of infighting and animosity, and I was exhausted and wanted to be in my room, alone and asleep. The band had drawn a bumper crop of models to the VIP section, but unusually the mood was somber. One of the models had tried to kill herself the night before. Drunk, over-whelmed, dumped and 15: she couldn't figure any other way out. Despite being around one of the most famous bands in the world, that night all these kids (all under 17) wanted to do was chat. I listened for hours as they told me how lonely they were, how they missed home and their pets, how they'd lost touch with boyfriends and mums ... it made me so sad. And it was the last time I went to Shocking.

The picture of Karlie Kloss (above) is breathtaking - for the wrong reasons. Even though her size is probably more about the angle than actuality; Vogue Italia - the most cutting edge of the titles, dropped the pic. from their May editorial. Heralding a sea-change at the magazine, once thought to be artistically above criticism. 

How times change:
check out la Moss now.

Now, in the June edition of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman has used her Editor's letter to announce Vogue's new Health Initiative.  Shulman has drawn furious criticism in the past for editorials featuring an emaciated Kate Moss' 'heroin chic' and a swimsuit spread featuring only pre-pubescent models).  The six point manifesto promises:

1. We will not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder. We will work with models who, in our view, are healthy and help to promote a healthy body image.


2. We will ask agents not to knowingly send us underage girls and casting directors to check IDs when casting shoots, shows and campaigns.


3. We will help to structure mentoring programmes where more mature models are able to give advice and guidance to younger girls, and we will help to raise industry-wide awareness through education, as has been integral to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Health Initiative.
4. We will encourage producers to create healthy backstage working conditions, including healthy food options and a respect for privacy. We will encourage casting agents not to keep models unreasonably late.


5. We encourage designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing, which limits the range of women who can be photographed in their clothes, and encourages the use of extremely thin models.


6. We will be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image.

I wonder how this will play out in reality? Vogue is the most powerful magazine in the Fashion Industry. With Anna Wintour (US) wielding the biggest stick. But they can't do this alone ... their business is dependent on Designers. Designers show their clothes on size 00 models - because they look and photograph better. Which means they sell better.   

The designers need to buy-in. And most of them work for big corporations that require big profit delivery. And who replace any designers that step out of line. So. implementing Point 5 is going to be a real challenge. As will Point 4 as that is not in Vogue's hands. For the rest - we can hold Vogue to their promises - as the proof will be on their pages. 


For women everywhere, the accurate portrayal (or perhaps more-accurate portrayal) will help to create a more-realistic self expectation.  So I applaud Vogue's intent. And, I bet, so do the moms and dads of the Mary-Annes and Lisa Ms and Kaylinns: whose daughters are living la bella vita, but not eating pasta.