Models.

[thør]

Dog and pony show...

Are you calling the horse a dog?

 

[subdued_passion]

Unfortunately there are potentially very high rewards for being an ideal in an industry, so some people are willing to make sacrifices to reach that ideal.

That many of them fail is of course sad and I wish that the ideal were more realistic...but if that were the case...it wouldn't be an ideal any more.

I don't think it's something that is going to change except to become more extreme as the possibilities become more extreme. We're seeing surgery and airbrushing and although that will make "natural' seem "new" it will still trend toward the harder to do and the more exotic.

Every culture has examples of following some kind of extreme in their pursuit of an aesthetic ideal.

http://culturalbeauty.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/lip-plate-ethiopia.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uwgptsg1xUw/TzQlRpUy8ZI/AAAAAAAABBI/e1NuRnJyBjI/s640/footbinding+(12).jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Kayan_woman_with_neck_rings.jpg

 

[Recidiva]

Every culture has examples of following some kind of extreme in their pursuit of an aesthetic ideal.

http://culturalbeauty.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/lip-plate-ethiopia.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uwgptsg1xUw/TzQlRpUy8ZI/AAAAAAAABBI/e1NuRnJyBjI/s640/footbinding+(12).jpg

Yes, and it isn't just in fashion.

In academics and professional life, people push themselves too hard and use stimulants and drugs and different destructive strategies to stay on the top of the expected game.

 

[subdued_passion]

Yes, and it isn't just in fashion.

In academics and professional life, people push themselves too hard and use stimulants and drugs and different destructive strategies to stay on the top of the expected game.

Absolutely.

If you ask me the problem with models isn't what is being demanded of them (nobody is forcing them to push their body beyond what is physically possible) the problem is that these days too many kids want to be one. And this is happening because we choose to glorify and put these people on a pedestal.

 

[Recidiva]

Absolutely.

If you ask me the problem with models isn't what is being demanded of them (nobody is forcing them to push their body beyond what is physically possible) the problem is that these days too many kids want to be one. And this is happening because we choose to glorify and put these people on a pedestal.

I don't think that's a function of glorifying so much as the actual rewards. I ignore most of the glorification so it's possible. I almost chose a career in acting or performing and I decided the costs were too high, so I didn't go for it and I did something else.

So there's room for choices for everyone. There's a model for all of these highly competitive/high risk/high reward jobs.

If you want to be a kingpin drug dealer, it only works as a profit model for a very low percentage of people, but unless you go from being a runner and possibly working your way up through guile or loyalty or talent, you're mostly going to be stuck as being one of the many that doesn't make it and gets chewed up in the process. That's the high risk part.

So drug dealing, professional sports, modeling, acting, singing...all this requires huge amounts of sacrifice with a low possibility of making it. But there will always be someone willing to gamble their life on it considering the rewards are set so high as to be dazzling.

Most of the guys going into that, male or female, are not interested in the economics or risk/reward, they are only focused on the reward and the risk is not something they really want to hear about.

It's a brain chemistry thing and the reality is that some people DO make it. It is possible to be a kingpin drug dealer, NBA player, model, actor or singer. It's been done. Why not them? And it takes that level of dedication and denial to make it in most cases. Not considering the risks is probably required for the job in the first place.

 

[Debbie]

Unfortunately there are potentially very high rewards for being an ideal in an industry, so some people are willing to make sacrifices to reach that ideal.

That many of them fail is of course sad and I wish that the ideal were more realistic...but if that were the case...it wouldn't be an ideal any more.

I don't think it's something that is going to change except to become more extreme as the possibilities become more extreme. We're seeing surgery and airbrushing and although that will make "natural' seem "new" it will still trend toward the harder to do and the more exotic.

'Society has a hyper emphasis on thin': America's Next Top Model judge Kelly Cutrone insists consumers are to blame for size zero models, not the fashion industry"



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...sumers-size-zero-models-fashion-industry.html


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUHChSS1rIo

I no longer buy fashion magazines. It's a silly small thing but I don't want my granddaughters thinking that they should be super thin to be beautiful. With their parents blessing I have frank discussions with them about air brushing, photo touching up etc to make the models look thinner or remove imperfections.



http://petapixel.com/2013/07/10/don...aphs-of-the-world-affect-your-own-self-image/

 

[Laurel]

A lot of people criticize the fashion industry for the size of women. I just want to say that from the business perspective it's really about showcasing the clothes and not the model.

You need bodies that are a standard size that can wear any of the garments easily. You don't want to have too many alternations because your model's (women/ men) body does not conform to the standard size.



People should learn not to glorify models and should look for better role models for emulation.

This.

They're hired to be human clothes hangers. There's nothing wrong with this. Nearly 99.9999% of the time they're women who are scouted to be models because they naturally happen to be a certain shape. The fact that they're chosen to model clothes/etc. does not mean they are the only sort of physicality that is acceptable.

I've been friends with some young models. Their careers are short, much like athletes. Like athletes and dancers, they have to often really monitor their eating and exercising habits. Yet I don't see the kind of hate directed at female dancers and athletes that I see directed at models.

And I think that this is an issue - something women need to work out. We are harsher to ourselves - and to other women - than men are to us in this regard. We are the ones who beat ourselves up over this stuff, thinking we have to look this way to be loved. The vast majority of guys aren't that picky. The guys worth anything will find us lovely even with our soft middles and wrinkles and imperfections.

We need to quit saying things like "Real Woman Have Curves" on the one hand and bagging on "fatties" on the other. We need to learn to look at women who just happen to be tall and thin and say, "Good for her! She's beautiful in her way, and she's getting paid for it. I'm beautiful too in my way. Her beauty doesn't take away from mine. I can be happy for her and all other women who are beautiful in their own way." Because this sniping at models just makes us hate ourselves. And self-hate is a cancer that grows eats at us will we're bitter and miserable.

We're beautiful. Love ourselves by loving and accepting other people. And love the way other women look, be them models or cashiers or moms or co-workers. Human beings are fascinating and beautiful creatures. There's much to enjoy in our phenotypic diversity.

Just an opinion, from someone who wasted years hating herself for being different-looking.

 

[Recidiva]

'Society has a hyper emphasis on thin': America's Next Top Model judge Kelly Cutrone insists consumers are to blame for size zero models, not the fashion industry"



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...sumers-size-zero-models-fashion-industry.html


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUHChSS1rIo

I no longer buy fashion magazines. It's a silly small thing but I don't want my granddaughters thinking that they should be super thin to be beautiful. With their parents blessing I have frank discussions with them about air brushing, photo touching up etc to make the models look thinner or remove imperfections.



http://petapixel.com/2013/07/10/don...aphs-of-the-world-affect-your-own-self-image/

Kelly Cutrone is not the greatest model of reason in the world. She knows her business but she's willing to blame anybody and everybody but herself for things. It's standard. I like ANTM and Tyra does as much as she can to support different looks, different ethnicities, different body images and even had a transgender on.

 

[Recidiva]

This.

They're hired to be human clothes hangers. There's nothing wrong with this. Nearly 99.9999% of the time they're women who are scouted to be models because they naturally happen to be a certain shape. The fact that they're chosen to model clothes/etc. does not mean they are the only sort of physicality that is acceptable.

I've been friends with some young models. Their careers are short, much like athletes. Like athletes and dancers, they have to often really monitor their eating and exercising habits. Yet I don't see the kind of hate directed at female dancers and athletes that I see directed at models.

And I think that this is an issue - something women need to work out. We are harsher to ourselves - and to other women - than men are to us in this regard. We are the ones who beat ourselves up over this stuff, thinking we have to look this way to be loved. The vast majority of guys aren't that picky. The guys worth anything will find us lovely even with our soft middles and wrinkles and imperfections.

We need to quit saying things like "Real Woman Have Curves" on the one hand and bagging on "fatties" on the other. We need to learn to look at women who just happen to be tall and thin and say, "Good for her! She's beautiful in her way, and she's getting paid for it. I'm beautiful too in my way. Her beauty doesn't take away from mine. I can be happy for her and all other women who are beautiful in their own way." Because this sniping at models just makes us hate ourselves. And self-hate is a cancer that grows eats at us will we're bitter and miserable.

We're beautiful. Love ourselves by loving and accepting other people. And love the way other women look, be them models or cashiers or moms or co-workers. Human beings are fascinating and beautiful creatures. There's much to enjoy in our phenotypic diversity.

Just an opinion, from someone who wasted years hating herself for being different-looking.

I had a friend who was a Ford model when she was in high school. The competition and stuff like putting razor blades in another girls' shoes was rampant enough that she withdrew from the world eventually as a bad deal. She was beautiful and smart and got out before it cost her.

If you're up for ridiculous competition, go into these fields. If you want to just be yourself, don't. This behavior is resultant from competition and insecurity, not from strength and ambition. If you can maintain your determination and your craft and the razor blades, then yeah, it's for you.

So I don't see actors or actresses or models as victims so much as ridiculously competitive and willing to what they know is destructive to get an edge. Same as someone who might want to go into a cut-throat business and decides that being a vicious selfish person is the way to go to crush the weak.

For beauty and talent give me folks like Queen Latifah and Isabella Rosselini. Brimming with whatever it takes to perform and unwilling to compromise on who they are and that maintains whatever well brings out that good stuff.

 

[Laurel]

I had a friend who was a Ford model when she was in high school. The competition and stuff like putting razor blades in another girls' shoes was rampant enough that she withdrew from the world eventually as a bad deal. She was beautiful and smart and got out before it cost her.

If you're up for ridiculous competition, go into these fields. If you want to just be yourself, don't. This behavior is resultant from competition and insecurity, not from strength and ambition. If you can maintain your determination and your craft and the razor blades, then yeah, it's for you.

Yeah, were I a model, I'd probably feel threatened by other models 'cause they may take my jobs. Weird shit happens with aspiring young athletes too. Shady shit. But I'm not a model or an aspiring athlete. So why worry? That's all I'm saying.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Laurel]

You will always be my number one model, no matter what Killy says.

You put Elvis in my head now.

http://ghettoblastermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/elvis-costello-this-years-model.jpg

 

[Debbie]

We're beautiful. Love ourselves by loving and accepting other people. And love the way other women look, be them models or cashiers or moms or co-workers. Human beings are fascinating and beautiful creatures. There's much to enjoy in our phenotypic diversity.

Just an opinion, from someone who wasted years hating herself for being different-looking.

I was teased as a teenager for freckles, glasses, braces, big boobs, sticky out bottom and skinny waist and curly mop hair. I turned the teasing into an act where I would make people laugh with my overly dramatic exaggeration of their rude comments.

"I must I must not increase my bust" or "I hope my boobs don't give me a black eye" I would sing that during PE as we jogged or ran around the field.




We are all beautiful or special in our own way and if we were all the same the world would be a boring place.

 

[Recidiva]

I was teased as a teenager for freckles, glasses, braces, big boobs, sticky out bottom and skinny waist and curly mop hair. I turned the teasing into an act where I would make people laugh with my overly dramatic exaggeration of their rude comments.

"I must I must not increase my bust" or "I hope my boobs don't give me a black eye" I would sing that during PE as we jogged or ran around the field.




We are all beautiful or special in our own way and if we were all the same the world would be a boring place.

Yup, that's how you do it

I was a scrawny kid who wore an eye patch.

 

[Laurel]

I was teased as a teenager for freckles, glasses, braces, big boobs, sticky out bottom and skinny waist and curly mop hair. I turned the teasing into an act where I would make people laugh with my overly dramatic exaggeration of their rude comments.

"I must I must not increase my bust" or "I hope my boobs don't give me a black eye" I would sing that during PE as we jogged or ran around the field.




We are all beautiful or special in our own way and if we were all the same the world would be a boring place.

Yeah, kids are mean in school, aren't they? I had the opposite problem - the boobie fairy came late for me, and with a light load. I was so self-conscious and bummed by the teasing that I started stuffing my bra with toilet paper in the 7th grade. One day when we had to run around the track during P.E. the stuffing fell out. The whole class laughed. Until I switched schools in 9th grade, whenever I'd walk into a room kids would say to each other, "Is it Stuffy in here?" It took years before I could hear the word "stuffy" without blushing. I still wore hugely padded bras everywhere.

I also have really long arms. All through high school and part of college I refused to wear short sleeves because I thought I looked like a monkey. And because I was insecure about my height (I'm 5'4" - not super-short, but my doe-eyed bustier prettier sister was 5'8"), I always wore shoes with heels or some sort of life.

Then after college I made a bit of extra money selling vintage clothing and went to Cannes, France - my first trip ever outside of the U.S. There I saw tons of stylish women with little boobies running around totally braless and nipply, not at all self-conscious. Even long-armed girls! The weather was sticky-hot, so I said fuck it. Ran around braless in tanktops. It was an amazing feeling, so free.

Nowadays I wear bras because I think they're pretty. They're not always padded. T-shirts and tank tops, no problem. Flat-soled sneakers too. I don't give a fuck.

 

[Laurel]

Also, this.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f0ecbac3859fadd72a86aeccc3201139/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo1_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/93f8bb1ce49b11a4733d961e4e00ece2/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo4_500.jpg

http://31.media.tumblr.com/9cf05ec2b51409f7bf3f1bfe63cea369/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo5_500.jpg

http://31.media.tumblr.com/297e4c63714e90b7177b1786739e6779/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo6_500.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/3d56ddde84b2a48f9bac7938a8d94c4a/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo8_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/b2ee407c2a07841abc54360bffa2b254/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo9_500.jpg

http://31.media.tumblr.com/387f8bb4f4a121435dafb139fb8865a2/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo10_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/6efdae14f900d493e6f37873824d6f12/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo2_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/e1ff2abb62ad7f6f02063933fca492c2/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo3_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/673acfadcc2d0370d1638fc264eb3831/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo7_500.jpg

 

[islandman]

Yeah, kids are mean in school, aren't they? I had the opposite problem - the boobie fairy came late for me, and with a light load. I was so self-conscious and bummed by the teasing that I started stuffing my bra with toilet paper in the 7th grade. One day when we had to run around the track during P.E. the stuffing fell out. The whole class laughed. Until I switched schools in 9th grade, whenever I'd walk into a room kids would say to each other, "Is it Stuffy in here?" It took years before I could hear the word "stuffy" without blushing. I still wore hugely padded bras everywhere.

I also have really long arms. All through high school and part of college I refused to wear short sleeves because I thought I looked like a monkey. And because I was insecure about my height (I'm 5'4" - not super-short, but my doe-eyed bustier prettier sister was 5'8"), I always wore shoes with heels or some sort of life.

Then after college I made a bit of extra money selling vintage clothing and went to Cannes, France - my first trip ever outside of the U.S. There I saw tons of stylish women with little boobies running around totally braless and nipply, not at all self-conscious. Even long-armed girls! The weather was sticky-hot, so I said fuck it. Ran around braless in tanktops. It was an amazing feeling, so free.

Nowadays I wear bras because I think they're pretty. They're not always padded. T-shirts and tank tops, no problem. Flat-soled sneakers too. I don't give a fuck.

Your journey of self-discovery is sexy as fuck.

 

[Recidiva]

Laurel, those pictures show my relationship with makeup...while in the theater I learned how to use it and apply it and I didn't like how I didn't look like me anymore. I also didn't like that people treated me differently while wearing it.

But I also get how it's an expression for so many people who don't mind looking differently from how they naturally look or want to. Oddly enough I find myself watching RuPaul's Drag Race and appreciating the fun of putting on makeup again because if the dudes can do it and have fun, it seems more like I'm in solidarity with drag queens.

 

[subdued_passion]

The word model has somehow turned into a trigger word these days to unleash the insecurities in most women.

The reactions range from self-loathing to catty remarks.

Then there is the group of people who want models to behave more responsibly because young adults idolize them

 

[Debbie]

Yeah, kids are mean in school, aren't they? I had the opposite problem - the boobie fairy came late for me, and with a light load.

Nowadays I wear bras because I think they're pretty. They're not always padded. T-shirts and tank tops, no problem. Flat-soled sneakers too. I don't give a fuck.

My sister is a bit small in the boobies and reckons I got her share. She thinks it is so funny.

I tell her she gets to wear the pretty bras while I used to have to go from shop to shop in the hope they had my size. Nowadays the choice is so much better.

In Summer I'd love to wear no bra. Or even a lovely sports bra. I could tuck my boobs under my arms but I have short arms.

Face it - most people think they have something they don't like about themselves.

And we should be embracing who we are and how lucky we are.

Interesting article.

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2012/02/retouching-how-much-is-too-much

"Body-image experts aren’t any keener on over-retouching, no matter who does it. “Study after study has shown that when we see perfected, altered images, it leads to anxiety and low self-esteem and can even play a role in the development of eating disorders,” says Kearney-Cooke. “It sets up an unrealistic beauty ideal and creates this feeling of ‘I’m not good enough."

 

[Recidiva]

My sister is a bit small in the boobies and reckons I got her share. She thinks it is so funny.

I tell her she gets to wear the pretty bras while I used to have to go from shop to shop in the hope they had my size. Nowadays the choice is so much better.

In Summer I'd love to wear no bra. Or even a lovely sports bra. I could tuck my boobs under my arms but I have short arms.

Face it - most people think they have something they don't like about themselves.

And we should be embracing who we are and how lucky we are.

Interesting article.

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2012/02/retouching-how-much-is-too-much

"Body-image experts aren’t any keener on over-retouching, no matter who does it. “Study after study has shown that when we see perfected, altered images, it leads to anxiety and low self-esteem and can even play a role in the development of eating disorders,” says Kearney-Cooke. “It sets up an unrealistic beauty ideal and creates this feeling of ‘I’m not good enough."

Some people really are just pretty much flawless without makeup. We see them in reality, they do not require retouching. Good for them, that's cool. They have genetic gifts and I hope they enjoy them.

I don't know why having someone be altered to look better is less devastating to certain personalities than meeting people who are gorgeous without trying.

I agree people have unreasonable standards compared to their starting point, but there really are just sorta physically perfect and ideal humans according to certain standards and they can make money if they want that way and I'm cool with it.

I gots a brain. If they gots a brain, good. It's kinda unfair to win the whole genetic lottery, but some folks have and do.

The altered stuff bugs me. Even the picture in this thread of the lady with the horse...those ain't her legs. I would like to see her legs. I will not get to see her legs.

 

[neci]

i absolutely loves lines in faces and dimples over bodies. there is such beauty in being openly raw.

 

[Debbie]

i absolutely loves lines in faces and dimples over bodies. there is such beauty in being openly raw.

"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that."
Lauren Bacall.

 

[warrior queen]

Telling a 6'1" tall girl who weighs in at 50kg that she needs to lose at least 8kg to even have a shot at a modelling career is wrong.
This was yet another case reported just last night.... one of a long line of such reports.

No matter how much the designers want their clothes to hang on a skeletal frame, they should understand that just about every PURCHASER of their fabulous creations is going to be bigger than that!

 

[islandman]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/3d56ddde84b2a48f9bac7938a8d94c4a/tumblr_muqed7OQUB1qfml4zo8_500.jpg

I prefer her in the "before" pic.