Cindy Crawford Honors Gianni Versace, A True Lover Of Lady Boss, Smart Sensuality Women

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Cindy Crawford Honors Gianni Versace, A True Lover Of Lady Boss, Smart Sensuality Women

Supermodel Cindy Crawford is styled by Karla Welch in 'Versace, Versace, Versace', lensed by Carter Smith for InStyle Magazine March 2018.

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It has long been my contention that the mostly male designers, coupled with women editors, male photographers and male-dominated business interests felt a strong need to metaphorically cut the original supermodels down to size. These women were size 4-6 US Amazonian women who were powerful, sexual and exuded a confidence that the catwalk had never seen. At the time 25% of notoriously overweight American women could achieve a supermodel body with exercise and healthy eating. In recent years, the percentage is 6. 

Twenty-five years after the second wave of feminism culminated in a fiery display of supermodel prowess  -- accused photographer David Bellemere, who seemed to agree with white nationalist Steve Bannon that feminism will destroy 10,000 years of civilization -- broke new ground last week, arguing 50-years later that feminism threatens to pull Western civilization back to the Dark Ages. I do not exaggerate.  

Interviewed in 1990 about the ways in which she and a few other models were calling the shots and changing the game, Linda Evangelista made her infamous, regrettable, sarcastic waking up for 10,000 dollar-bills comment. Still, the spirit of her comment was true. The supers didn't get bossed around much. I doubt that stylists were ever accused of ripping off panties without permission with that 90's goddesses posse. 

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Gianni Versace celebrated strong, Amazonian women whose obvious sensuality was part of their glorious DNA. He was not afraid of female power and influence. In this era of #MeToo, the question of why the fashion industry supported a takedown of the original supermodels is worth considering again. The main argument is that the pendulum of change swung in the direction of the equally wonderful Kate Moss and heroin chic. Change is good, the industry argues. End of the conversation.

It's not at all clear that the fashion industry is as on fire with #MeToo as Hollywood is. How many fashion industry people agree with David Bellemere that #MeToo is taking our celestial, pinnacle-reaching, male-dominated civilization back to the Dark Ages? Exactly why the fashion industry is so far behind Hollywood in embracing #MeToo issues is a question worth asking. What is the industry's relationship with powerful women, whether they are models or brand managers? ~ Anne

 

Eye: LVMH & Kering Issue Joint Statement Banning Too Thin, Too Young Models

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Eye: LVMH & Kering Issue Joint Statement Banning Too Thin, Too Young Models

French luxury titans LVMH and Kering issued a joint statement on Wednesday, announcing their intention to curb use of ultra-thin -- typically called size 0 -- models on runways and in ad campaigns,writes Bloomberg. 

The Paris-based companies said they’d implement stricter guidelines for the treatment of models, including increasing minimum garment sizes for fashion shows as well as requiring them to have medical certificates attesting to their good health. Models below the age of 16 will be banned from showing grown-up fashions, while those ages 16 to 18 will need to be chaperoned, the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday.

“Certain subjects rise above any competition,” Antoine Arnault, chief executive officer of LVMH-owned shoemaker Berluti and eldest son of group chairman Bernard Arnault, said in an interview. “There have been problems in all houses with the way fashion models work, with their well-being and even their psychological safety. A lot of the models are very young, and they don’t have the necessary experience to cope with certain situations. They will be looked after.”

The joint strategy between the two conglomerates -- a decision that impacts luxury brands including LVMH's Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, Givenchy and more and Kering's Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta and more- reflects growing concern over teenage eating disorders. 

I cannot believe this is happening, eight years after Ralph Lauren fired Filippa Hamilton for being too fat -- as a size 4 -- and the downsizing of models worldwide became a bitter fight in fashion. When I said yesterday on FB that I would be returning to this debate in my writing, I had no idea this move by two corporate giants in fashion was about to be announced.

The world of social media is so much more influential now, than eight years ago. When model Ulrikke Hoyer made waves in May 2017, after arriving in Kyoto to be told that she was "too bloated" and "too big" to wear the clothes and should only drink water for 24 hrs., Ulrikke went public and told her followers about the event, shared on Models.com. 

Actor Abbey Lee Talks Model Industry, Saying There's No Security In Getting Paid For Your Looks

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Actor Abbey Lee Talks Model Industry, Saying There's No Security In Getting Paid For Your Looks

Anne is reading … 

Abbey Lee: ‘There is no security in getting paid for your looksThe Guardian

Australian actor and model Abbey Lee (Kershaw) is blunt about the fashion industry in her sit-down with writer Alexandra Spring. Largely gone from the fashion spotlight these days, Abbey Lee is focused on her acting career, appearing in George Miller’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road,’ an upcoming action flick ‘Gods of Egypt’ and now ‘Ruben Guthrie’.

Filmwriter-director Brendan Cowell’s “celebrated stage play”, will be a film about an alcoholic ad exec who receives an ultimatum to stop drinking by his supermodel girlfriend Zoya.  

Lee says she could see Cowell’s point in an email delineating the parallels between Zoya and Abbey Lee for real. “[Zoya’s] decision to leave something that was bad for her – that might have been a really hard decision for her to make – and venture into something unknown was something I was going through at that very time.”

Coincidentally, Abbey Lee is writing her own semi-autobiographical film about addiction, although she refused to discuss it in this interview.  Read on in Fashion & Style. 

 

Models 1 Curve Girls Share No Photoshop Images & Thoughts About Natural Beauty

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#DropThePlus-Models 1 Curve April 2015 Karmi Pinning, Charlotte Quita Jones, Iskra Lawrence and Anna Fritzdorf by Michelle GeorgeModels 1 Curve Girls Share No Photoshop Images & Thoughts About Natural Beauty

British modeling agency Models 1 puts its Curve girls in the spotlight, lensed without Photoshop by Michelle George. Curve writes that the Photoshoot was the idea of the girls themselves, that they wanted to be shot in their ‘most true and natural form’. By abandoning retouching or air brushing, the four models Karmi Pinning, Charlotte Quita Jones, Iskra Lawrence and Anna Fritzdorf are trying to bring a more authentic conversation to the world of beauty and fashion.

Photographer Michelle George talks about the project, explaining:

As a photographer, I work a lot with models of diverse shapes and sizes, yet what I’ve found with curvier models, is that they are often pigeonholed and either used in editorial in a tokenistic gesture, or the style of shoot is limited to either sexy pin up or lifestyle. What I want to show in this shoot is that that these girls are in fact naturally beautiful and can be used across the board, without being labelled as curvy or plus size. With all the recent controversy over the numerous, leaked, unretouched images of celebrities, I also felt it was important to be honest and show these girls unretouched in their natural form.

I feel very strongly, as a woman, that we need to empower each other and show that beauty is not defined by size. We need to start to push these boundaries and reach outside the tightly closed box of the fashion industry and embrace our beauty in its holistic, raw form.

This idea is really about showing the confidence you can have in your own body and not having to rely on retouching. Read on.

France Debates New Fashion Model BMI Laws & Pro-Ana Websites

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France Debates New Fashion Model BMI Laws & Pro-Ana Websites

Takedown Of The Supermodels

What the fashion industry has never explained is the reasons why the world’s top models in the late 80s and into the 90s were size 4-6. AOC has written about the topic of size 0 models for years. The downsizing of supermodels like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and all the glory girls to today’s size 0 and smaller has never explained.

The closest the industry comes is to acknowledging that their embrace of Kate Moss’ ‘heroin chic’ look, one popularized in the mid-1990s, did make vibrant, healthy-looking girls like Crawford and company suddenly undesirable.

In May 1997 President Bill Clinton accused the US fashion industry of portraying heroin use, coupled with emaciated models, androgynous looks and dark circles under their eyes, as glamorous to sell clothes

The glorification of heroin is not creative, it’s destructive,” Clinton said. “It’s not beautiful, it is ugly. And this is not about art, it’s about life and death.

Clinton’s remarks were prompted by the recent death of DavideSorrenti, brother of Mario, who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 20. In a note of irony, Mario photographed Kate Moss, his girlfriend at the time, in the Calvin Klein ‘heroin chic’ Obsession campaign.

Sara Sampaio Graciously Fires Back At Jezebel's Erin Gloria Ryan

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Sara Sampaio Graciously Fires Back At Jezebel's Erin Gloria Ryan

Addressing Erin Gloria Ryan directly, Sampaio also writes:

Dear Erin from Jezebel, I don’t hate myself! I was actually taught by my family to respect and love myself and indeed others! I feel sorry that you were not able to see beyond your own self-serving interest to sensationalise a story, by creating a negative spin on a positive message and making a foregone conclusion about a young ‘model’ you have never met before! 

Victoria's Secret Pulls 'Perfect Body' Campaign Days Before Annual Fashion Show Flies To London

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Victoria’s Secret Pulls ‘Perfect Body’ Campaign Days Before Annual Fashion Show Flies To London

Anne Signed the Petition

Having moved in the last two weeks, I didn’t have time to post the social media dust-up around the Victoria’s Secret ‘perfect body’ campaign.

There was only time to post the campaign on Facebook and sign the Change.org petition — joining 26,000 other women and men who found the new ‘perfect body’ campaign subconsciously preying on women’s well-established insecurities about their bodies to be just that — a psychologically predatory ad campaign. 

Thanks to three young Brits who launched the Change.org petition, Victoria’s Secret has pulled their ‘perfect body’ campaign and replaced it with a more inclusive one.

According to the campaigners, the advert failed “to celebrate the amazing diversity of women’s bodies by choosing to call only one body type ‘perfect’.” They asked for the ad’s message to be changed, and for an apology from the company. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had attracted more than 29,000 signatures. US underwear company Dear Kate responded in turn, posting their own version of The Perfect Body, showcasing a variety of body types.

Karolina Kurkova's Pursuit Of Supermodel Status | Fashion Activism & Smart Sensuality Women

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Karolina Kurkova’s Pursuit Of Supermodel Status | Fashion Activism & Smart Sensuality WomenAOC Salon

Today’s New York TimesFashion & Style profiles ‘semi-supermodel’ Karolina Kurkova. The Miami-based model may not appear in the Models.com Top 50 models, but Kurkova is on her way to supermodel status, writes Bob Morris.

Kurkova followed Alicia Keyes at last September’s Global Citizens Festival in New York’s Central Park, giving Anne an opportunity to thread the needle on models, Smart Sensuality women, the fashion industry and the death of the supermodel.