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Original poster

ASOS swimwear models

35 replies

user1490142285 · 21/06/2017 17:00

Looking for a tall swimming costume or grannykini for my long waisted bod and eyeballs have been assaulted by what look disturbingly like American Apparel-style porny models some of whom look no older than 13: www.asos.com/women/swimwear-beachwear/cat/?cid=2238&refine=attribute_900:4238&currentpricerange=5-275&pgesize=36

I understood in looking for swimwear I'd encounter swimwear models - no worries - but how is it that some of them are so young and come-hither, with the briefs rucked up their arses?

Are they trying to sell this cossie to a woman or is this quick and easy kiddie wank-fodder (incl little prancing video)? www.asos.com/asos/asos-mix-and-match-high-waist-bikini-bottom-in-carnival-floral-print/prd/8020101?iid=8020101&clr=Floral&SearchQuery=&cid=2238&pgesize=36&pge=0&totalstyles=2005&gridsize=3&gridrow=11&gridcolumn=2

Contrast with Bonmarche for example: www.bonmarche.co.uk/womens/clothing/swim-and-beachwear/ They don't seem to struggle to find age-appropriate normal female models.

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CountFosco · 25/06/2017 22:41

I agree the girl in the second link does look very young (I doubt she's older than 16 based on my nieces) and the posing is more sexual than I'd like and the thing I have the biggest issue with (the bikini is not skimpy after all).

Her youthfulness is nothing to do with her body shape but more her face even with the makeup, without it she'd look even younger. A lot of models are teenagers, particularly for a site like ASOS who are aiming at the teenage and young adult market and there's nothing against the law about using teenagers to model swimsuits. So it's more the Lolita posing that's problematic, compare with the styling here which is aimed at parents buying for their child (model is obviously younger as well since she's not got all her adult teeth but I doubt many people would object to this photo): Boden.

WhattheChuff · 24/06/2017 15:20

Or maybe he didn't realise. It's really subtle stuff apparently.

antimatter · 24/06/2017 00:35

WhattheChuff then the photographer was told to lie :)

I just repeated what they say and tbh never spent time looking at their website.

QuackDuckQuack · 23/06/2017 19:11

Whenever I pass a group of university undergraduates I think they look about 13. One of the weird parts of ageing is that you still think you and your peers look much younger than you actually are and therefore younger people look younger than they actually are.

LokisLover · 23/06/2017 19:11

Oh great, I've now just ordered a whistles dress from asos. Thank god it was in the sale.

But interestingly the model doesn't look any older than some of the swimwear ones but is posed in a very different way. No arse & boobs pushed out nonsense with a coy look.

OneFlewOverTheDodosNest · 23/06/2017 18:55

Yes fair point - my friend and I were once asked if we were unaccompanied minors on a flight - we were both over 25 at the time!

I'd personally say all those women look over 18 at the minimum.

Original poster
user1490142285 · 23/06/2017 18:52

LokisLover thanks, will have a look at Seafolly. And thanks for your comment, I feel the same.

Yeah, call me a pearl clutcher or whatever (I've been called worse) but it feels like turkeys voting for Christmas, I thought we'd be further along by now.

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Original poster
user1490142285 · 23/06/2017 18:40

LokisLover sorry, no you didn't sound sarcastic Smile I wasn't sure if I was reading your comment in the tone you intended. Some comments are a bit eyerolling (fair enough) and I didn't know if yours was too.

OhtoblazeswithElvira I used to work with homeless young people, I feel I've seen a fair bit, there is always something worse somewhere. Not sure why this felt like a last straw/MN post moment. Maybe because I'm sitting on my comfy sofa, not on the mean streets. Smile

ElspethFlashman the thing is, lingerie has always been a bit filthy, or there is always that Readers Wives element and if you're sharing with a partner/partners, fair enough. I find the ASOS dressy dresses worse than the lingerie. The filthiness element is now applied across the board, as if it isn't enough to be fuckable in the bedroom, you now should consider your fuckability everywhere you go.

Of course we're all free to wear what we want when we want, I'm not shaming anyone, it is the cynicism of the message. I was an introverted teen and loved being a slightly gothy indie kid, I guess that sort of experience still exists. This Lolita thing makes me cringe.

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AnyFucker · 23/06/2017 18:37

The merchandise is fucking awful, but I can't see a problem with the models ??

LilaBard · 23/06/2017 18:29

I'm 31, 5'0" and recently got asked if I was over 15 buying an Xbox game so if ASOS are reading this I am 100% open to being paid to lounge by a pool! HMU.

LokisLover · 23/06/2017 18:26

Also I do think we are so conditioned by the fashion industry, celeb culture, media etc that skinny and young is acceptable and the norm. It's always been there but with social media and all that there seems even more pressure on young women and girls to look a certain way. I'm so glad I'm not growing up with that huge pressure under such scrutiny.

Some of the models on asos do look very, very young but that doesn't mean you should have to shop in m&s!! I don't get that opinion at all. I do like asos stuff but just have to look past their styling, but yes I know I shouldn't have to. And (shock horror) I'm 40.

(OP have you had a look at Seafolly for tankinis? I'm 5ft 10 and have one. Expensive elsewhere but i think they have a sale on brand alley)

ElspethFlashman · 23/06/2017 18:20

You'd better not search for lingerie on ASOS, you'd clutch your pearls even harder.

LokisLover · 23/06/2017 18:13

Sorry I really didn't mean that to sound sarcastic at all, I agree with your points completely. I suppose when you are so unused to seeing a true representation it is a surprise when you do. Which is terrible really as of course it should be the norm.

OhtoblazeswithElvira · 23/06/2017 17:52

I would agree that they look younger than 18, probably 15, and a couple of the facial expressions are a bit "suggestive". However this is very tame however compared with what you see every day around you.

Original poster
user1490142285 · 23/06/2017 17:46

OneFlewOverTheDodosNest not primarily, but there is an element of some of them being a bit child-bodied, by which I don't mean small-breasted, but straight up and down, no hips etc. You're right of course, a lot of women continue to have a youthful build well into adulthood.

It's more of a fresh-faced quality combined with the youthful build. Hard to know how we 'know' a 13yo from an 18yo from 23yo, and sometimes we don't, but to my eye some (not all) of those models look very young, younger than 16, and/or as if they are meant to look young.

LokisLover not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. I was not disagreeing, it's great to see any additional part of a spectrum represented, just remarking on how little we often accept from fashion retailers or magazines who do one small thing and tell us how amazing they are for doing it. One model with grey hair, a sleb with a wrinkle in an advert etc and they get a medal.

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OneFlewOverTheDodosNest · 23/06/2017 17:22

Are you thinking they look young because they're slim with small boobs?

I know this is a more stereotype teenage build but believe me I'm in my late 20s and look similar (but slightly more hip-py). There are plenty of women who don't become curvaceous and have small breasts post 16 though.

LokisLover · 23/06/2017 16:36

Yeah you're probably right, I just got a bit over excited by real life and very normal stretch marks.

Original poster
user1490142285 · 23/06/2017 15:26

LokisLover their plus-size models are properly plus-sized as well, with visible extra flesh.
I still feel like the bar is set very low for them to get gold stars for showing actual unmanipulated flesh, be it stretchmarked or ample. I think it's a red herring.

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Original poster
user1490142285 · 23/06/2017 15:21

Datun I agree it is subjective. At 13 I looked about 20, so maybe my discomfort comes from feeling that the object of the exercise is to show models who look young (to me anyway). It is within the larger context of the hypersexualisation of what has always been revealing, sexy etc. To my eye a lot of the bikinis on that page look more like sex shop lingerie. And to me this feels newly ugly, as though a line has been crossed.

My discomfort isn't about sex or sexy clothes, it's the commodification and hypersexualisation - fuckability - of young bodies and/or bodies which are meant to look young in the service of selling ordinary clothes - swimming costumes - that we all wear in public, and a lingering sense that the porny quality is actually meant to appeal to these young women themselves because they have absorbed/accepted (embraced?) the idea that they should look fuckable at all times.

Maybe I'm an outlier.

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LokisLover · 23/06/2017 15:06

I was looking at a swimming costume on asos recently and noticed one of the models had stretch marks on her bum. I know this misses the point of the age of models on their site but I was impressed they hadn't been photoshopped out and is a good thing.
Unless it was a one off?

Datun · 23/06/2017 15:00

In your first link, I don't think they looked too young. The girl in the second link looks rather young though.

But it's highly subjective, isn't it? She could easily be 18.

Lots of swimwear is designed to show off one's body. And lots of it is aimed at teenagers.

There is a debate to be had about the entire premise. However in terms of your post, I agree the second girl looks a little Lolita-esque.

Joinourclub · 23/06/2017 14:56

I think their market is young women who want a sexy poolside look. So that's what they sell/present. It doesn't offend me.

twattymctwatterson · 23/06/2017 14:47

ASOS is aimed at the demographic featured in their images. None of the women photographed look underage

WhattheChuff · 23/06/2017 14:14

I used to work near Asos main offices in London where they do all their studio photography and their photographers (whom we used to bump into in the pub) were saying that Asos never photoshop their models

I'm afraid they do. They have a team of people who work full time doing just that.

blueskyinmarch · 23/06/2017 14:08

They all look at lot like my DD and her friends.They are all 18 or 19. None of them looked remotely like that at age 13.

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