To wonder why 'thin is in'?

[loverofchoc]

DH and I were discussing this with a group of friends earlier today - why are all models now expected to be so thin?

Normally, nobody finds it attractive (obviously bar a few exceptions). The majority of men prefer at least some moderate feminine curves and the majority of females feel slightly sick looking at a really clinically underweight model. It's extremely damaging for these women who starve themselves to be in that profession and surely we'd all be more persuaded to buy stuff if the person modelling it looked happy and healthy...

I don't mean naturally skinny like some people who struggle to gain weight . I mean really, really, anorexic thin like a supermodel.

Any theories?

I can tell you now that a lot of women in their late teens/early 20s are looking to be curvier. It's the Kim Kardashian effect. The amount of women who weight train to get more muscular is soaring.

I've noticed that as well.
I can't see the trend lasting though.
Kim Kardashian looks horrendous in most of her clothes and at the end of the day, people don't want to look like caricatures.

I just find it tragic that these women are pressure into destroying their health to be a certain size

Not saying it's right but no one's making them though, they can choose to say no and do something else.
Someone up thread mentioned Kate Moss and the heroin thing, I remember Bill Clinton's intervention on that as well

Just to echo your words I, too am healthy, happy (ish) and a size 12 -14. And not fat .

I'm sure most young girls would rather look like Kendal than Kim

I know I would but I'm too old

How would a 23in waist be a size 14?

My waist is 29 and I'm a tight 12.

'I've never though Marilyn was all that tbh.'

I think she was absolutely gorgeous and really had that star quality that goes beyond looks.........but I don't like any of her films.

Give me a Bette Davis box set any day.

OK everyone I AM SORRY I MENTIONED MARILYN MONROE!!!!!!!

I accept she was tiny.

Tiny but not especially thin 😌

Marilyn looks like a true hourglass as was the fashion at the time. Is it conceivable that at some stage in her life she could have worn a corset to reduce her waistsize? I've read you can achieve temporary body shape changes with a corset. The measurements given upthread would give her a BMI of 19.4, which I wouldn't describe as tiny. When I was that BMI I was wearing a size 12 - I am an hourglass, too, but 5'8''.

I do remember an interview with Kate Winslet saying she needed to lose the baby weight or she wouldn't be able to work.

Gigi Hadid has lost a lot of weight recently.

There are a lot of theories why being terribly underweight is fashionable now. It is a huge problem and has gained so much press. I'd be devastated if one of my daughters wanted to be a model. I really would.

Ohtoblazes a friend of mine is a dancer and wait trains with a corset. She's down to 20 inches at the moment, so yes, you can use a corset to change your body shape quite drastically!

20 !??

Where do her organs go????

The thinnest people I know are definitely those who clothes hang the best on. But there is catwalk and then there is real life.

I do remember an interview with Kate Winslet saying she needed to lose the baby weight or she wouldn't be able to work.

But that's quite different from being told you need to slim down from your base weight for no particular reason. She would've been saying she needed to lose the baby weight to get back to that base weight.

I have no idea ILikeBeans. Personally I wonder the same! She says it's rally quite comfortable to wear.

Obviously not my friend. But a waist trained down to 16 inches (supposedly)

Marilyn M's weight fluctuated between 8 and 10 stone all her life (she was average height). She tended to look better at the bottom end of the scale.

Most men prefer women of about 9 stone ish or at least not under 8 stone as that gets a bit too skinny. Up to and over 10 stone can look a bit over weight but obviously is not unhealthy. 16 stone and for health reasons you'd be better losing weight.

Models have to be very very tall so most of us will never be their weird kind of shapes.

@enormoustiger

What ridiculous generalisations. I'm 5'3" (so not ridiculously short) and i can assure you that under 8 stone does not look thin on me.

I had a 20 inch waist when I got married - I'm 5ft 5. It was just my natural size.

It's not anymore.

Have you ever met a proper couture model? A successful one? I have and she was very thin indeed,a human coat hanger and she needed to be that size for her job, to fit into the sample sizing. She was all bone and very angular. Not just like someone who is seriously under weight, just very angular in her shape. No body fat at all.

Many different things being discussed here,,,a couture model is not the same a a Victoria's Secret model who is not the same as a movie star.

Ps Marilyn was supposed to have had breast implants. They were available then. If you look at her younger pics versus say her older ones, i suspect she did.

'Most men prefer women of about 9 stone ish or at least not under 8 stone as that gets a bit too skinny. '

Oh yes because it's a woman's job to look exactly the way a man prefers isn't it? Men can fuck off - we should be the way we are for ourselves.

my point was that even the Victoria Secrets models who are perceived to be curvy aren't all that curvy in reality

goodness, I'm just under 8 stone and don't have a flat stomach, let alone being anywhere near being called 'skinny'. (I am short though).

Of course lottie. But from an evolutionary perspective it makes sense for a man to go for a skinner woman because overweight pregnant women have a higher chance of problems during pregnancy

Do you buy haute couture?

Then you aren't their target market anyway. Rich women are skinny, pressure themselves to be, and buy those clothes.

Clothes for the masses (self included) ARE advertised on happy, healthy people...