H & M model photographs

[Clafoutie]

I realise this isn’t a new thing. And I realise that H & M are not alone in this. But my eye was drawn by an H & M advert on this site and when I visited the H & M website I was appalled by the photos of models there. A lot of them are no doubt AI generated and modified, but they are presenting images of women who look unwell. I thought the fashion industry was moving on from representing women in this way. I was naive.

This thread is a sign of the times. The models all look a healthy weight to me.

Look at photos of the general public from the 70s and 80s and there were many people a similar size to these models. There would be no way that they would be considered underweight! It was the norm.

Now there is a shift of perception from some to the point where they are considering people who are at the lower scale of healthy BMI as emaciated.

That wad it - there were two ads.

I don’t. If you think it’s silly to challenge women who make claims about someone’s health status based on how they look then you’ve got strange priorities

Because anorexia is the mental health disorder with the highest mortality rate. Plus models are usually normal weight to slightly overweight, not severely obese. They often wear size 12 or 14, which are regular, healthy sizes.

There is an element of social contagion in anorexia. So the risks and wider implications of presenting underweight models as the ideal are completely different.

I grew up in the 90s when models really were dangerously thin. These models just look a normal healthy weight (remember they are probably in their late teens or early 20s!!) I looked like that when I was 20, and I ate like a horse and hardly did any exercise apart from walking to the pub/club and dancing. Now I've had children and am pushing 40, it's a different matter. But they look fine for young women.

This reminds me of some of the mum groups I'm in, where every now and again a mum will post in a panic that she thinks her young child/toddler is malnourished because she can see the child's ribs... but you're actually supposed to see their ribs, we've just gotten so used to seeing overweight children now that people are alarmed when they see a healthy one!

BBC News - Parents 'do not recognise obesity in their children'

Your last point hits the nail on the head -

A similar analogy, my mum has a labrador dog - a breed renown for being overweight (due to their insatiable appetites)

Mum's is NOT - he is slim.

She has had SO many comments from owners doubting that he is a labrador and then accusing mum of being cruel and underfeeding him.

The vet, in contrast , has assured her how refreshing it is to see a slim lab and that he is ideal !

these models present as a very healthy weight.

the poster pretending uou can’t judge my looking at someone is being silly, we can all understand overweight under weight and healthy weight when we see it, maybe some grey areas in the boundaries, but we can all tell.

women hurling abuse at these models. Calling them emaciated, lollipop heads etc are simply showing the issues they have with their own bodies.

I also had a slim lab and got told I was cruel and should be reported to the RSPCA. I am a vet. 🙄

That's got fuck-all to do with these models though, as they don't look remotely unhealthy and don't appear to be underweight.

Oh jog on (but don’t get too small with the increased exercise).
I’m a perfectly healthy, slim, lean woman. Always have been and likely always will be (I’ve done menopause because all the “you wait” tribe pile in).

I honestly think this is fine 😂 if people are properly and balanced, and exercised a lot, this is what many of us would look like.
I honestly think that humans have been made sick by UPF and modern lifestyles. We are all capable of running long distances and using our bodies a lot each day; the problem is we shop at supermarkets and sit at desks!

I have had a browse on the H & M website. The models are very slim, but not unhealthily underweight. That was my build for many years until menopause.

If anyone thinks the models look healthily underweight then they have lost all sight of what a healthy body should look like.

I agree this is the biggest tell-tale sign of someone being underweight. I have plenty of naturally very slim friends, all of whom are a healthy (for them) weight but the lollipop head is a warning sign.

Generally photos of models in clothes on websites are not definitive because of the weird angles, poses and the way the clothes are draped.

Companies like H&M go for this specific shape as it makes even the worst clothes look better - very tall, narrow hips, long limbs - but the models look a healthy weight to me, for very young women.

She just looks lean though? Her calf muscles are nicely defined.

Echoing this. My daughter was anorexic and had to put on 15 kilos to get to a healthy weight. She was fainting, fatigue and periods dropping off, blood tests showed damage and issues with bone development. She even needed glasses (borderline) due to the stress she was putting her body under.

She was constantly complimented and people said she looked great. Her phone was filled with AI images of Korean girls with tiny waists. She had no idea this was impossible to achieve. She is 6’ and at this weight she looked more in line with her pals who were 5’3/5’4, in terms of width of arms, legs etc. She was size 6. So bang on the model range. The ‘tells’ were that she looked gangly, her shoulders looked oversized, she had no weight on her face aged 13, and her thighs were not much bigger than her calves - in other words, almost impossible to spot.

Happily she was able to weight gain and at the bottom of her normal weight she still had a flat stomach, and looked fab when standing solo. She was around an 8-10, so very little difference in dress sizes. But she suddenly looked big when standing next to her pals; her limbs were broader than theirs etc. When you’re tall, you are supposed to be bigger all over to be in proportion. Look at pictures of Blake Likely standing next to Anna Kendrick.

Some of the models shown look healthy imo, some have super skinny limbs, which at their height, probably makes them underweight. The image of the Olympian shows a person covered with muscles. I can’t see any hint of muscles on the images of the smaller models. When I trained seriously, we all took carb loading seriously, and had to consume huge quantities to ensure we had enough fuel to not become underweight. So it’s a bit of a weird comparison.

What?! I look similar and I’m really healthy! I exercise daily and eat a great (pescatarian) diet. There’s no way a young girl shouldn’t aspire to that. It’s how active people look when they burn the calories they eat and don’t have excess fat!

I had the same thought recently.
Women who won’t have had periods for
months/years because their body weight is so under normal range.

Just looked at bikini page for Zara and H&M. Slim, tanned, young women. No one looks ill. Sure they haven’t been lifting weights but that’s not really a model aesthetic.

This thread is bonkers. None of the models in the pictures above from H&M look remotely underweight - they are slim and stunning, unlike the seriously overweight woman in the photo that @Keepoffmyartichokesposted. In my late teens and early 20s I had a figure like the H&M models and would love to get back to that size again. I suspect that many of the people suggesting that these women are underweight and unhealthy have just got used to seeing overweight people, or that they’re as jealous of women who look like these models as I am

I totally agree with the vanity sizing. I'm wearing a size 8 at 50 after weight loss, taking me back to the weight I was in my mid-20's. I never fit into a size 8 back then, despite being a lot "fatter" at this weight at this age due to age-related body composition changes.

I don’t think it’s fair to say she’s not attractive due to her body size.

Yes I remember that too.

I think the model in the spotty dress looks lovely. The two covered up I can't really tell.

I would say the lady in black looks thinner than the photo posted above of the athlete. Its something about the shoulder ratio to the neck, which looks slight under the weight of her head (as someone said, "lollipop head") I had that when young and my health improved when I gained a few kg, although my bmi put me at bottom end of healthy. It could be the angle but I'm wondering if that is what caught the op's eye.

I think if we justify discussion of obesity on grounds of health, we need to be able to mention thinness on the same basis. I say that as someone who is grateful a GP told me to gain slightly.

That said, I can't see the lady in the spot dress looks at all unhealthy.

It's what I looked like in my early 20's. I was anorexic.

It's a healthy look to me.