Shockingly thin models on ASOS!

[LieInsAreRarerThanTigers]

I have never posted in S & B before, it's just not my 'style' but wondered what others think of what look like really anorexic/underweight models on this site? My daughter (almost 12) was looking for trousers and came across pages of emaciated-looking legs and hips - surely it's irresponsible for sites like that to use such underweight models? I thought advertisers etc were more responsible nowadays - it's the first time I've seen such shockingly thin models for a while. Should I complain to them do you think? I felt uncomfortable that dd was looking at them.

link?

They look okay to me

here is one particularly bad one

some are worse than others. I am not sure the exact page she was looking at as it was a few days ago. Something just reminded me of it.

I've had a look and I can't see any models who look underweight. They're very slim, but no slimmer than other models on other sites, and they don't have ribs, hip bones etc sticking out.

Do you have a link to the really thin ones?

Sorry crossed posts. She doesn't seem that bad. Yes very thin, but not boney!

Hmm, they don't look quite as bad as they did the other day - maybe it's to do with the screen I am looking at compared with my laptop. Both dd and I agreed they were way too thin. I am not sure the hip bones would be that visible in the jeans. I just wonder if some of these girls have a bmi over 18?

Looks like they use slightly curvier models for swimwear - I don't think people actually want to see bones sticking out!

That one doesn't look so bad to me - yes she's slim, but not 'emaciated' as far as I can tell . It's normal for models to be tall with a very slender build.

Remember these photos are usually edited anyway, so you don't always see exactly how the model looks in real life!

I was that thin (but not that tall or pretty) when I was in my late teens now I'm a more rounded size 8
Some people are thin (especially when younger) others not so much
ASOS tends to lean towards a younger Market so more likely to have skinnier models but I wouldn't say they are particularly bad compared with everyone else
Don't find skinny chicken legs or over priced VW jeans attractive myself but I'm not sure I'm their target market

I have smaller legs than that and my BMI is over 18. Not everyone who is thin is ill you know.

theyre lovely legs. Whats the problem?

Theyre not going to advertise skin tight skinny jeans using models with thunder thighs, are they?

Personally I don't think they are lovely legs. Some of the models do look healthier than that one, and as I said it doesn't seem generally as bad as I thought the other day. But I don't think anyone should aspire to having legs that thin and if they are still 'airbrushing' and using really skinny models I don't think that's good. Most of the swimwear ones look much healthier and have some curves.

theyre not selling the legs, theyre selling the jeans. The main buyers of skinny jeans, are not going to be overweight. They dont look concave or anything. The thighs are larger than the calves. The models look in proportion

i would say that girls bmi looks around 18. still bmi is not always the best judge as she is probably right for her frame/age. i agree not the best example for a child to be aspiring too although ive seen worse

Thin = style for lots of people unfortunately and the more people look at these images the more they become normalised so I expect you would get a different asnwer if you posted in a different bit of mumsnet

I really don't get the 'oh but it's only photoshop' argument because the end result of pushing an unhealthy body image is still there

That is what I was thinking Helen. I am a 'thunderthighs' size 12/14 sportswoman, not a style queen after all!

Another 'don't these models look ill' thread? They look like normal models to me! Unfortunately, we are living in a world where overweight is becoming the normal body size, so thin people look even thinner when compared. I am studying Psychology and fully believe that there is more to an eating disorder than seeing images of thin women, which let's face it have been around for decades. Even in the 30's they airbrushed fashion images, albeit very badly!

TBH, the fashion world can't win. I've been to many fashion shows and when the normal size for a catwalk model was around a 10/12 you could hear women sniggering in the audience going on about the model's (basically non-existent) cellulite. Now models are slimmer, they complain about unhealthy body image.

There are women out there who are this size without trying, you know! Not all thin people have an eating disorder and not all people with an eating disorder are thin.

They are very slim but not uber-skinny. i would say that to stay at that size you would probably need to go hungry for a lot of the day though unless you have an incredibly fast metabolism and life would therefore be pretty joyless.

I have a friend who has this body shape and the last time we went out for a slap up thai meal, she opted for miso soup only and no dessert while the rest of us had three courses! It was dinner time after a long day at work. I fear for her health. The rest of us are healthy size 10s (well we teeter between 10 and 12).

HelenBaaBaa is right, thin= stylish and ASOS appeals to young girls who hold this body shape up as an ideal. Or perhaps they only hold it up as an ideal because they are bombarded with such images.

Agree with Dinah that slim legs help to sell skinny jeans though.

I can't believe that this absolutely gorgeous figure is considered plus size

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2110976/Laura-Catterall-Cosmopolitan-magazine-features-plus-size-model-cover.html

That is a textbook perfect figure if ever I saw one. Beautiful.

my thighs are maybe a bit bigger than that, but im not thin enough to be a model. Of course there are a lot of models that are too thin, but that woman just looked lean and healthy to me. A lot of people think that lean = too thin, and without actually knowing what her statistics are, you cant say from that photo what her BMI is, or whether shes underweight, or whether shes dieted to be like that, or whether shes naturally thin. I honestly think shes a normal looking size to me. Just as normal as your 12/14

You're right Dinah, there is a 'spectrum' of normal and it's fine to use models within this spectrum. Slim legs showcase skinny jeans perfectly, I agree. I think the problem arises when they use size 6/8 models to showcase everything.

Clothing designers should utilise the whole spectrum of healthy body shapes from a size 8 to a 14 or whatever as part of regular fashion shoots without the adage of 'plus sizing'. Boobs and hips show off a wrap dress for example, a nice bum and skinny waist for a pencil skirt etc. Certain clothes look odd when hanging off a too thin frame regardless of whether the model is naturally that size and designers should want to showcase their clothes appropriately. I'm thinking scoop necks with a flat bony chest, that kind of thing. Use the right model for the clothes.

I think those of us who quite happily sit within the healthy spectrum get sick of seeing exclusively thin models and I balk when anything bigger than a 10 is plus size. It's a distortion of reality.

Can I be devils advocate? If you thought the images were uncomfortable and not appropriate for an 11 year old, why let her look at them? Surely asos is targeted at an elder teen/adult audience? Maybe if it was a kids clothing website then I could see that you could be worried. Surely it's the parents responsibility to avoid images like that not the advertisers....

I think we've been inculcated by the cult of fat acceptance. The girl on that link is completely normal. It's just that we're used to seeing much larger women on average.

not normal if she is eating a few hundred cals a day to look like that though - very few people i would think are naturally that slim. i agree with one of the above posters that companies should use a variety of sizes to discourage an ideal of thinness -eating disorder statistics are shocking and increasing at an alarming rate and they do destroy lives. i agree thin models don't cause them, but in people who are vulnerable to eating disorders, yes they can be an added factor that can make them worse or be the icing on the cake for that person.

CaoNiMa - have you ever looked at photos of women 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago? They had far more flesh on their bones, Twiggy may have looked similar but she was considered a bit of a "freak" and underweight, compare with Jean Shrimpton or more recently Kate Moss.
Actually my opinion is that counter to all the government has been saying for years, the average young girl in my nice middle class area is skinner than they were in my day, and far more are borderline or full blown Anorexics.

QC (or DA!) to reassure you over my parenting - my daughter googled 'denim' looking for something for the school disco, and this was one of the sites she alighted on. We discussed what we saw and she agreed (unusual for her to agree with me about anything, by the way!) that the legs on the particular page she was looking at looked unusually thin, rather than attractively slim. There are lots of girls her age who fit adult sizes (she is an 8, well-proportioned but thinks she is a bit fat)
I can honestly say I rarely see girls who look as thin as that model and I go through a university campus and see lots of young people on a daily basis. (They are not all fatties either - lots of sport and dance students).
Of course I accept that slim or thin models make clothes look good and also that not everyone slim or thin has an eating disorder.
I just naively thought that there had been some move away from very thin models selling clothes particularly on websites aimed at teens.