Is anyone else cross that the Next model looks on the verge of anorexia?

[WilfSell]

I think the catalogue one of the most widely recognised retailers in the UK, pored over by countless young girls no doubt, should NOT feature a model who is so thin she looks ill.

Her upper thighs and arms are just about the same or perhaps thinner than the lower and her face is getting that 'stretched' look where you can see odd muscles.

I really don't think it is on.

Being bitchy now - but that model has dirty hair, stubbly thighs and bad skin. Lovely!

I think generally the media needs a massive shake up and stop the hysteria surrounding any model who is larger than sample size.

I also think that these companies need to use models which reflect the demographic of their target audience. Of course, we have "plus sized" models for ranges like Evans. What I'm talking about is that, for example, Next must know who their "average" customer is and yet a flick through the website tells you that allegedly nobody over a size 8 shops there.

The sad thing is, it suggests that either

a) clothes only look good on thin women; or

b) if you buy this item you too will look like a size 8.

The stark truth is that the right clothing on the right woman will look fab whatever her size. And squeezing into an item which isn't made for your proportions (no matter what size it says on the label) will only serve to make you look ridiculous and you will feel crap.

MP - you say we are the ideal body shape. However, self esteem derives from more than your actual shape. I may be a size 8 but I have (ahem) cankles, a face thats prone to major breakouts every month and a monobrow of epic proportions if not kept under strict control with a regular wax or pluck. Sound a stunner, don't I??

(You need a 10x magnifying mirror for your mono brow Tulpe. I got one for £4.99 in Superdrug just recently, has transformed my groomage).

Thanks, Bibbity. It gives me eye strain leaning over the sink attempting to accurately groom in bathroom mirror

Be prepared

those models!

Next is deffo on my banned list.

i wasn't that fussed about this thread until this image turned up on a style and beauty thread.

Glad i am not the only one who has noticed this.There was a model in the last catalogue that was even thinner than this one.It made me feel very
Whom could we complain to?

The one that BALD linked to is worryingly thin. If there were one Next model like that it might just be a naturally thin woman, but so many of them? And they were chosen, they did not just walk in off the street.

Call it what you want, skinny, thin, petite. Healthy it is not.

My mum often refers to thin women as 'neat'

There is someing equally disturbing about the fact that there is clearly a 'perfect' weight that most (judgey) women 'agree' is 'correct'. It is somewhere around Jennifer Anniston and the underwear model referred to in this thread. They are not too 'skinny' (horrible, aggressive word), not too 'lanky' or tall, and have perfect, naturally beautiful breasts.

This is the unsaid model of perfection that is alluded to as 'natural' or 'curvy' or (blergh) 'real women'.

Just as these models are clearly lighter and thinner than this ideal, most of the population of heavier or fatter than this ideal, and they seem to feel in some way under attack. Do you HONESTLY feel threatened by the NEXT catalogue? They are a shit company who have a dodgy reputation (bras for children etc) and crap clothes. I don't know why they are expected to be any more 'moral' than anyone else. If it is indeed a moral issue....

I rarely, rarely see a truly anorexic person, but I see a hell of a lot of very overweight people. Our mother's generation used to be unashamed about limiting their calorie intake to keep their figures and stay trim (as did the men), and perceived gluttony and over indulgence as pretty gross. I like the 'slim' look (size 12 myself, 10 in the summer) and while I agree that these models look extreme, I see more reason to campaign against Starbucks and McDonalds on every street corner encouraging us all to stuff our faces every two minutes, and eat cakes with every drink we consume.

This sort of extreme is quite rare and I think if you feel genuinely,so upset and threatened by it there are probably much wider weight issues going on in yourself. Huge overwieght people don't 'disturb' or 'upset' me, and there are A LOT more of them around than very thin people.

I don't mind model being slim, thin even but some of those images are a bit close to the bone (no pun intended), esp the lady in the maroon top - that made me wince, she didn't look nice at all

I thought exactly the same when I got my copy of the next catalogue. I was shocked by some of those pictures and that is from someone who has always thought Kate Moss is beautiful and not shockingly thin.

greatgoing I think you are missing the point, people are not attacking those models, they may be the weight they are for several reasons. Maybe they have an eating disorder or they are healthy and its down to genetics but it is irresponsible for Next to use these pictures as a standard for their customers to look up to. Lets face it, even a model who is a size UK size 8 is far thinner than the average UK size 14 so why go to those lengths to use models that are clearly size 4/6. Regardless of why they are that thin they are clearly not of healthy BMIs. Just as someone who is obese is not of a healthy BMI. This thread is about these very thin models, there are several other threads on Mumsnet that do attack fast and processed foods so its not people being judgey and having one rule for thin people and one rule for fat people.

Fwiw I have a bmi of around 20. I exercise regularly and eat well. I am also very petite but weigh around 8 stone and my calorie intake should be approx 1400 calories a day to maintain my weight and size, I am a size 8. Considering a typical sandwich is around 500 calories my limit is not very much so for those models to be the size they are at the height they are they really could not be eating healthy portions of food, and whatever the reason for their weight in the majority of cases it will be because of the pressures and expectations of the industry they work in. I'm sure behind all those smiles the majority are dreaming about food. We should be taking a stand and making Next now that we don't find these images appropriate just for the sake of some of these models.

I didin't say people were attacking the models?

I concede that I may have gone a little off message, but I simply can't let you get away with the suggestion that people 'look up to' Next models! And I don't believe for a moment that 'concern' (which is thinly disguised distaste) extends to 'taking a stand ...for the sake of some of these models'. Arf!

I do understand the points being made, but my point, and one I stand by, is that I don't believe these models have the influence people claim, and I find it hard to swallow that people are genuinely 'upset' by it. Repulsed by, annoyed, envious, confused,curious,attracted to, maybe.

Young women want to be Jordan or Nicola McLean, not a Next model. Ironically, the pursuit of 'curviness' and huge fake boobs is more fashionable that the traditional Twiggy tomboy rakey look.

I think if people want to eat not much and be a bit thin and controlling, let them-they will find their heroines in history, literature, music or a Next catalogue. They have that right as mich as anyone who chooses to be overweight,who will also find their role models where they will and in a way both should be represented.

I wouldn't confuse shape with 'healthiness' either; there is no way of telling how healthy someone is by looking at them really. I look pretty glowing and have a fairly toned, sporty figure. I am pretty unhealthy though as I drink and smoke lightly. I eat well but I bet I couldn't run a few hundred yards without feeling knackered.

Of course people see these models as being held up as an idea of beauty

I don't know why anyone disputes that

They are very beautiful women, but these particular ones look unhealthily thin

And yes I DO care if women want to eat nothing in order to match this ideal of beauty because eating disorders take the best years of your life and waste them by consuming you with thoughts of self-hatred and hunger, when you should be happy and confident and finding out all about the world

But consuming thoughts about weight in general are the sole preserve of anorexics as this thread proves; most women seem to obsess about either their own or, as is here, some random model's weight as a potential 'role model'.

In reality, most role models, for most women, are actresses, writers, journalists, musicians (and young women), and of course the ubiquitous reality tv star. This is the reality and I think the myth of the influential model is pedalled as a misleading aspect of a bigger issue.

I know my opinions are far from fashionable and will not be shared. Eating disorders do not necessarily take the best years of your life. They can be a survival reaction to trauma (nothing to do with models!!!) and just be a developmental part of a life, which is often brief. You can still be happy, confident and normal but thin and control your food intake. Sorry if no-one wants to hear that. Just as you can be happy, greedy and overweight! The two extremes are totally possible.

I feel very sorry for those who take any sort of eating or not eating to an extreme, where it causes hospitalisation and depression or a breakdown of relationships; even death. But this can happen with both underweight and overweight people and it is all to frequently ignored that we are under the grip or an over eating crisis, not an under eating one!

I think they are disgusting and at first wondered if they'd done it to provoke a reaction or if it was a joke (though not a funny one). The clothes are also foul.

Er, the point about underweight women being presented over and over again in the media as the ideal shape is that it has a drip feed effect into young women's idea of how they should be. It is every where, it is inescapable. Of course you can be happy and confident and thing and 'control your food intake' that is like saying the sky can be blue. It doesn't mean there are huge numbers of young women and girls developing eating disorders quite young, and the numbers are growing. There are many other factors in the development of eating disorders, but to pretend that the way the female ideal is presented in the media [as underweight with silicon pouches for breasts] has no effect on young women is really silly.

No- that was not the point made originally. The point made was that it was upsetting, disturbing, inappropriate, unnatural disgusting to see images of ultra-thin women

My point is that this is just as narrow minded, nasty and ugly as beign repulsed by an overweight person, and serves the same purpose-which is that there IS a 'perfect' body, ie the 'middle range' curvy woman-the Heidi Klum, the Davina McCall. The woman who is praised for being a 'real woman', for not embarassing or repulsing us with either her bones or her flab. She proves her worth by producing children then working hard (publically) to lose the 'baby weight' with not a boob job in sight. She gets our approbation, but is in fact as unobtainable for most as anyone else.

Where are the disabled models? Where are the very black models? Where are the short models? Where are the old models? The perception of beauty is narrow in every sense, and will only get narrower if women still feel free to call other shapes 'disturbing' or 'disgusting' just because they don't fit into their own perception of the ideal mid range, 5 foot 7 nine and a half stone clone.

greatgoing The worrying thing is that regardless of what profession young women want to be they still want to be thin. Even if they find role models amongst books and or on the TV girls still aspire to be thin, not just young girls but adult females too. I know several professionals who have issues with food and wanting to lose weight. Which is great if it's done in a healthy way with exercise and eating well or if you just happen to be lucky enough like yourself to be born that way, but more often than not it's not done in a healthy way by skipping meals and not getting enough nutrients. These girls in the catalogue have clearly taken wanting to be thin to an extreme and I don't believe that their weight was achieved by natural means. It's not about wanting to be a next model or whatever, its about what Next is trying to promote which is the idea that women will look at these pictures and think that is a good look otherwise they wouldn't be buying their clothes. It's not just as simple as let these girls be as thin as they please and get on with their lives and we get on with ours - they are being upheld as how we should want to look. Which is ok if you are confident and happy with the way you are but we all have our insecurities and many are vulnerable.

I do not find these pictures distasteful even if they are shocking, I do feel concerned that they feel that they have to go to these lengths to get work in an industry that promotes not just thin as beautiful but the extremely thin - to the point that even thin models are being airbrushed to be even thinner.

Self control and discipline are decent principles and ones that people should aspire to have but not when they are the result of a mental illness. Equating self control and discipline with limiting what you eat leads to the downward spiral into eating disorders. On the other hand overweight people are often portrayed as lacking self control and discipline - lacking decent principles.

Every time I open a magazine or watch the TV I am not bombarded with images of overweight women as something to aspire to or even as objects of beauty. There is an obesity crisis looming but that is because of socio-economic reasons and lack of education not because the media is portraying that big is beautiful.

Funnily enough I was looking through the new NExt directory last night, and the few clothes I did like, I thought to myself if they dont look great on those skinny minnies, what will they look like on average old me?
Thnik they have done themslvs a disservice using thsoe models.

I think we all would love to see models that are more representative of the wider community but that doesn't detract from the fact that these models look like they are suffering from an eating/mental disorder and should not be held up as something we should aspire to.

I used to be that skinny and I did eat like a horse. I was badly bullied at school for being so thin. I used to eat and eat and eat just to try and put on some weight.

Now I have about 5 stone to lose after putting on loads with DS1!!

I do think we need to have more 'average' size models. The industry needs to change but I'm not sure if it ever will.