ASOS swimwear models

[user1490142285]

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.

Which models look 'no older than 13'? I only looked through the first 2 pages but they all looked to be at least 16 to me.
I would expect they're trying to sell the clothes to teenagers and young women.
Bon marche is targeted towards much older women.

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 never asked about models ages but on the links you provided none of them look 13! I actually doubt they are under 18 but I may be wrong

I don't think they look like they're 13, tbh. They look like young adults, but young is their target market.

I could do without the stupid posing though, just show me the swimming costume on a human body so I can see what it looks like.

But asos is a fashion/ trend following site with a young target audience, if your looking for a grannykini maybe try a catalogue or m&s?

My provider is blocking all of your links because of the words around them -_-

Also she's shorter than a usual model and looks young but I'm 22 and look younger than her so thanks for making me feel like 'kiddie wank fodder' to anyone who finds me attractive 🙄🙄

They look over 16 to me and I work with teens.

Well that's me told.

It was the second link in particular that made me feel sad. I think she looks very very young and the posing is so tiresome, in the context of what look to me like dozens of Lolita fembots, so I gave in to a spell of handwringing.

PutThatPomBearBack yes, I've had a look at the usual suspects but ASOS do tall (one-piece) swimwear as well, which is the alternative to the skirtini/tankini/etc-ini. Maybe it was because I'd been looking at sites where the models were static (no 'catwalk' videos) and looked older than 20, ASOS was a bit of a culture shock.

SomeOtherFuckers that is not what I intended at all, you are of course a real person in real life walking around in 3d. It was the posing and prancing on a website of what I think (and apparently it's just me) look like very young girls that made me feel it was a bit wanky/porny. Not of course in the sense of actual porn, but that porny aesthetic of American Apparel and Larry Clark.

I find a lot of retail/advertising ultra-sexualised, ugly and reductive and I am upset by the relentless pressure on women (especially young women) to be sexy, so maybe this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Thanks for the replies. It has given me some perspective.

I often use the videos to see what things are like on/with movement etc. I didn't know they were "kiddie wank fodder"

I really don't see it. Not a single one of them looks younger than 18.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)