I saw an article published last week about a young teen model who learned at the age of 18, just a few years into her career, that she may be killing herself. In recent years a few models have died from starvation and being too thin.

Alexandra Michael reveals ‘serious consequences’ of struggle to stay thin

When she started modeling, she was 5′ 9″ and 130 lbs. That is by no means overweight, that is actually thin. As her career took off and she found herself traveling for fashion shows, designers kept asking her to lose a few pounds. A few pounds for this show, a few more for that one and on and on. Finally, she realized she was 102 lbs. and losing her hair at 18.

“My kind of wake-up call was I was on a plane from Paris to Texas, which is where I’m from,” Michael told TODAY’s Ann Curry Wednesday in New York. “I ran my fingers through my hair and when I took my hand away, there was a dry, brittle clump of hair in my hand.”

I know many shows and some designers have taken a stand against anorexia but many others still are under the impression that the only way their clothing will look good is if it displayed on a walking hanger so that there is no possibility that a small curve in the body may cause an unflattering crease in the clothing.

The problem arises when regular teen girls buy those clothes and realize it does not look the same on them as it does on the fashion model and begin a string of diets so they too can have that just hung-on, crease less look.

Alexandra decided that death is too high a price to pay for her career in high fashion. She stopped dieting and gained a few pounds. Now weighing 109 lbs (which, BTW is a size 0 for 5′4″, much less 5′9″), she went back to work in Paris and found that again, she was called too fat and had a difficult time getting any work unless she lost weight.

Luckily, every decade seems to have its own look, the glamorous 20’s, the curvy voluptuous 50’s, skinny twiggy times followed and later the fitness craze of the 80’s hit the runway. Today’s look can be called “Heroin Chic”, as the MSNBC article does, or maybe even “meth makeover”. OK, maybe “meth makeover” doesn’t work because they still have the teeth even though the hair may be going. Either way, it’s definately the wrong message to send to the wide eyed teen girls who see that look as the standard of beauty.

Alexandra also said “From my personal experience, it has to change,” she said. “We’re sending a message, and the fashion industry affects everybody — anybody who opens a magazine, anybody who watches TV.”

The average American woman is 5-foot-4 and weighs 163 pounds.

The average supermodel is between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11 and weighs no more than 125 pounds.

United States spends $33 billion a year on diets and health professionals warn that the general population is getting fatter and fatter, the models get skinnier and skinnier. Isn’t there a middle ground anywhere?

“I don’t think that people realize that there are lifelong consequences,” Michael said. “Anorexia and bulimia can cause heart failure and osteoporosis and infertility. It’s a serious problem, and I think that it really needs to change.”

the MSNBC article

I wonder if these High fashion models look better in the bikini than say the fit sports illustrated swimsuit models.

super skinny bikini

Now Here are the Sports Illustrated Models, Serena Williams and Beyonce. I bet we can all agree that curvier may work a bit better when more skin is shown.

Beyonce on the Sports Illustrated cover 2007

“Heroin Chic”