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For anyone who has never heard of Explore Talent, they are an acting/modeling community and job board. ExploreTalent.com has been the prime spot for anyone starting out, looking for modeling work, looking for modeling auditions and trying to build a work portfolio.

Congrats again to Explore Talent and if you have never seen the site, make sure to check it out!

Posted: July 29th, 2008 under Model Agency, Model News, Uncategorized.
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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”

Posted: May 22nd, 2008 under Alexandra Michaels, Model News, models.
Comments: 2

jen hunter & Marianne Berglund make me a supermodel

The debate over super thin models started a few years back after models started dropping due to starvation and has continued since with restrictions put in place on what was too skinny to model.

In 2007 the show “Make me a Supermodel” brought the issue into the National TV spotlight even more with this episode…

When 2 finalists, Hunter and Berglund, wore the same swimsuit. Jen Hunter looks as if this outfit was custom-made for her, Jen Hunter looked amazing in the outfit.

But finalist Marianne Berglund appeared painfully underweight in the same suit and grotesque with her hip and rib bones sticking out through the fabric.
During the show Miss Hunter was criticized for being overweight while Berglund was praised for her perfect physique.

from an article by By TAHIRA YAQOOB in 2007

Judge Tandy Anderson, managing director of Select Model Management, criticised her for having “stocky” legs while supermodel Rachel Hunter, a fellow panellist, reprimanded her for saying she wanted to prove larger women could be successful models.

Swedish blonde Miss Berglund, 18, who made it to the final with her, was meanwhile praised for having a “sensational” body for modelling despite having a body mass index of 16.1.

It fell well below the minimum BMI of 18 for models taking part in Madrid Fashion Week in September, set after catwalk model Luisel Ramos dropped dead from self-starvation.

From NYmag…

The skinny-model debate raged on today thanks to Bradley Bayou. The former Halston designer started fighting the good fight after watching his own daughter battle anorexia. He stopped using size-0 and size-2 models, but still witnessed his daughter collapse from the disease. “There are two ways to become a size zero,” Bayou said Tuesday night at Harvard. “Starve yourself or take drugs. Or both. And yes, they all do it.”

The designer said the CFDA is ignoring the problem. CFDA officials, however, feel the guidelines drawn up over a year ago to help designers and casting directors identify eating disorders and ensure runway models are healthy are in fact working:

Responding to Bayou, CFDA executive director Steven Kolb said Wednesday the organization’s education and awareness efforts are causing a culture shift. “There is no question there has been movement,” he said. “I see it already on the runways. I’m getting calls from designers and casting agents who are not using girls who don’t meet our criteria for health….Getting involved in the complexity of a standardized law [regarding a mandatory minimum body mass index] is not the answer.”

Maybe New York should finally start taking cues from our Euro counterparts? Milan Fashion Week prohibits models with a body mass index below 18.5 from the runways; Madrid rejected 30 percent of models from walking its recent Fashion Week because they were unhealthy; but we have no such regulations, and watching the New York shows this season often felt like an exercise in bone counting.

It’s great people are still talking about this issue, but we’d guess that until a designer like Marc Jacobs decides flesh is in, it’s just all talk.

Posted: May 2nd, 2008 under Model News, Reality TV shows, make me a supermodel.
Comments: 2

Naomi Campbell can’t seem to keep her emotions under

control. It seems Naomi Campbell was arrested last night for spitting on a police officer at Heathrow airport after some of her bags were lost at the new Terminal 5.

Last year the 37 year old supermodel also got into a bit of trouble for throwing a cell phone at her maid. She was sentenced to a few anger management classes for that.

Now we will have to wait till Naomi’s court date in May to find out how many more of the anger management classes Ms. Campbell may need to do to walk away from the new

assault on a police officer charge.

It seems the cop was not really into having supermodel Naomi Campbell’s saliva on him. It’s kinda funny that there

may be plenty of men who would welcome that type of attention from a supermodel of her class. OK, Naomi Campbell may have been acting a bit spoiled… it only was a lost bag to begin with.

Posted: April 4th, 2008 under Model News, Naomi Campbell, Top Models.
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