Modelling: The History Of The Past

As you may or may not be aware, we are currently in the midst of the Fashion Week season. With models preparing to walk down some of the most famous runways in the world, I feel it is the perfect time to analyse the pros and cons of the modelling industry. Exactly when did size zero become normal? What is the main reason for the increase in plus size models? These are all questions that need to be answered, however, in order to do this, I must go back to the very beginning of the industry.

Modelling agencies first started popping up in the 1960s. London was seen as the hub of fashion with models like Twiggy, Joanna Lumley and Jean Shrimpton becoming some of the world's most famous models. The 1960s also saw the rise of modelling in America with Janice Dickinson being the first ever successful supermodel of the time, earning a fee of $2,000 per day. She modelled for Vogue and Cosmopolitan to name a few.

The rise of the so-called 'supermodel' continued into the 1980s and 1990s. Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer were among some of the most famous names of the era and even today. Male modelling also took off in this era with Markus Schenkenberg being named the world's first male supermodel and Mark Wahlberg becoming a well-known public figure.

The 2000s saw a new era of the model. Social media meant models were more involved with their audience. Models like Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne sharing their day-to-day lives with the world. The era also saw an increased interest from singers and public figures, with people like Rihanna and Beyonce posing for magazines and photo shoots.

After the curvaceous trend of the 1950s, many attacked supermodel Twiggy for allegedly causing a widespread skinny epidemic with people dramatically changing their body image to appear more like her, thus starting the skinny, size zero trend. However, as the 2000s hit, the traditional 'skinny' image was sidelined by the increasing popularity of the plus-size shape, the fitness model, glamour models etc. Even today in 2017, plus-size models such as Ashley Graham, an avid body campaigner are constantly highlighting the need to break the 'skinny' trend that still appears to be favoured.

As someone who is not a size zero and a full supporter of the more curvaceous figure, I feel that it is time that fashion houses such as Chanel, Michael Kors and Yves Saint Laurent etc, embraced the fuller figure. I believe that the models currently seen on the catwalk do not represent the body shape or size of the average woman in the UK who is a size 16.

Models featured in magazines are usually heavily airbrushed. A model who has a size 8 waist can be shown as a size 6 or 4. This is both deceiving and dangerous and young people, especially girls can be extremely impressionable as when they see these images on the TV, in magazines, on catwalks or on social media they believe that they display the 'perfect' body shape. This can then lead to eating disorders, anorexia and body dysmorphia as young people can feel pressured to lose weight as they believe they do not look like the models displayed in the images.

Therefore, by giving more curvaceous models or models of any shape, size or height a bigger platform, it would remove this ridiculous 'skinny' is perfect image and would make people feel more comfortable and perhaps even reduce eating disorders and other body insecurities that are created by the modelling world.

So why are skinny models still championed over other body types? How has this put pressure on models? What has this ultimately led to? These questions are yet to be answered.

#skinny #plussize #supermodels #malemodels #history #fashionweek #sizezero #socialmedia