“Mom, do I look fashion?”

I am increasingly getting this question from Rachel, and it’s making me crazy. She’s definitely not getting it from my mommy wardrobe of jeans, Danskos and Old Navy tees (though I do own a pair of sparkly flip-flops).

I admit, I do have a soft spot for Project Runway, but that’s about where the couture ends in my life. So, already I am worrying about how much her sense of body image is being influenced by advertising, TV shows, and her friends’ closets. I had figured I would have at least a few more years before I had to start really focusing on the Beauty and the Beast lesson.

So I was heartened this week when the organizers of Madrid Fashion Week announced that it is banning overly skinny models from the catwalk for the event. Now, England is following suit. The reason?

“Organizers of the Spanish event said they wanted models to project ‘an image of beauty and health’ and shun a gaunt, emaciated look,” according to a piece in the New York Times.

By way of example, a five-foot-nine-inch model would have to weigh no less than 125 pounds (calculated by a healthy Body Mass Index), while most models that height weigh 115 pounds (or less). While 5′ 9″ and 125 pounds sounds pretty skinny to me (I’m 5′ 4″ and closer to 125 lbs. than 115 lbs.), in the world of anorexic-looking models, that’s a step in the right direction, especially in a world where our girls are increasingly bombarded by skewed images of what’s normal, desirable and attractive.

This is VERY good news for me. I admit, Rachel’s idea of “fashion” is still appropriate for a first-grader — it’s not an issue to wear that rainbow-striped sweater with the floral skirt — but, she already has fashion on the brain. Not so long ago, it was easy for me to choose her clothes for school — now, I look for ways to end the daily struggle.

So I know that I need to do what I can now to keep her from being taken over by all the other things that seem to come along with our fashion industry today, especially body image. If we could get those at New York Fashion Week to take on the same rule as the British and the Spanish, maybe that would start filtering down to the places where inappropriate body images start getting to six-year-olds — like overly-skinny cartoon girls and unrealistically thin girls on shows aimed at little girls.

Related Posts: