Unit 1
Moving Fashion Forward: Body Ideals in the High Fashion Industry
Researched Argument
About this Unit
This unit involved forming an academic analysis of real-world problems. I consulted various sources to research an issue and used critical thinking skills to outline and defend a solution to the issue. I was asked to consider the structure of my paper and rhetorical devices such as ethos and logos.
Figure 1 Megan Thee Stallion, Naomi Osaka, and Leyna Bloom make history on this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers (Macari and Tsai, 2021).
Beauty standards are no longer confined to white, young, and thin women. The August 2021 issue of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit features not only a plus sized and a transgender model, but makes history as being the first time the magazine displays exclusively women of color on its covers for a single year. There has been overwhelming support for the models being appreciated as beauty icons for their authentic selves. Leyna Bloom, as the first transgender woman to ever grace the cover of the magazine, took to Instagram to share the importance of the moment. She shares how this landmark allows transgender women to “to live and be seen,” highlighting the significance that representation has on people’s ability to feel valid and empowered (Bloom, 2021). This level of diversity, while being increasingly more common, is unfortunately only seen in areas outside of luxury and high-brow media. It is no surprise then, that the people who operate in high fashion brands are the ones that cultivate the beauty standards that others try to move away from. Little has changed in the ideal body used by this industry over the past 30 years, and there seems to be little hope for any lasting change.
Figure 2 A 1995 look in Chanel's Spring ready-to-wear collection (Condé Nast Archive, 1995).
Figure 3 A 2021 look in Dolce & Gabbana's Fall ready-to-wear collection (Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana, 2021).
The luxury fashion industry is in desperate need of reevaluating its approach to designing clothes to destroy both the instinct to cater to one specific body type and all restrictions that have previously allowed for only slimmer body types to be modeled. High fashion is emphasized here over general fashion because it is, for better or for worse, the pinnacle of western fashion due to its scale and monetary power. More importantly, it has an
incredible influence on fashion, culture, and our perception of beauty in general. It is important to highlight that it is not the fault of models for having the bodies that they do, nor is it the fault of modeling agencies for hiring them. The fashion industry is solely to blame for setting destructive standards for the body type that they are willing to hire.
By demand of fashion designers, models are required to adhere to strict body measurements to be featured. A height between 5’8” and 5’11” with a 34”-24”-34” bust, waist, and hip ratio are the baseline requirements for most high-fashion brands, resulting in the average model’s BMI being 16 (Record and Austin, 2016). While the accuracy of BMI is disputed, it is worth noting that a BMI below 18.5 is considered unhealthy and underweight, and that these strict standards can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle to achieve and maintain this body type.
The need for such a strict standard for body type owes itself to a concrete reason, however. That being industrialization and the integration of ready-to-wear clothing into high fashion during the early to mid-twentieth century (Volonté, 2019). Fashion designers were beginning to design machine-made clothes that would require no tailoring after purchase, and it was decided that a thin, rectangular body with no curves would require the least fabric and was the easiest canvas for this new business model (Volonté, 2019). Bigger body types were virtually phased out of this plan partially because beyond a certain size, larger bodies often differ in a manner that is not proportional (Volonté, 2019). Additionally, working with a uniform size makes things run smoothly behind the stages of runways, when as many as 30-50 models are showcasing up to 100 different looks. This requires multiple clothing changes during the show that need to happen rapidly, so any unforeseen circumstances can be made up for by pulling another model to replace another of the same size. However, regardless of the need to hire identical body types, the negative impact this has on society is more burdensome when it could not be further from what the average person looks like. Fostering a space where models have to undergo meticulous upkeep of a size that is unnatural to them is futile when the so-called ready-to-wear clothing will require tailoring to fit bodies outside of the industry.
Around the mid-2010s, there have been some efforts to reduce the amount of unhealthily underweight models in the industry. Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, promised to never photograph models who were younger than 16, or that had any known eating disorders (Batty, 2012). As the leading voice in the highest fashion magazine in the world, any change that she would like to see would surely be implemented with great fervor. It is clear that either personal bias or business incentives are preventing anyone, even in control of the industry, from actually implementing change. France also set mandates to prevent any models from walking a runway with a BMI below 18 (Record and Austin, 2016). A group of researchers in Australia also set out to test whether the country’s efforts to diversify the luxury fashion industry were effective. In 2009, Australia set up a voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image to promote diverse representation of models (de Freitas, Jordan, and Hughes, 2018). This code of conduct set in place certain guidelines including “diversity in the representation of body size and ethnicity, use of healthy weight models and guidelines for the use of digital alteration” (de Freitas et al, 2018). Research showed that these efforts were not effective, and that most models remained young, white, and underweight, suggesting that “harder” regulations needed to be implemented to see change (de Freitas et al., 2018). All these efforts failed to make a significant change in the body ideal or the makeup of the industry as they focused only on further limiting the scope of the model body. Change in this situation needs to come from the root of the problem and address the motive for keeping the body ideal in the luxury fashion industry as slim as possible.
Alternatively, a new luxury e-commerce brand, 11 Honoré, set out with a relatively unique mission: to bring plus-sized clothing to the luxury market by designing clothes between sizes 12 and 24. This brand claims to widen the scope of plus-sized clothing outside of the lower to mid-price points. Despite being a luxury brand, consumers note a recent collection’s use of “sack shirts [and] lifeless colors,” and comment on the propensity for plus-sized clothing in general to “‘look like something that can be worn to bed’” (Massony, 2021). This is in line with a long-held notion from shoppers that fashion designers only know how to clothe plus-sized bodies through dull, oversized, and unfashionable clothing. This supports the finding that despite clothing being made for a supposedly ‘unconventional’ body type, that there is still one specific way to clothe that demographic—that there is a right and wrong way to
Figure 4 A H&M+ plus-sized dress exemplifying the dull clothing reminiscent of pajamas often seen in plus-sized catalogs (H&M+ Catalog, 2021).
dress for all body types. One consumer notes that these themes in plus-sized clothing serve as “‘mechanisms for covering up the parts of our bodies that society deems most unacceptable’,” something that is destructive and common in fashion for all body types, but especially detrimental to those who are the exact opposite of what high fashion deems beautiful (Massony, 2021). There needs to be a universal way to clothe bodies that is not specific to the physical form and rejects past body ideals.
Dr. Angela Dwyer, Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania and a leading scholar on how sexuality, gender, and sex diversity influence policing, analyzes how the ‘model body’ is interpreted by the public and how sexism affects that. She claims that people view desire and desirability as “disciplined” behaviors, insinuating that they are conscious and can be performed correctly or incorrectly (as opposed to being a natural emotion) (Dwyer, 2004). One of the facets of desire here is the model body, as it is scrutinized and contributes to the way fashion and beauty are perceived. She proposes that people view model’s bodies in one of two ways. The first being that models are “ill-disciplined” in their performance of desire and therefore rot the minds of young girls by teaching them to look and live as they do, promoting unhealthy lifestyles to be as slim as possible (Dwyer, 2004). The other view is that post-feminist ideology (as a reaction to the negative school of thought mentioned above) encourages young girls to interact with models out of pleasure and be empowered by the femininity performed by them (Dwyer, 2004). In this line of thinking, young girls doing work to emulate a model body are undermining the beauty standards and taking power back for themselves as a form of emancipation (Dwyer, 2004). She then proposes that both ideas inherently demonize the model body as something that disregards boundaries and maliciously seeps out of its form and into the minds of young girls, for better or for worse (Dwyer, 2004). Dwyer proposes that instead, pleasure and discipline should not be separated when thinking about the model body (Dwyer, 2004). In other words, there is work (diet, exercise, the practice of the runway walks, the practice of facial expressions, etc.) put into performing desirability for the pleasure of the model thus evoking desire in the viewer (to market the clothing). This perspective would allow model bodies to be seen simply as a human prop to display the ways in which desire can be performed through clothing, rather than having the ability to taint the minds of young girls (Dwyer, 2004). This may seem to be an obvious realization when said plainly but is something very difficult to remember when arguing for or against the role that models play in the eyes of young girls. Models are meant to be nothing more or less than a method of displaying clothing made by a fashion designer. Despite this, their very existence is politicized and begins a discourse reminiscent of the “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” sentiment often placed on women, where there is no situation where a woman can exist without being criticized.
However, the possibility of a woman determining for herself what a body performing desirability looks like is taken out of her hands when it is up to an industry to set strict criteria on what a luxurious, desirable body looks like through any type of body ideal. Women of all kinds should be allowed to occupy any space of their choosing, and this matters especially regarding luxury beauty as this would put the agency of setting beauty standards back into the hands of women instead of outsourcing it to industry leaders to impose their ideals onto them. Even if the body measurements are practical to designer clothing, they are still being agreed upon and upheld every day by an industry run by men that refuses to look into how this can be changed to be more representative of modern-day women. One way this power can be given back to women is by abolishing the body ideal in the luxury fashion industry and allowing women to be featured as models solely based on their merit.
As evident through numerous previous attempts, it is not enough to simply change the body requirements in the designer fashion industry, so it is very likely that the solution lies in reconstructing the approach taken when clothing bodies. Currently, there is a strong emphasis on silhouettes and working to hide or draw attention to certain body parts, but we should look to prioritize creativity rather than form, and then work to make glamorous whatever results from this new line of thinking. We can look at the creativity of avant-garde fashion designers and how they create looks that transcend the physicality of the body and turn the garments into pieces closer to fine art than fashion. This kind of freedom is achieved by ignoring the constraints of certain body parts and aiming to convey a bigger, more cohesive image, rather than trying to form fit fabric onto certain body parts. There would prove to be a challenge with getting fashion designers to
Figure 5 A high fashion ready-to-wear look reminiscent of avant-garde fashion, taking the focus off of the body and emphasizing the creativity of the clothing (Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana, 2021).
change the way they operate, especially due to the enormous costs this would propose to an industry that already seems to emphasize cost effectiveness. However, an industry that has been stuck in its ways for so long with such destructive issues surrounding it calls for drastic and out of the box thinking. A society that has a healthier body image due to increased representation can be realized by taking certain actions in fashion. Taking the spotlight off of the body in high fashion would open the field up to more diverse body types able to model the clothes.
Figure 6 A 2017 Met Gala look that highlights color, shape, and pattern over shape and size, in the style of avant-garde (Barnard, 2017).
Figure 7 A university student's submission for a leather campaign. The avant-garde designs focus on color, pattern, and introduce unique shapes disregarding the physicality of the body (Mei, 2020).
While fashion designers may claim that the body ideal created in the industry was out of anyone’s control, having any sort of mandate for what is acceptable on a runway or in a magazine is destructive to our society. This is for the simple fact that it dictates which bodies can be presented as able to perform beauty. Designers should be pushed to express their creative excellence in ways that are able to fall outside of the standard of thin bodies. By creating fashion that does not focus on the physicality of the body, designers would be able to more freely design looks that can be easily replicated on any body type. Looking forward, one way this can be done is by replicating the silhouettes, shapes, and approach to fashion that is seen in avant-garde fashion.
References
Barnard, Neilson. (2017) [Rihanna in a Comme des Garcons dress at the 2017 Met
Gala] [Photograph] Self.com. https://www.self.com/gallery/met-gala-
Batty, David. Vogue promises to ban underage or ill models. (2012, May 3). The
Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2012/may/03/vogue-ban-
Bloom, Leyna [@leynabloom]. (2021, July 19). This moment heals a lot of pain in the
world. We deserve this moment; we have waited millions of years [Instagram
Photo]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CRgnPViH21z/
Condé Nast Archive. (1995) [Naomi Campbell in Chanel Ready-to-Wear Spring 1995
Runway] [Photograph] Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-
shows/spring-1995-ready-to-wear/chanel/slideshow/collection#8
Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana. (2021) [Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2021 Ready-to-Wear
Runway Look 65] [Photograph] Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-
shows/fall-2021-ready-to-wear/dolce-gabbana/slideshow/collection#65
Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana. (2021) [Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2021 Ready-to-Wear
Runway Look 47] [Photograph] Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-
shows/fall-2021-ready-to-wear/dolce-gabbana/slideshow/collection#47
Dwyer, A. (2004). Disorder or Delight? Towards a New Account of the Fashion
Model Body. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, 8.
https://doi.org/10.2752/136270404778051573
Freitas, C. de, Jordan, H., & Hughes, E. K. (2018). Body image diversity in the media: A content analysis of women’s fashion magazines. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 29(3), 251–256. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.21
Macari, J. and Tsai, Y. (2021). [Megan Thee Stallion, Naomi Osaka, and Leyna Bloom]
[Photograph] Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
https://swimsuit.si.com/swimlife/meet-your-cover-models-2021-mts-
Massony, Theresa. Plus-Size Brands Are Still Failing My Fat Body. Why? (n.d.). Elite
Daily. 2021, from https://www.elitedaily.com/style/plus-size-fashion-brands-
Mei, Luo. (2020) [Student’s Avant-Garde Fashion Proposal] [Photograph]
Chooserealleather.com. https://chooserealleather.com/wear/style/student-
Record, K. L., & Austin, S. B. (2016). “Paris Thin”: A Call to Regulate Life-
Threatening Starvation of Runway Models in the US Fashion Industry.
American Journal of Public Health, 106(2), 205–206.
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302950
Volonté, P. (2019). The thin ideal and the practice of fashion. Journal of Consumer
Culture, 19(2), 252–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540517717775
H&M+ Catalog. (2021) [Straight, wide-cut T-shirt dress in soft cotton jersey.
Dropped shoulders and short, wide sleeves.] [Photograph] H&M+.
Unit 1 Reflection
During the writing process, I found it extremely difficult to frame the scope of my argument and propose a solution for the issue. I had to balance including enough points to create a compelling argument, while also refraining from having a scattered paper filled with points that were barely elaborated upon. I also found it difficult to make concise statements that had all the nuance I was looking for. Anas, my peer review partner, helped me a lot with seeing the areas and ways that I tended to write more than necessary. I noticed that I have a tendency to frame sentences in a way that requires up to three different clauses to express one idea. I also still struggle with recognizing when I write in the passive voice. Mastering both of these skills would have been very helpful with making this paper more assertive.
I think I did a really good job with keeping the piece relevant and intriguing. The Sports Illustrated covers that you suggested places the paper in current times, and draws readers into the rest of the paper. The pressing information in the third paragraph about the body restrictions in the industry is concise and perfectly exemplifies why I think this body ideal is so damaging. The pictures were also a minor touch that added to readers' understanding.
I really enjoyed being able to shift the narrative to what I felt was correct. Interacting with the research was a really interesting process. Especially with the Dr. Dwyer piece about gender theory as I was able to apply my brief knowledge in the subject and create a stronger argument. I made points in this section that I would have never thought to make had it not been for the Dr. Dwyer piece. This was a turning point in the writing process for this paper because it was here that I felt I had a truly purposeful argument.
One way to track my thought process during the writing process was to write all of the things I wished to change about my rough draft on a physical piece of paper. This helped narrow down my goals for the paper and separate these ideas from the ones I kept on my brainstorming Google Doc. As I read, I kept in mind the things told to me by you and my peer review partner, and highlighted the things I felt would be integral to the understanding of my paper. I used this method for the first time on this paper because I was so overwhelmed with the amount of changes I wanted to make to what felt like an extremely lacking rough draft. It ended up making the revising process very efficient and I plan to do this again in the future.
One minor change I made to my paper was removing any reference to the fashion industry being male-dominated. While I am very passionate about the implications this has, I also realized that it would probably be beyond the scope of my paper to expand upon this idea. During the peer review, Anas felt that the role of sexism in this issue should be more of a central focus of my paper as a potential cause. While I agree that it is most likely a major cause of the issue, I feel that it is only one facet to the scope of body type when so many efforts are being made to dismantle the body ideals in the high fashion industry. This was a decision that was hard for me to make as I felt obligated to touch upon things that were important in any capacity to the topic. Ultimately, I had to prioritize creating a focused paper that would not leave the reader wishing for me to elaborate more on certain parts.
I wanted to make a point about the issues surrounding the thin body ideal, and one way I considered doing this was through the mention of eating disorders and body dysmorphia. However, I had a hard time deciding whether this would detract from the ideas I was proposing. I tried balancing the amount of time I spent talking about the issues of the beauty standard and the solution I described, but in the end, I felt that it would frame my argument in a different way than I was intending. I did not want the paper to demonize the models or suggest that the industry is a root of evil. Also, the supporting evidence for the link between the body ideal in the high fashion industry and eating disorders and body dysmorphia is very subjective. In the end, I would want to add these points back into the paper as I feel they do play a role in the issue and would provide insight as to why I think could be such a pressing issue.
Another way I would change this paper would be to include the specific ways that the high fashion industry upholds the body ideal. I think this is a major point that weakens my paper as it would provide concrete examples of what the body ideals are and how this impacts my solution proposal. I would have included specific garments (like corsets, bustiers, waist belts, and high heels) that give the illusion of a thinner and taller body. This would highlight the things that I would like fashion designers to move away from with the avant-garde style fashion in the future. This would also tie into another point that I wanted to make about photo manipulation affecting body image regarding specific body parts. For example, a focus on a thin waist with fashion garments might contribute to the amount of photo manipulation seen in advertisements surrounding the waist area, and this could contribute to body dissatisfaction in viewers.
All learning goals were touched upon with this assignment. For rhetorical practices, we were asked to argue a stance and be contemplative about how to communicate that stance in a deliberate manner. For example, we were asked to think about our audience and then format our paper and the type of language we used. The engagement with critical practices goal was addressed by us being asked to critique a societal issue that we think is important and argue its importance, issues, and propose a solution. Our uses of sources and evidence were directly addressed by us doing research for the paper and interacting with the ideas presented in our sources. We were asked to take every idea as an opportunity to learn and strengthen our stance, either by reinforcing our original ideas or by creating a counterargument. The revision was addressed by involving a detailed peer review process that aided by providing a new set of eyes that did not have the same knowledge and opinions on the topic. After reviewing the grading criteria, I believe my paper is deserving of a B grade.