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From a model who’s too thin to a model who’s considered too fat

zuzu

Tigtog has a post today about Jen Hunter, a woman who was the star of a British series, “Make Me a Supermodel,” which appears to be something like “America’s Next Top Model,” which illustrates just how difficult it is for the fashion industry to see anyone over a size zero as anything but plus-sized. After being named the leading female model (which relied on viewer votes), she wound up not getting the contract from the agency selected by the show. She eventually signed with another agency, but was so ill-served by them because they had no idea what kinds of casting calls to send her on (though she did land contracts with Nokia and Avon) that she wound up leaving them for a plus-sized modeling agency.

Even though she’s hardly plus-sized (nor, for that matter, are most plus-sized models, but she’s not even that big). Hunter is 5’11” and a UK size 12, which is a US size 8. What a horse, right?

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Apparently, judges on “Make Me a Supermodel” thought so:

Miss Hunter, a divorcee, was shocked by judges, including model Rachel Hunter, who described her as “fat, lazy and greedy” while competing in the 2006 reality show.

Aw, that’s sweet, Rachel. And to think, I actually thought you were kind of cool on “The Real Gilligan’s Island” (shut up! I only watched one episode!) when you showed compassion for the Gilligan on the other team who was ill and faint from hunger. Maybe that was just because he was thin?

Once she picked her jaw up off the floor, Jen Hunter refused to be swayed by the judges telling her she had to lose weight and drop at least three sizes, which meant that the agency that was selected by the show snubbed her in favor of a much thinner competitor:

But although she was urged to lose weight, Miss Hunter refused, saying she would not “hang her head in shame” and drop three sizes just for the fashion industry. Despite being voted the leading female by the public, the stunning barmaid was not given a contract by chosen agency Select, who instead booked sub-zero Marianne Berglund – known as the “walking skeleton”.

Sigh. Why is it that any discussion of women’s bodies, particularly in regard to weight, results in someone being positioned as disgusting? If this were an article about how hot Marianne was, Jen would be positioned as disgusting. But as this is about Jen, Marianne is positioned as disgusting.

In any event, Jen Hunter was clearly favored by the public if she wasn’t favored by the judges, and the fact that that matters not one whit to the fashion industry (from the judges who insulted her, to the people who pressured her to drop three dress sizes, to the agency that refused to sign her, to the one who took her on but couldn’t figure out what to do with her) is pretty disappointing. As is, frankly, the use of a nude, clearly-sick anorexic woman to sell clothes even as the industry refuses to deal with the deaths of models and fights BMI minimums for runway models (and seems to equate “having any body fat at all” with “being truly plus-sized”). Here’s what Hunter told the BBC about how she felt:

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly disappointed because there would be nothing that would please me more than a really big agency clicking onto the fact that, OK, you know, Jen’s a little bit bigger but look what we could do – look at the public response.”

Not that the fashion industry has ever been very good at basic economics; they’re perfectly willing to ignore untapped and profitable market segments in favor of scrabbling it out with thousands of competitors because they have a horror of their products being seen on or associated with certain kinds of people.

19 thoughts on From a model who’s too thin to a model who’s considered too fat

  3. a six-foot tall size 8 is fat????

    a five-foot tall size 8 isn’t fat!!!
    If she were walking down the street next to American obesity, people would say she was damn skinny.

  4. Thought this might open up some dialogue about the fashion industry, about how what consumers claim they want to see doesn’t always mesh with what they’re given, etc.

    Instead, the first two comments, the only ones so far, are all about the model’s appearance. Because how the woman looks is all that matters.

    If the show’s outcome is based on watchers and voters, why isn’t the agency contractually obligated to offer the winner something? Why would they create a show where the reward isn’t guaranteed?

  5. This whole situation bemoans the fact that, as a society, we are a pathetic bunch of people. The fashion world is filled with the most vapid, empty people on the planet, and yet people are clamoring to be a part of it in any way they can. Why does anyone even care? Why does this show have ratings at all?

    That this show is even on TV speaks to the larger problems of the world without even touching the issue of the model and her size. The fact that they are using sickly models to sell clothing is a deeper part of the more troubling issue of what a superficial, sad species we truly are.

  6. If she were walking down the street next to American obesity, people would say she was damn skinny.

    Thank you, Rachel Hunter.

    QLH, from what I gather, she didn’t actually win the whole competition (that was a male model), but she was voted top female by viewers. Which kind of tells you that the public would like to see models who look a little more like regular people (albeit extremely tall, extremely gorgeous regular people) modeling clothes that they’re expected to wear. Because how can you tell how something’s going to look on you if all you see it on is a body that’s nothing at all like yours?

  7. She’s lovely! And unlike the last photo of a woman destined for ICU or the morgue, she looks HEALTHY. BTW, that was DISGUSTING.

    Rachel Hunter sounds like she has her head up her ass.

  8. I wanted to refute the claim of “odd-looking.” Or at least point out that her kind of odd looks is quite acceptable in our society. Plus — call me crazy — I think the question of looks is relevant to the winner of a supermodel competition.

  9. She looks good, and she’s wearing a gold lame swimsuit. If that’s fat, I don’t want to be thin.

    (And she looks a helluva lot better than those half-starved American Apparel models, who I think are the only other people I’ve seen wearing gold lame. Or any lame, period.)

  10. Jen Hunter was clearly favored by the public if she wasn’t favored by the judges, and the fact that that matters not one whit to the fashion industry (from the judges who insulted her, to the people who pressured her to drop three dress sizes, to the agency that refused to sign her, to the one who took her on but couldn’t figure out what to do with her) is pretty disappointing.

    It’s another way (beyond prohibitive pricing) for the fashion industry to maintain its products as exclusive status symbols. Karl Lagerfeld designed a line for H&M, but still commented to the effect that he wouldn’t want fat people wearing his clothes — anything to avoid a populist taint. It’s such classist snobbery.

  11. Um, and why is her status as a “divorcee” — and could they possibly have come up with a quainter term? I think not — relevant?

  12. I keep wanting to expect better from Rachel Hunter, though after that Are You Hot? show I really shouldn’t. She started out as a skinny, barely post-pubescent model, then married young, had a couple of kids, and for years had her “weight struggles” documented in trashy magazines. When Kate Moss and the rest of the “waifs” popped up, I remember reading some lovely comments about how soft and over-the-hill Rachel and her ilk had become.

    Not only is Rachel trying to enforce a ridiculous, punitive and dangerous standard, she’s trying to enforce a standard she herself hasn’t been able to live up to. You’d think she’d realise what a load of crap the beauty industry is, but I guess she’s been part of it for so long she’s totally brainwashed.

  13. Rachel Hunter married Rod Stewart and I’m supposed to trust her judgment on other people’s attractiveness? Not happening.

    Regarding the other model, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a swimsuit look baggy on someone before. How can this possibly be anything approaching a reliable indicator of how it might look on someone who’s not a negative size?

  14. She looks good, and she’s wearing a gold lame swimsuit. If that’s fat, I don’t want to be thin.

    The shininess makes her look thinner, because her right side is blending into the wall. It’s a bloody clever photo if they just used the lighting to do that.

  15. She’s lovely! And unlike the last photo of a woman destined for ICU or the morgue, she looks HEALTHY. BTW, that was DISGUSTING.

    That’s right! What’s important is that she’s traditionally attractive. And that anorexic people are, like, so gross. We should definitely tell that anorexic person she’s gross; that’ll snap her right out of it.

    I know this comment has been made above, but how about the fact that the public is obviously looking for bodies that more closely resemble themselves, and that the fashion industry (which has its own set of problems, of course) isn’t delivering? That we’ve created an entire industry that judges women solely on the size of clothes that they fit into? That such skewed judgment frequently contributes to the kind of illness that makes people look DISGUSTING, like they’re destined for ICU or the morgue?

  16. But although she was urged to lose weight, Miss Hunter refused, saying she would not “hang her head in shame” and drop three sizes just for the fashion industry.

    Sad as it is, I find this incredibly heartening. She didn’t let them beat her down.

  17. ACG, my intent was not to “thin bash” anyone suffering from anorexia; far from it. I’m truly sorry if it came out that way.

    I watched my younger sister struggle with her weight her entire life; she was usually a size 0 or had to shop in the children’s section when her weight dropped too low. She tried to eat healthy, exercised regularly, but simply was always petite, no matter how she tried to gain weight. She was hospitalized occasionally, not due to the weight loss, but because she was prone to respiratory illnesses- this started when she was a child and happened occasionally throughout her 39 years. Watching her was painful, and my reaction to the photo was knee-jerk. Again, my apologies.

  18. Sarah – Shiny fabric doesn’t necessarily make you look thin. Think satin and how it can accentuate roundness. The reflection of the red from the wall is an interesting effect, but her thighs and arms are what really stand out as human to me.

  19. I can’t understand why the fashion industry is so obsessed with thinness. Do they think that no one would buy their clothes if they were *gasp* on a size six or eight? As someone in that group(which I assume has to be bigger than the size 0-2 group) I would love to see that girl in a magazine, if the clothes looked good on her, then they would probably look good on me.

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