Fashion Weak

As fashion week is upon us I was vaguely musing on the latest enfant terrible Marc Jacobs, who has once again stirred up the issue of child images used to entice invariably older adults. It is hard to feel sorry for beautiful people who earn their fortune through not mental prowess, but purely through their blessed genetics - yet as they are treated as 'independent contractors' and are routinely fleeced by their agents, and spend their days being tossed about like rag dolls - perhaps one should. The Marc Jacobs designs looked like they had the capacity to turn anyone over 25 into an instant old lady, so possibly, selecting a couple of teenagers was essential? It seems to me to be a tacit way of ensuring the emaciated scrawny flat-chested look without actively risking the model's ill health - as those 'objectionable parts' simply have not developed yet.

In a similar way, big lips are great but they often come with big noses - and that will not do. Big breasts often come with big hips and thighs but that will not do. So we are in a position where very young plumped faces with scrawny bodies are offered in the form of underage models (who will soon grow out of this ratio) and plastic surgery whereby your big lips can stay but trim the nose to a slither. And you can diet and exercise to get slim hips and thighs, but be sure to get bulbous round (but never drooping) breasts to establish your femininity in a swift motion. There is nothing wrong with setting the bar high to strive for virtually impossible beauty, but representing outright fake or misleading beauty as attainable is just so depressing and misguided. For the first time in decades women have the license to have curves, by seeing Kelly Brook, Kim Kardashian, JLo, Beyonce and Rhianna as templates. However for a high fashion and sophisticated image these do not qualify at all.

Is it wrong to see teenagers modelling clothes that they are not the target audience of? Perhaps not, in terms of them making the choice (if they conclude that dropping out of school to cash in on their youthful money maker face, that is a choice and should not be over-dramatised to equate to slavery) but, more prosaically, it is wrong because it is insulting to grown women, who know that young bloom is gone forever and no amount of botox and blusher can ever quite compete. Personally I would like an age minimum to be enforceable because I think there is something weirdly unhealthy about having prospective women customers basing their purchases on young under-developed teenagers...

Here's a video of the Vivienne Westwood makeup behind the scenes for more:



Whilst on the subject of fashion week, if you plan to attend London Fashion Weekend which sounds fun, don't forget to use quote 'Glossybox' for 15% off. [See my February glossybox review here (link.)]