The Guardian has published an excerpt from former Australian Vogue editor Kirstie Clements’ new memoir, The Vogue Factor. Clements focuses on fashion and body image in the chapter, and while many outlets will no doubt focus on the “shocking” details she shares (fashion models who are regularly fed by I.V. drip because they pass out at work, or who eat tissues to feel full), her overall argument is that, as a system, the modeling and fashion industries are pretty fucked up.
It sounds as though the experience of editing Australian Vogue was a humbling one, and Clements acknowledges some mistakes — like an April, 2007, cover featuring then-15-year-old model Katie Braatvedt (above), which was criticized for sexualizing a child. “I lamely debated the point, claiming that the photographs were meant to be innocent and charming,” writes Clements, “but in the end I had to agree wholeheartedly with the readers. I felt foolish even trying to justify it.” Clements says she supports, at least in main, Vogue‘s subsequent international commitment to not use models under the age of 16, or who have eating disorders. “The first part you can police. The second is disingenuous nonsense, because unless you are monitoring their diet 24/7, you just can’t be sure.”
But Clements also engages in some of the industry’s standard buck-passing. “It cannot be denied that visually, clothes fall better on a slimmer frame,” she writes, casually justifying the use of extremely skinny models. Clements seems unwilling to shoulder her share of the responsibility for enabling an industry that profits off a very young and vulnerable work force and that sells an unattainable ideal to adult women. “When it comes to who should be blamed for the portrayal of overly thin models, magazine editors are in the direct line of fire, but it is more complex than that.” She continues:
The ‘fit’ model begins the fashion process: designer outfits are created around a live, in-house skeleton. Few designers have a curvy or petite fit model. These collections are then sent to the runway, worn by tall, pin-thin models because that’s the way the designer wants to see the clothes fall. There will also be casting directors and stylists involved who have a vision of the type of woman they envisage wearing these clothes. […]
After the shows, the collection is made available for the press to use for their shoots. These are the samples we all work with and they are obviously the size of the model who wore them on the runway. Thus, a stylist must cast a model who will fit into these tiny sizes. And they have become smaller since the early 90s. We’ve had couture dresses arrive from Europe that are so minuscule they resemble christening robes. There are no bigger samples available, and the designer probably has no interest in seeing their clothes on larger women. Many high fashion labels are aghast at the idea of producing a [Australian] size 14 [US size 10], and they certainly wouldn’t want to see it displayed in the pages of the glossies.
That’s all true — but Vogue is such an influential client that, if the magazine really insisted, it could act to raise standards if it wanted to. Surely Clements could have cast different models. She writes that she often witnessed models exhibit “dangerous patterns of behaviour” when they began working internationally:
When a model who was getting good work in Australia starved herself down two sizes in order to be cast in the overseas shows – the first step to an international career – we would say in the office that she’d become “Paris thin”. This dubious achievement was generally accompanied by mood swings, extreme fatigue, binge eating and sometimes bouts of self-harming. All in the quest to fit into a Balenciaga sample.
It’s always Balenciaga, isn’t it? “There are a few male fashion designers I would like to personally strangle,” says Clements. “But there are many female fashion editors who perpetuate the stereotype, women who often have a major eating disorder of their own. They get so caught up in the hype of how brilliant clothes look on a size 4, they cannot see the inherent danger in the message.” While these sentiments are nice, it’s a shame Clements didn’t speak up when she was in a position to effect change within the industry. [Guardian]
Victoria Beckham nabbed another Vogue cover — she appears on the August issue of Vogue China. She tells the magazine that she relates to the “millions and millions of women around the world” who have careers and family responsibilities, and that she intends her clothing to be “empowering” to female consumers. “empowering women and making them feel sexy and great when they wear my clothes means more than thousands of people clapping. Empowering women is what makes me feel good.” [Us]
Kanye West has a collaboration with A.P.C. launching July 14th. We look forward to interviewers asking him how he “juggles” work and parenting. [WWD]
Because your skinny jeans are not uncomfortable enough, Levi’s is launching a new line of women’s jeans called Revel that “marries the idea behind Spanx to high-concept jeans.” Women’s Wear Daily has the skin-tight details:
Levi’s starts with a four-way stretch fabric comprised of cotton, polyester, Lycra and DuPont’s Sorona fiber. It then prints a proprietary liquid chemical formula on the fabric interior that regulates the level of stretch in strategic areas, providing structure, support and a figure-hugging shape to the jean, rather than simply uniform stretch.
Levi’s vice-president Jill Guenza says, “The result is a jean that carves out the inner thigh, slims and smooths the outer thigh, lifts the seat and flattens the tummy.” Mmmh. Carved-out thighs. [WWD]