The Beauty Blog

Perceptions of beauty and whether society accepts them are constantly changing. Once being plump was considered a sign of beauty for models, then it was being slender. Now the criteria appears to be changing once again with the public reportedly eager to see more “normal” looking models who resemble people you might see in real life.

Dictionary.com defines a model “whose profession is posing for artists or photographers.” However, over the years, the definition has changed, or rather been extended, in its meaning. The word model is used with descriptive adjectives as slim, tall and gorgeous, but is it true nowadays?

Newsweek Magazine reports that “real-looking models” are now shining in fashion shows.

Now real people are even strutting the catwalk – the swimwear company Lycra plucked 20 women of all shapes and sizes off the beach to model their suits at last year’s Miami Swim Fashion Week.

It also quotes Simon Rogers, the head of Ugly New York, a casting agency for “real”-looking models, commenting on this new trend.

“I definitely think there’s some backlash amongst people who see fashion shows, then read stories about how the models have to smoke themselves to death and only drink lemon water for six weeks.People would like to see somebody up there who reflects how people on the street really look.”

An expert in the field, Amy Larocca, the editor of “Look Book,” explains the new trend.

“Fashion shows used to be for a very small number of people, very exclusive. Now you can see them an hour later on the Internet. Everyone can be involved. Larocca also links the increased accessibility of fashion to the number of high-end designers creating affordable lines for mass-market stores, such as Isaac Mizrahi’s collection for Target, as well as reality shows such as “Project Runway.”

Back in skinny jeans also states that people nowadays care about models’ health rather than their appearance.

If the woman still looks like she’s only had lemon water with cayenne pepper to eat for 6 weeks, then she’s still starving herself for fashion, and none of us want to see that any more. We don’t care about a model’s fashion look, we care about her health.

Photo: © WillFoster