How Models Directly Influence Young Women’s Health, Attitude And Wellbeing.

“Shift the focus of your diet and lifestyle” – that’s the message from leading modelling employment agency Models Direct...

[UKPRwire, Thu Sep 10 2009] “Shift the focus of your diet and lifestyle” – that’s the message from leading modelling employment agency Models Direct to young people who may be at risk of damaging their health by pursuing their modelling ambitions without getting the right advice first.

Representatives from the UK and Europe’s leading agency feel that young women in particular are still putting too much emphasis on their size, and not enough on their health. This trend is often exacerbated by images of women in the media, making a career in fashion or entertainment a potentially dangerous ambition for some vulnerable individuals.

Although more support for ‘real’, diverse and healthy looks has appeared in the modelling industry recently, Andrew Simmons of Models Direct feels that there is still room for change at the high fashion end of the industry.

“It has been fantastic to see more support for ‘real looks’ within the media recently,” he says. ”However, some channels are still promoting an overly weight-focused message. As a nation we simply do not need this sugar-coated view of what is attractive, nor do we want to place inappropriate pressure on our impressionable young people.”

British Vogue’s Editor Alexandra Shulman echoes Andrew’s opinion. “I am finding that the feedback from my readers and the general feeling in the UK is that people really don’t want to see such thin girls, either in editorial or advertising,” she says. Shulman has even been quoted as saying that in order to make some images more palatable she has been forced to airbrush them to make the featured models look bigger.
Airbrushing is traditionally used to take out imperfections and make celebrities’ and models’ figures appear slimmer. This practice has come under the spotlight recently, highlighting the fact that media images reflect an ideal that is simply unattainable. Yet it continues, despite clear evidence that the public are much more comfortable with images that they can really relate to.

“Glamour” magazine tested this theory in August when they provided readers with just the kind of role model that Models Direct would like to see more of in the media. Twenty-year-old Lizzie Miller, a size 12 model, appeared un-airbrushed in this edition and the pictures sparked an immensely positive reaction from the public.

So, with more influential fashion industry figures finally appearing to make a stand against “size zero” ideals, maybe it is time for other modelling agencies to follow Models Direct’s lead and relax their size restrictions.

Whatever the future brings, Models Direct believe it can only be positive if society starts thinking in terms of health and happiness rather than size.