Thin Is Beautiful?

Recently a friend invited me to a fashion show in aid of a worthwhile charity. The show and its designers will remain unnamed since they are irrelevant to this column. I am not much of a fashion buff - in fact, I am quite clueless about the latest trends in clothes and accessories. This is not to say that I do not admire well dressed men and women – it's just that early on in life I realised that I didn't have a natural flair for fashion and wisely chose to dress with conservative caution, rather than stylish adventure!

Since the show was of detached interest to me, I paid little attention to the sartorial elements. However, I marvelled at the effortless grace with which the women (and some men) exhibited the latest styles. What struck me most was the fact that none of the female models could have weighed more than a 100 lbs. They strutted down the runway with their nearly invisible bodies carrying their chic outfits, as if their body frames served as hangers.

As I watched the gaunt women perform the catwalk, I recalled an article that I recently read about the anxiety and pain that models go through to meet the stringent standards of the fashion industry. Model agencies invariably scout for tall, lean and angular "objects of desire". And during the course of employment, they are ruthlessly unforgiving if the needle on the weighing scale moves up even a fraction. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the ideal body shape used as a starting point for a fashion collection is one that may be on the brink of starvation.

The question is: "Why do modern designers use models that are stick thin and 6 feet tall, when the average woman is curvy and is only about 5 feet 3 inches or even shorter?" In the 60s and 70s, male designers dominated the fashion industry and one could conveniently blame them for being misogynists. But today, scores of talented women designers and ateliers have entered the fashion market. Yet, the physical metrics applied to female models have hardly shifted.

In fact, the "thin is beautiful" syndrome has permeated so deeply into the modern psyche that thinness is also equated with success. Many of us think that people who are thin have not only greater control over their eating regimen but also have a greater command over other aspects of life. Even the business world seems to be attaching preference to people who look slender and sleek in business suits since they are expected to be agile, aggressive and quick on their feet. Unfortunately, the trend has gripped the taste and imagination of teenage populations in many countries. Youngsters today are conditioned into believing that having a model-like body is one of the prerequisites of beauty and success. Consequently, more and more young people are following punishing exercise regimes and lean diets. Anorexia is on the rise - statistics reveal that the number of youngsters hospitalised in the UK with eating disorders has doubled in the last three years.

This was not always the case. If we look back at the heady days of the past, beauties such as Hollywood's Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, Bollywood's Madhubala, Bengal's Suchitra Sen, and even model Cindy Crawford, look positively curvaceous compared to the sylphs of today. And they are no less attractive.

The prime culprits in projecting the "thin is beautiful" image are the advertisers. They appeal to women's insecurities in hopes of selling them the idea that buying the advertised clothes and accessories will magically transform them into nymphs from fairy tales. One must admit that the models look seductive and sensuous with their carefully crafted clothing and accessories, not to mention the choreographed settings. But the truth is that in real life, one can seldom live and look that way. 

This realisation seems to be gradually sinking in and markets are responding to the fact that the bulk of consumers don't fit the profile of the emaciated models on display. Neither do the exotic fashions suit the tastes of the hordes of women and men who live "normal" lives. Consequently, fashion magazines are catering to the needs of ordinary mortals who want to dress elegantly but not outrageously. Some designers are tapping into this hitherto unexploited clothing market for average-sized women and men. But, perceptions take a long time to change. Meanwhile, we must accept the fact that society puts a higher premium on looks and careers, rather than a contented and well-rounded (pun intended) life.

As you may have guessed, I did not bring back an enhanced fashion sense from the fashion show. However, it made me realise the sad truth that even after 100 years of struggling for female emancipation, a woman's worth is still being measured by how much (or how little) physical space she occupies on this earth!

The writer is a renowned Rabindra Sangeet exponent and a former employee of the World Bank.

E-mail: shiftingimages@gmail.com