Tea at Trianon: Vogue Encourages Models to Be Healthy

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Vogue Encourages Models to Be Healthy

A very positive trend indeed. To quote:

In an effort to promote a healthy body image among its readers, the editors of 19 global editions of Vogue magazine agreed to some changes. NPR's David Folkenflik filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"From June on, no models will appear in Vogue's pages who are under 16 or who appear to suffer from any eating disorder.
"The magazine will also ask agents and casting directors to police the ages of models when casting shoots. It promises to encourage healthy eating practices among models and new practices among designers to promote the casting of models from a broader range of body sizes.
"The moves follow years of criticism of fashion magazines — and the industry more generally — in pushing young girls to believe their bodies are somehow malformed if they do not mirror those of models. The use of photoshop to whisk away blemishes and unwanted fat from the pictures of celebrities has if anything accentuated those concerns."
New York Magazine has the six bullet points that the agreement consists of. Among them:

— "We encourage designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing, which limits the range of women who can be photographed in their clothes, and encourages the use of extremely thin models."
— "We will encourage producers to create healthy backstage working conditions, including healthy food options and a respect for privacy. We will encourage casting agents not to keep models unreasonably late."
But critics say the Vogue agreement doesn't go far enough. The AP spoke to Susan Linn of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood who said Vogue should have followed the example of fashion organizations in Italy and Spain. The Vogue agreement is vague, while Italy and Spain simply don't allow models on a catwalk if they fall below a certain BMI. (Read entire post.)