A few weeks ago I found a girl on the Stureplan website who wore a t-shirt with the request “Pease don’t feed the models” on it. I just rolled my eyes and forgot this ‘wise’ message quite quickly.
However, I started to think about the girl and her t-shirt again when I realised how popular Beth Ditto from the US band “The Gossip” is in the fashion industry at the moment. Since the corpulent Indie Rock singer was naked on the new British lifestyle magazine Love she became a fashion icon. Karl Lagerfeld said recently that Beth Ditto is his new muse (remember that it was once Kate Moss!!!) and also the Swedish Cosmopolitan writes that Beth Ditto is one of their favourites this summer.
I think Beth Ditto’s popularity is great since her plus-plus-size figure gives the fashion industry new and important impulses. I don’t expect and I don’t want that all the models on the runway will look like her soon but maybe her popularity indicates a cut. Like the skinny Twiggy did in the 1960s when she replaced she feminine Marilyn Monroe style.
To be honest, I was actually pretty shocked when I saw Beth Ditto naked as a cover girl for the first time because I liked skinny models and the heroin look. But then I realised that I thought in exactly the same way like the Stureplan girl whose message I had considered as stupid. “Please don’t feed the models!”. And then I was shocked again.
It’s good to see people who are different in the world of fashion because you maybe re-think some of your views. At least I did.
That’s the best part about fashion, that it’s always evolving. I personally think these photos are a breath of fresh air
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I happened to stumble onto your blog by accident and have to say I really like your story.
I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I guess the easy answer is – it’s fashion. She’s punk and lesbian. According to her Wikipedia article she does not wear deodorant nor shave her armpit hair. At the risk of sounding narrow-minded I have to ask: is this really who we want on our fashion magazines? On the other hand – maybe I’m not seeing something here…
So, how exactly did this change your views on fashion? Vi ses snart!
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Big can be beautiful, too! Fashion is about trends and the trend at the moment is to be as skinny as possible. I think we sometimes forget that beauty is a question of time and what we are used to. We always see the same type of people on the runway and in magazines and think that’s true beauty. It’s not! It’s just a trend and it will change some day. I think for instance if Tyra Banks was young and started her career these days she wouldn’t have a chance today because she’s too curvy in comparison to the other models.
I don’t think that we will see armpit hair on the cover of Vogue soon. And I don’t want it either. But this is probably also a question of time. For instance men with chest hair are much more popular today than in the 1990s when it was an absolute no-go! Hair in general is more popular these days. I mean just think of Brad Pitt’s mustache. And if I think of the 1980s, women with armpit hair were much more accepted. Ok, maybe not in the fashion world but in general.
Beth Ditto’s pictures reminded me of that everything in fashion is just a trend and that I don’t want be locked up in these trends. Otherwise, I miss a lot of other beautiful things and people…
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i love thiss! beth ditto makes it a hell of alot easyer for us not stick like teens i feel under so much pressure to look,act and be a certain way (LIKE THE GIRLS IN VOUGE AND ELLE etc) and i know my friends are too Amen to Beth she teeches us to open our eyes were all diffrent and it dosent matter how you look WE’RE ALL BEAUTIFUL!
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