Osler's Razor

The old adage has it that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, just as music is in the ear of the listener. We find beauty in that which strikes a chord within our own being. Sometimes it makes us smile. Sometimes it makes us cry. The haunting tugs of dreams of a better life are drawn on our own psyche, but are only suggested by the photograph. Models are vacuous suggestions of style, not the style itself.
 

I fear, though, that what idolizing the super-thin, though, is tug people not towards a better life, but toward self-destruction.

Not that this is new. Remember "heroin chic?" I suspect that fashion arbiters are trying to make a meaningful statement, but the only meaning they have access to and know how to convey is negative. The message "Destroy yourself" is certainly meaningful. But wrong, morally.
 

If you were a musician, you’d want your songs played in an acoustically perfect room to eliminate background noise. If you were a painter, you’d want your murals hung on plain walls in perfectly lit rooms to compliment your brush strokes.

Fashion designers are the same way.

The ideal couture model is expressionless and practically invisible; the beaux Ideal of a walking hanger.

In many respects, adding weight and touches of life to the models during fashion week would be like adding pink pin-stripping to the wall around a Rembrandt, or a slight echo during a Mozart symphony. The casual observer may not notice or care but the aficionados would, and in the big scheme of things, that’s all that really matters.

It’s no secret that the aficionados control the casual observer. The girl striving for the Dior purse doesn’t do so because she saw it during fashion week. She wants it because a fashion commentator told her to. An article in this month’s ABA Journal, “Knockoffs Landing on Retail Shelves” highlights this fact. The article claims some distributors mix counterfeit goods with genuine articles to increase profits.

Although the reasonable person can’t tell the difference between the designer and knockoff, they’re willing to spend thousands of dollars to pretend they can; all because someone wrote an article about the amazing show put on by a preeminent artist during fashion week.

The people complaining about runway models’ weights can’t perceive the differences between clothing on girls with a BMI’s of 15 and a BMI’s of 20; I am one of them. Unfortunately, when you are dealing with influencing a multi-billion dollar industry, us lay folks don’t matter.

In the September Madrid shows, they required models exceed a BMI of 18 in order to work. To me, this seems like a feasible solution. But then again, who am I to say.
 

I took a class on substance abuse - not drugs or alcohol, but food. It's the most common form of substance abuse. I know you're surprised.

My professor had an interesting theory that slimmer women wasn't really the ideal, but a woman with a certain waist-to-hip ratio. It's all about sexual competition and the challenge of measuring yourself against other women. The "better" your ratio, the more men you attract.

And yet, as a leader authority on eating disorders, he still could not explain why the "slim" ideal became the "emaciated" ideal. (Well, he had an idea about testosterone and anorexia addicts, but he wasn't entirely convinced.)

He did, however, constantly point out one irony - women try to look like Kate Moss and yet Playboy makes its money off women who look more like Anna Nicole Smith.

Someone's getting this wrong.
 

you can say what you want about the model image contributing to anorexia and other eating disorders but most therapist will tell you that for most people anorexia is not about weight loss it is about wanting to feel like you are in control of something when everything else in your life seems to be spiraling out of control. If we want to reduce eating disorders maybe we should try to give the youth of America a little more stability in their lives.
 

Contrast this with the problem of obesity in America. Although, I suspect that is often related to depression... Perhaps the anorexic image is when people go to the extreme to avoid the obesity growing in America.

Sad to hear about Anna Nicole Smith's death today. Couple that with the lack of definitive paternity for her 5 month old daughter, the "commitment vows" that somehow aren't described as marriage between her and Stern, and the oddity that she, her 20 year old son, and her former stepson have all died within the last 7-8 months. Is there a conspiracy here?! Ok, maybe not, but weird nonetheless.
 

I forgot to add that IPLG's firm was quoted about the estate law implications in the AP story! Pretty cool. Maybe IPLG himself is an expert on this now too! It's a T&E lawyer's nightmare - or dream. Get this line from the story - "It also wasn't clear where she legally lived when she died."
 

My firm does indeed have a fabulous T&E department. But as "IPlawguy," I restrict my practice to Intellectual Property, mostly trademarks and related mattters.

The Anna Nicole Smith thing is quite interesting from a legal standpoint. Her heirs will make money off her "image" for years.
 

I am not sure why the anorexic look is so IN especially when it seems to be dangerous for women. However I guess because it keeps getting you know rewarded.... In Hollywood, and in the world of modeling, if you are over a size 2 you are considered FAT.

The fact that so many young girls worship people like Lindsay Lohan is just kind of sad. To me, those girls are not even that pretty... and its clear they have a lot of pfoblems. They are in and out of rehab, will never go to college, yet will have a gozillion dollars one day.

Remember Christie Brinkley? Brooke Shields? Paulina Porizkova? Vendela? OR even Katherine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren... These girls today - they are just weird. Not very talented, they have substance abuse problems, and how smart can they really be?
 

8:53--

That makes sense to me. I don't doubt that it is for many many people a control thing. But, it probably doesn't help that the behavior is reinforced by this kind of model.

Swanburg-

You sure know a lot about this. Good info.

IPLG--

Do you know EstateLawGuy at your firm?
 

http://lakelandschools.org/wphs/erichsen/grapesofwrath/grapes%20images/aa_lange_power_2_e.jpg

My personal favorite picture of hers.

ERhine.
 

I have found the comments by the previos posters to be fascinating.
Mr. Swamburg, thank you for your insight into the desires of fashion designers to have "hangers".
In response to the claims of beauty versus whatever ideal is held out by the "fashion elite" in America, I think the poster was correct in citing Anna Nicole Smith as a Playmate of the Year. I believe that many American men do want women that are a little more zaftig, or as is said in current slang, "thicker," however, some feel that it is shameful to admit it. The comment about the obesity epidemic in America was also true. I think if more Americans would seek to be in the happy middle ground, then this country would be much healthier- avoiding the eating disorders of the wafer-thin models, but also the pitfalls of being significantly overweight. Personally, I like women from size 6-12, with a preference for a 10. According to the standards of beauty perpetuated by the elite Well, this issue will not be solved overnight.
 

I believe Sir Mix-A-Lot said it best: "I like big butts and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny..."