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What models used to look like…

What models used to look like…
Carly Jacobs

A few evenings ago I was reading this fabulous little book about the history of Chanel (more on that later!) when I stumbled upon a picture of Claudia Schiffer modelling for Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, circa 1993. That’s her in the white dress below. She has thighs. And tits and hips and cheeks. I was positively shocked at how much the ideal model shape has changed in just over 10 years. Look at Cindy in the middle. Look at those thighs! Don’t you want to just bite into them like a big old chicken leg? She would be shot dead on a catwalk today. Want to know why? Because she is too damn gorgeous. Like the other models of the early 1990’s they distracted people from the clothes. Their creamy skin, womanly curves, gorgeous faces and killer racks had people hankering after the model and not the dress. So designers got jack of this and started sending human clothes racks down the catwalk to the detriment of women through out the world. Lets take a walk down memory lane where models looked like women, not skeletons draped in skin…

Christie, Linda, Cindy, Naomi and Claudia. Top earning models of the early 1990’s. Remember the days when size 10 was considered really really slim? When people would exclaim ‘Oh my god she was TINY! Like a size 10!’. What the hell is a size zero?

Okay, I think we can all do without the front-ways wedgie but look at that arse! You could totally sink your teeth into it. How nice is it to see a model in a swimsuit with out razor blade hip bones cutting through the Lycra?

The magic foursome. Linda, Cindy, Naomi and Christie. Models with muscle tone and breasts. Mental.

I miss the days when a healthy, athletic body was considered the ultimate. Remember when models would release diet books and exercise videos to promote healthy living? When idolising a model meant working out everyday and eating healthy meals and not living on champagne, cocaine and cigarettes? Oh and remember when models were grown ups? Women in their mid-to-late 20’s? And some even had families and babies? They were also models. They didn’t want to be photographers, designers and stylists. Models today are too thin, too cool, too interested in being uber quirky.

I know it’s an old argument that every one is sick of hearing but look at this… 

It’s so bizarre.

Over to you… Do you miss Cindy Crawford’s Buns of Steel? And full bosomed super models doing Wonder Bra ads? Do you miss the days when models had thighs that touched at the top and bums that wiggled when they walked? When is was beautiful to be fit and healthy?

I sure do…

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

 

 

17 Comments

  1. Jin 16 years ago

    Models today are freakishly thin. However, in reference to your size 10 comment- some of that is probably due to size inflation. Here in the US, size inflation has gotten to be pretty annoying and now some stores are selling 00 (a size that would’ve been a 2 a couple years back). It’s ironic that I’ll get rid of an old piece of clothing for being too small and end up replacing it with something that’s numerically two or three sizes smaller.

  2. Ivy 16 years ago

    Yeah, I definitly miss the curves, tits and asses of yesteryear… I can’t believe it’s only been within the last decade that models have turned paper thin. It’s a shame, really… I mean, where do we go from here?

  3. Andrea Mitchell 16 years ago

    Wow, I completely forgot how healthy models looked while I was growing up! I suppose the shift to Skeletor has been so gradual that I didn’t pick up on it … or something. Thanks for this.

  4. susie_bubble 16 years ago

    I miss shapely models in general just because I think it’s nice to have variety… nothing against naturally skinny models either though…

  5. Gervy 16 years ago

    Great post, like your analysis. The supermodels did look comparatively healthy in retrospect. The anorexic model above gave me the chills. Bring back curves!!!

  6. Hailey 16 years ago

    I made this my post of the day (yay!)
    I hope you don’t mind.
    Hailey
    http://www.stylesymmetry.com

  7. Lady Smaggle 16 years ago

    Ivy – I know. I hope we go back to where we were. Or least have some sort varience…

    Susie – Oh me too! I love a good twiggy or Kate Moss but it’s the skeletors that really get me down…

    Gervy – I don’t eve necessarily need curves. Just a fundamental layer of SOMETHING in between the skin and the bones.

    Jin – It is pretty out of control. I wouldn’t know what size I am!

    Hailey – Thanks for the link lady!

    Working wife and mom – I’m on the heavier side too and it’s so unreasonable for these sticks to be the only female representation on the catwalk. Obviously there are naturally slim girls out there but models should be diverse. Just chuck a couple of athletes up there with the skinnies and I’ll be happy. Someone who looks like Pink would be good!

    Andrea – I totally forgot too! Until Chanel enlightened me…

    Bummble – Oh don’t even start with me and actresses! I have lost SO MANY roles in plays because I am a giant. I’m 5’8 so I’m equal height to a lot of men which for some reason isn’t okay. Like guys can’t date girls that are taller than them. It really bugs me.

    Na – I know tell me about it. She looks so buff! I know Giselle is so not curvy…

    Jocelyne – People call you fat on your blog? What the hell? You are gorgeous! That is mental. But who are these stick thin people? I haven’t met anyone in real life who is actually that small. It is actually not achievable. So why is the media painting as the ideal? It’s mental.

  8. working wife&mom 16 years ago

    I have felt like this for so long, and not just because I am on the heavier side. I have two girls, and am so afraid that these skeletons are all they have to look up to, to aspire to look like.

  9. Bummble 16 years ago

    Hear hear!

    And it’s not just models; actresses are getting tinier and tinier.

    And the male actors, of course, have to beef up and be HUGE.
    The difference becomes so big!

    I was watching ‘Notorious’ the other day (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/), with Cary Grant and the gorgeous Ingrid Bergman, and those two made a great couple – and were virtually equally tall, and certainly equally wide. In a few scenes, where she wears shoulder pads, Bergman is actually wider through the shoulders than Grant (and we’ll just ignore the weird, verging-on-harassment scene in the car).

  10. princessnaea 16 years ago

    I’m more worried about the fact that the model in the second shot looks like she’s been slapped around the face. But holy moly, Cindy!!! What a bod. And to think that these days Gisele Bundchen is considered a ‘curvy’ model.

  11. Jocelyne 16 years ago

    Wow, I never thought about how much it has changed so quickly, it really is crazy. I am a size ten and am comfortable with that, being that I am 5’10. Lately, I have had mean people commenting on my blog that I am fat amoung other things. Luckily I am fairly confident that I am not fat and insults only hurt when they are true. But it makes me think that maybe if “they” really think I am fat it could be because of the new standard of size that is unattainable and in my opinion unattractive. Women are naturally curvy and most guys I know prefer that. It’s funny that you can be aware of something such as the standard of beauty changing but not even think about it until someone brings it up. Thanks for making me think yet again.

  12. Jocelyne 16 years ago

    I think I might just post something about this now too. Thanks again!!

  13. Freelancer's FAshion 16 years ago

    I agree. I was reading a magazine the other day and got so pissed at the swimsuit feature they did – I really cant’s see anything aestehetic in any superbony model’s body and it makes me sad to think so many young girls and women alike will weep over the fact they don’t look like that. Or this one article about upcoming models in our country. The girls featured were 13 to 16 year old. Sure, a sucesfull modelling career these days start that early but come on, it really is bizarre that a lot of grown up women admire teenaged models and wish to look like a 15 year old (bodywise atelast)… Actually the whole model-worhsipping among so many girls annoy me in general.

  14. Lady Smaggle 16 years ago

    Freelancer’s Fashion – I totally agree. I wish models grown ups again. How awful for young girls to think that they hit their peak at 13?

  15. Danyka 16 years ago

    That last image is photoshopped. The girl is really thin, but that image isn’t the original shot.
    I think we are generally missing the point though…
    Like you mentioned earlier – it’d be nice to have some variety – it’d be okay to have those pallid, wan girls as long as it wasn’t promoted as the ONLY image acceptable for females.
    There are women of all shapes and sizes, some with large breasts, some small, some curvy, some athletic, some thin. 🙂

    *sigh* If only, right? but I guess marketing is about desire, so we have to be fed something unattainable.

    P.s. word up to you, Lady. I like the way you rock your style with confidence, it makes you ooze sexiness. Yeah!

  16. Lady Smaggle 16 years ago

    Danyka – Thank you! I agree I think all we need is to mix it up a little.

Pingbacks

  1. […] Today Lady Smaggle did a post on what models used to look like.  It rings very true that the model image has changed drastically over the last decade.  I for one feel thankful that I grew up with a more realistic (although still unattainable) definition of beauty.  Read the full post here. […]

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