Italian Vogue's Franca Sozzani's Speech On Eating Disorders

Recently at Harvard, Italian Vogue's Franca Sozzani delivered a speech surrounding the topic of thinness and the link it possesses with the fashion industry. During the speech, Sozzani recognised the change in the sizes of models: "Why the age of supermodels, who were beautiful and womanly, slowly started decreasing and we now have still undeveloped adolescents with no sign of curves?"
 
However, she highlights how fashion isn't the only thing playing a part in eating disorders as she points out that "negative family and social influences, the feeling of being subjected to too much pressure or too high expectations or, conversely, to parental neglect, being ridiculed over one’s body shape or feeling unable to reach one’s goals" can also have an affect on people's eating habits.

Whilst there is no denying that fashion plays a part in affecting people's ideals on beauty and the 'perfect' body, is it fair to deem it is as the sole reason?

You can read the full speech here on the Vogue.it website.

Philomena Kwao to be Britain's first black 'plus-size' supermodel?

Former Miss Ghana title holder Philomena Kwao has become the newest addition to the Models 1 family. The size 16 student from Kent is currently renowned for winning high street label Evans' modelling competition. 

The competition, run in conjunction with style369.com, resulted in Kwao being signed up to Excel-Models 1, the newest division of the agency created for the curvier model.

Kwao says: 'Healthier body attitudes and a backlash against REALLY skinny models have led to a fair few designers rethinking the models they send down catwalks, and magazines to appraise their approach in their fashion pages.'

Kwao will appear in May's issue of Cosmopolitan in a beach-inspired shoot for the publication. She endeavours to become Britain's first black supermodel and empower other females.

She has completed a BA in economics and is currently studying for her MSc in International Health Management at the Imperial College, London, proving that brains and beauty is not an oxymoron. We look forward to following her rise to the top.

'Fat' Fashion - Bloggers Embrace Their 'Plus Size'

There is a new wave of style bloggers making an effort to prove that fat can also be fashionable. 'Fatshonista', 'fatosphere' and 'fatastic' are just a few of the words used to describe the increasingly popular online movement that celebrates fashion for the larger woman. Or 'fatshion', as they prefer to call it.

Helping to take the negative connotations out of the word 'fat' are women like Lesley Kinzel, a 35-year-old author who wears a US size 26 (UK size 30). Her blog, Two Whole Cakes, is soon to be turned into a book, and aims to empower plus-size women.

Lesley Kinzel

Ms Kinzel shares her style advice advice on the site, along with authors of similar blogs titled Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too, Curves to Kill and Thicker Than your Average Girl, which all impart the same mantra: We're fat AND we're fabulous, and you should be too! 

Style secrets is not all these women want to share. With no desires to change their size, and with 60% of American women wearing size 14 (UK size 18) or higher, they want the public, and their plus-sized peers, to redefine the word 'fat', and most importantly, accept it. Ms Kinzel explained to CNN: "Learning to use the word 'fat' as a basic descriptor, stripping it of its negative baggage, was a huge part of my self-acceptance process. But I love the word 'fat' precisely because my candid and positive use of it often shocks people...it means everyone who hears the word 'fat' from me is having to take a moment to think about what I mean by it, and to resist the knee-jerk assumption that I must mean something bad."

Ms Kinzel also believes that 'fat' women are not represented as beautiful and desirable in mainstream media.Describing her adolescent years, she says: "I didn't have many famous examples of positive fat-lady representation. I mean, there was Roseanne. I loved Roseanne, but not because she was beautiful - I loved her because she was smart and tough and didn't take crap from anyone." Kinzel continued: "If we wait for television and magazines to do this for us, we're going to be waiting a very long time. So we do it ourselves."

Jessica Kane, creator of Life and Style of Jessica and owner of Skorch Plus Size Style Magazine, agrees with Kinzel's sentiment. "Some girls might see themselves as curvy, while others see themselves as plus-sized. I do embrace the word 'fat' because I am. It's not mean or spiteful, but a fact," she says.

With her blog, Ms Kane took control of this message in a way that mainstream magazines are often afraid to, for fear of offending. "The majority of women need to be represented, and blogs like mine that thrive with hundreds of thousands of views a month show that there are women who want to see more. We need the thin girls next to the big girls as well as the brown girls next to the white girls. Diversity is key," Ms Kane says. We couldn't agree more! 

With blogging now often being described as "overrated", it's 'fatastic' to see it being injected with a new life, and one with such a positive message. However, writers such as Kinzel and Kane are not saying that being skinny or slim is 'wrong', they just want to get across that it's not the only 'right'. Neither beauty nor style comes in a certain size or shape and the time is more than ripe for this to be accepted in popular culture.

Are you feeling this latest fatshion trend? Tell us what you think in the comments section.

Made In Mexico: Creating A Bespoke Solution To Sizing Issues

The perplexity of differences in American and European clothing sizes has become an issue for customers in Mexico, with an increasing number being unable to find anything that fits their figures. It is reported that retailers in the country lose an annual total of $4 billion due to returned items. 

A survey reported on by Women's Wear Daily , was conducted in over 14 cities and several regions of the country in order to calculate averages in height and weight. Results have shown for example that the average Mexican female is aged 18-25 is 5ft2 and weighs 138lbs.

As a result, manufacturers will be able to see the types of bodies that they should be catering to, thus creating garments that would ensure a better fit. In fact, the survey is expected to do so well that an estimated $400 million will be saved by 2017, from a decrease in returns.

Do you think this is a good idea and should other countries follow suit?

Too Young to Model?

Expect to see this girl on the next cover of a women's fashion magazine if modelling agencies get their way. Eleven year old Anais Gallagher, dubbed the new Kate Moss, has already been signed to Select Model Management and recently been shot by none other than Mario Testino. Her mother Meg Matthews tweeted his shots of her twice.  Select Model Management, the agency that answers for models such as Agyness Deyn and Daphne Groeneveld has snapped Gallagher up, and await her legal catwalk debut.

The now dubbed 'mini-model' was shot for a Paul Smith Junior campaign only last year, and is now being looked upon to model womenswear. There are murmurs of the 11 year old's 'over-sexualisation', and there are fears it may stir up the old 'toddlers in tiaras' debate.

Fashion is on a constant quest for youth, and indeed women should model for women. The 'mini-model' trend is expanding rapidly with 12 year old Kaia Gerber, the late Gianni Versace's muse, becoming one of the ones to watch. Mother and model Cindy Crawford has kept a watchful eye on her daughter, and has decided to put her career on hold for seven years, putting distance between her child Versace campaign and the catwalk to come.

Fashion's obsession with youth is as old as time, however the price it may cost those portraying it is a whole different story. What are your thoughts on the 'mini-model' trend?

Keeping It Real: The New Evans Campaign

High-street store Evans has launched a new shape campaign with the help of four 'real' models. The clothing chain, which stocks from sizes 14 to 32, spent three months hunting down the UK's answer to Crystal Renn, who was the first 'plus-sized' model to appear on the cover of Vogue last year.

The four lucky ladies are university students Kate Eccles, Katy Syme, Jessica Anderson and Amaryliss Hibon, who have taken a break from their academic studies to help promote the new range that will be available from April onwards.

Explaining the label's ethos, brand director for Evans Fiona Ross said: "Every one of us has a unique figure and we will help curvy women to identify, shop and dress for fabulous shape and unbeatable confidence."

It's great to see a high-street store pioneering this concept; style doesn't come in a size, so why do so many stores fail to provide for a fuller figure? When the national average for the UK is a size 14, it's almost absurd.

Each of Evans' models, with their striking features, are a testimony to the age-old adage that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.

Evans' Spring 2012 collection will be available from April www.evans.co.uk

Israel Bans 'Underweight' Models

Israel has brought in a new law banning the use of underweight models, in both advertising and on the catwalk. The legal ruling requires models to provide proof of their weight and for advertisements to carry disclaimers if they have used Photoshop to alter a model's figure.

The legislation has resulted from suggestions that the constant exposure to images of thin models is responsible for rising rates of eating disorders among young teenage girls.

Under the new law, models are obligated to have a BMI of 18.5 or above, although some critics say that the law should have focused on health, as opposed to weight, as some are naturally thin.

Click here to find out more.

Do you agree with the new rule?