Helen Mirren (62)
I thought that this was an interesting since Premier Model Management founder Carole White just came out publicly admitting that Milan and Paris don’t want Black models (ok so what else did you discover Columbus?) she says :
the problem stems from the influential fashion capitals of Milan and Paris.
‘There, they absolutely don’t want black girls. A black model has to be a real star before you can take her there. They only take a black girl when the biz is buzzing about her.’
This is not actually “news” when you don’t see something repeatedly, you kind of get the hint that it is not desired. The effect is a literal erasure, when you watch the shows it’s like Black women don’t exist at all. This is why I am ethically at odds with the fashion industry- I have to wear clothes but it is an industry that does not recognize or acknowledgÂe me. My philosophy is not to support anything that does not support me so…
Wendy Williams (46)
When I saw this article about Young Models On Magazine Covers Affects Older Women’s Body Image I thought wow if older women not seeing themselves on magazine covers is messing with their heads and giving them exacerbating body image issues then what must black women who are one of the lowest races on the fashion totem feeling? What about Asians or other “Minorities” that never get to walk or get a cover?
Here is what the study found:
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
A new study finds that this absence of older women isn’t limited to Vogue, or even to magazine covers: An analysis of editorial and advertising images reveals that despite proportions of older readers ranging as high as 23 percent, fashion magazines portray women over 40 sparingly, if at all. Even in magazines geared toward aging baby boomers, the images collectively present a thin, youthful, wrinkle-free ideal that’s impossible to maintain later in life. Now experts are saying the ideal threatens to cause older women to abandon their sexuality.
“It does lead to problems of negative body image,” said study author Denise Lewis, a gerontologist at the University of Georgia who reported the results in April in the Journal of Aging Studies. “It leads to issues that have people denying aging, so going to great lengths to continue to look like that ideal of a youthful person.”
Read complete article here