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Mommyrexia?

AND THIS is why I have always detested the focus put on celebrity new mothers’ “post baby” bodies. I found this post on FitPerez last week. about the trend of Hollywood and celebrity women working to stay “thin” or as thin as possible during their pregnancies. where I think there might be something to this, let’s take the “amount of weight” out out it and just look at the mentality behind either the lack of weight gain – or the rapid weight loss after. I think if their is a focus on staying thin- or as thin as possible during pregnancy then there is a problem, if it’s about eating well and staying fit which results in not over gaining then it makes sense. It could be that the media puts too much focus on what pregnant women look like after giving birth that has given the obsession to bonce back within days a boost. If I see one more post about someone revealing her “post baby body” I’m going to flip. It should always be about the health of baby and mother! We know that as a society we have gone too far with this weight and body obsession when women who are having babies but their appearance before their health and the health of their child. Now we cannot for certain say that this is what is happening, it only looks like it might be what is taking place as we see photos of mothers to be with yoga mats and heading to the gym. This in and of itself is not a bad thing, there is no reason (unless the doctor forbids it) that expectant mothers should not keep exercising there have been numerous women at my Bikram Harlem Yoga studio (holla) who have practiced throughout their pregnancies, however for me it is the rapid post baby weight loss that has me wondering. Granted the women we are talking about have the resources to have chefs, trainers, and nannies at their disposal to help them carve out the time between feeding and diaper changes to get their workouts in and eat well so it is quite possible that they are going about “bouncing back” in the right way. My chief concern is that everyday women will feel the pressure of being super MILF and try to emulate these women in an unhealthy way or feel bad about themselves because they can’t drop the weight in a month. Health before Svelte!

From FitPerez:
Stars like Victoria Beckham and Bethenny Frankel are prototypes of women who gained very little during pregnancy with the intention of losing it quickly, and that worries experts.

Said Manhattan dietitian Lisa Cohn:

“Beckham’s in her eighth month now, and looking too thin continues to be part of [her] plan – healthy or not. She hasn’t been looking as vibrant – pale face, dull eyes and more drained. If her extreme post-baby weight-loss plan of shedding 20lb in a short period is true, it sends a dangerous message to other women out there.”
Everyone jumped on Natural Food Chef and reality star Bethenny Frankel when she dropped whatever weight she gained during her pregnancy but she explained that she never diets (it is the premise of her philosophy) but eats healthily all the time and while pregnant she worked out, then delivered early and had a few days post delivery where she couldn’t eat hence she lost the bulk of the 30 pounds she gained right after –plausible (at least I think)

Victoria Beckham has herself admitted to really working to be and stay this thin, so I can see her maybe having issues with gaining “too” much weight in pregnancy. She is pregnant presently and is like 6 months along and you can barely tell, she worries me a bit…

Gisele Bunchen might have naturally hit the gene jackpot not only as a model but as a breeder, she looks like the type who would have the basketball belly and never gain an ounce anywhere else on her during pregnancy so I can believe that this is sort of natural and even being as thin as she has always been (let’s assume that that is genetic) she has always worked out.

people went crazy when Bethenny Frankel had her baby and looked like she had never been pregnant weeks after but Heidi Klum preceded her in the amazing baby weight loss feat when she had her first son with seal and then weeks after walked the Victoria Secret Runway in a bra ans panties. I think this is what really upped the ante.


Now Playboy model Kendra Wilkinson was a woman women could relate to after pregnancy. She put on a great deal of weight, plus she’s a tiny girl, and it took a year or so to take it off. Actually her intense Dancing with the Stars regime recently took off the rest. Here’s the thing, we saw on her reality show that she really was not “working” to take off the weight, she loved her sweets, was undisciplined in working out, and was like “Hey I have a booty now!” Where she did bemoan her fuller body there was a reality to the fact that her life and priorities had changed and she took her time, and got there eventually. And you know what, that’s ok too.Padma Lakshmi was another new mother who took her time taking off the weight, when she returned to Top Chef after giving birth she was fuller, and everyone understood why- she had a baby and that’s what happened. What’s interesting about her is that she is very comfortable with her body in general, she has mentioned that because she works on a food show and has to really eat, her weight fluctuates when she shoots, so she has several sizes of clothing in her Top Chef wardrobe and is cool with that.
what do you think on this subject?
Check out the fit perez here

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Absence might make the heart grow fonder but it also makes the Body Images Issues Grow Larger

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 acknowledg­e 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

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Work it Kristie! You Look Amazing


I don’t know why I feel so happy about seeing Kristie Alley and her post Dancing with the Stars body. I suppose it’s because her struggle with her weight and the emotional toll that it has taken on her has been so documented, and the tabloids have been so hateful and mean to her over the years that I think that I have personalized it. So when I see a picture of her looking happy, and not hiding her face because she knows that the photos the going to be on some gossip rag, or blog with a disparaging subtext I get excited. She looks great and it show that she feels confident and that sassy personality is coming through her body language and her styling! Kirstie stay happy stay healthy stay sassy!!!

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Body Image Perception: Learning To Love The Body You Have Now

Susan Liddy, M.A., PCC, CPCC
Hosted by Huffington Post
The human body is an utterly amazing creation. Even a basic consideration of its functions boggles the mind. Neurons connect to the nervous system, the nervous system connects our muscles and hair-trigger messaging occurs at lightening speed. Every component is composed of microscopic cells, tiny self-regenerating entities numbering in the trillions. Yet, somehow it all comes together, each intricate system functioning in a harmonious symphony conducted masterfully by the brain.

This exquisite miracle of biology makes it possible for us to move around in the world and to experience it with all of our senses. It is the foundation of our very being. Shouldn’t it be easy to sit back and simply appreciate our bodies for all they are and all they do for us?

Not so according to recent studies. When participants were asked to what degree they love their bodies, results consistently show that the majority of women harbor a negative body image perception.

Body image perception is often measured by assessing the difference between how a person thinks she appears and her ideal image of how she thinks she should look. For much of the female population, what they see and what they want to see is vastly different.

A 2011 research study of British women, conducted by the University of West England, found that 30 percent of women would give up a year of their lives if they could achieve their ideal body weight and shape. Those findings are reminiscent of another study last year in the U.S., which found that about half of women polled would prefer forgo sex for the summer rather than gain 10 pounds. Similarly, a 1997 Psychology Today survey found that 56 percent of women were unhappy with their body image and would go to great lengths to change their appearance. Female body image perception does not appear to have improved over the past decade.

Why is it so hard for women to love their bodies?

As an increasing amount of documents testify, women are sexualized from a very young age. Abercrombie & Fitch’s clothing line is a prime example of this. The clothing giant recently made headlines when it released a two-piece bikini for 7-year-old girls with push-up cups in the top.

The female body is also routinely portrayed as a product and a commodity through advertising. Images of women are routinely used to sell seemingly unrelated products such as automobiles, men’s cologne and destination vacations.

Furthering the idea that the organic female body is not beautiful in and of itself, we are constantly surrounded by airbrushed images of female “perfection” in the form of roadside billboards, magazines at the checkout stands, television programs and internet ads. Everywhere we look, we are bombarded by suggestions that we are not beautiful, that we do not measure up and that we need to be more beautiful in order to live happy lives, have successful careers — and most importantly — attract a suitable mate (lest we die a lonely, frumpy, old, cat lady).

A 2007 report by the American Psychological Association found that this culture-wide sexualization of women contributes to an epidemic of negative body image perception. The constant stream of unhealthy messages about beauty, happiness and success affect women deeply — even on a subconscious level.

It IS possible to love your body as is.

As pervasive and insidious as it is, you can fly in the face of societal programming. Improving one’s own body image perception is a process that occurs over time and requires shifting the way in which you define beauty and your own self-worth.

Key to making the shift to a positive body image perception is becoming acutely aware of the hidden messages about beauty that surround you. Recognizing the impact of these images and observing thought processes that lead you towards beliefs that undermine your self-love is an excellent place to start. Here’s how:

1.) Notice when women are being portrayed sexually to sell a product and notice airbrushed images that do not accurately portray the female form. Recognize the beliefs that you conjure up from these images about your own beauty.

2.) Question what you are looking at and the hidden intentions behind what you see. Oftentimes media images are intended to manipulate you into believing that you are not good enough so that you will then purchase a product.

3.) Form your own opinion about what it is to be beautiful. Include all of your amazing female
qualities in your definition. Connect with the exquisiteness of your body and appreciate the joy,
pleasure and life that it brings to you each day.
Continue after the jump

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Shedding Trappings…


I recently found this article on the Huffington Post about Singer Eryrkah Badu, it talks about why ten years ago she shed the large head wraps that had become synonymous with her image here is what she said when speaking a reporter from Essence.com:

‘...she visited Cuba to get a Santeria reading, clad in “this white head wrap and this white long dress and all of my jewelry, because it was part of me. It was who I was.” She waited alongside a man with dirty nails, smoking a cigarette and swigging beer.

I finally went in for my reading and there was this beautiful older woman who had on a yellow long dress and short haircut. She was very pretty. She started walking around me and speaking to me in Spanish. I assumed she was the priest who was going to give me my reading.

When the guy with the beard and dirty nails came in, I told the interpreter, “I kind of wanted it to be private.” She goes, “Oh no, he’s the Priest.”

I never wore the head wrap again. I realized it wasn’t necessary anymore, because after all that man was from a long line of healers and he didn’t have to look like one. He was born with it. No matter what he did or what he said, no one could take that away from him. That’s when I was freed and began to evolve. I began to focus on being more in here than out there.

I find this interesting on many levels. The first has to do with Badu’s garb itself. She blew up in the mid-90’s when there was a resurgence of the idea of “Black is Beautiful” and Embrace my African Roots was in full effect. Black men and women ( I say this because it was not only African but West Indian Americans and a mixture of anything else you can image) were shaving their heads, twisting locks, wearing cowerie shells and indigenous garb from where ever their roots or hearts tied them. Personally I thought this was an era when Black people looked their best (in my lifetime) there was a naturalness and ease to the beauty and confidence that they were exuding, it didn’t matter if your hair was an afro, twists, braids, locks, or relaxed… I might add that this was a time before the Yaki Silky extensions and front lace wigs were ubiquitous (not saying that there is anything wrong with that but we can all agree that it is not the most natural look out there) women had extension and weaves for sure, but the idea was that you weren’t supposed to know- you had to look closely for a track, or a change in texture between what was hers and what she bought.

It was a magical time in New York for people of color, we were in Vogue again, and we were feeling ourselves wonderful and beautiful, and the music was a reflection of what was going on, Erykah Badu, had her wrap and Maxwell his Afro and it was all good. The only (slight) downside was, that in our community your hair and style was perceived by some as political position, an outward indicator of whether you were “down” or not. That to me was the one annoying part, because my hair has never a reflected my politics or belief system. The head wrap was a prevalent accessory for women of color in the 90’s (just to clarify I am talking about my experience of what was happening in New York) That “Afrocentric” look came out of Brooklyn Flatbush, a West Indian, African, Black Artist Bohemian Mecca at the time. I lived Harlem and rock every look from a double strand twist, to a large afro or head wrap and when ever someone asked me where I lived they always though I must be from Brooklyn. Erykah lived in Brooklyn and studied under a woman named Queen Afua who was spiritualist and holistic healer known for her cleanses and colonics. Queen dressed in traditional African garb wore and Ankh in the middle of her forehead suspended from her widow’s peak, and was a strict vegan. I became acquainted with Queen at the 10 street Russian Bathes where back in the day Women’s day was all day Wednesdays, Queen would come their with the groups she ushered through their fasts to steam.
When Badu first came out I loved the idea of her but the coded messages in her music that referred to the 5 percent Nation was a bit of a turnoff, mainly because I have experienced the practices to be separatist, but the movement which blossomed out of the Nation of Islam has at it’s root, at it’s heart if you will, the desire to infuse Black people with pride, and self love. So it stands to reason that when Black people started emanating this beauty, power and strength from within themselves and the community, that a sect like the 5 Percent Nation should see a resurgence as well. It was everywhere, the philosophies are all through the work of Wu Tang Clan music as well. But I digress a bit what I was getting at was that when Erykah Badu hit the scene in her head wrap that kept getting bigger and bigger at a point I thought it was overkill, like she was trying to hard to sell it- not the look but what was supposed to be the spiritual belief behind it. So when I hear her say now, the thing that made let go of the head wrap and other trappings was that she realized that it was about being it, not wearing it I am moved. I suppose that, her sub rosa feeling of playing dress up was really what I was reacting to when she first came out I just felt that it was a show more than an authentic way of being.

It matters little where we come from or how we got there, the most important part is that we arrive. I am so
happy that she has arrived, at her Self. It is an important lesson that sometimes the “trappings” are props, a means to an authentic end. Whether it’s clothing, hair styles, cars, homes or partners, getting to the t’ruth of one’s self is the objective. It is my belief that the essence of every individual is inherently beautiful, worthy, and just, the trappings and wrappings are just a way we as those individuals come to understand and subsequently own that birthright…

*The 5 Percent Nation a religious sect that “sees the world population divided into three groups: 85% of the people are blind to the knowledge of themselves and God, while 10% of the people know the truth but teach a lie for their personal gain; seen as part of this 10% are religious leaders that teach that God is an incorporeal being (hence the term “mystery God”). The 10% can also include the governments and corporations of the world that deceive and mislead the majority of the world through most of the available media outlets. The remaining 5% are the “poor righteous teachers” — those who do not subscribe to the teachings of the 10% as they know and teach that God is the BlackMan of Asia. Asia refers to the whole planet Earth, or Pangaea.” Wikipedia

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Creating Body Image: When Parents are the Problem

A month or so ago we endured Britney Campbell the mother who told Lara Spencer that she injected her 8 year old daughter with Botox for her wrinkles. When it first aired I think the whole world was incredulous, out raged and in disbelief. As it turned out, our disbelief was well in order as it was in fact a scheme to gain notoriety. Where most of us were at first relieved our minds quickly went to questioning “What woman, what mother coaches her daughter to participate in such a scheme?” After the truth was uncovered, the idea of injections didn’t seem so bad when we were faced with the idea that a child was in the care of a person who had no compunction as to enroll a 8 year old child in such and outlandish hoax. At least the injections could be stopped, but the mental damage done to that impressionable child’s concepts of morals and values is harder to mend.

There seems to be a rash of questionable parenting choices of late, I would be remiss if I did not mention Sarah Burge the woman known as the “Human Barbie” who gave her daughter Poppy a voucher for breast augmentation surgery as a birthday present. The child was turning seven, (just a year shy of needing Botox).


$10,000 as birthday present. I have to say when I read this unfortunately I was not surprised, after all she is a women who has made it her mission to look like a plastic, unrealistic anatomically amplified doll could you really expect anything less? This was sad but understandable. It has always astounded me that one needs a license to drive but any anyone so long as physically capable can bear, and raise children. When I was a child if I was behaving badly my mother would ask “Why are you acting like you were raised by wolves?” Well upon hearing some of this stories I can only wonder if some of these children would be better of in the wild. There are some very loving and nurturing wolves who take their job of teaching their young to fend for themselves quite seriously.

The latest news to hit the circuit is the story that Suri Cruise, yes the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes , is a teeny tiny Imelda Marcos, due to the fact that she has a shoe collection that is worth at least $150,000. SHE IS FIVE YEARS OLD! reports say that Suri is “a massive fan of Marc Jacobs and she’s had several shoes custom-made, so if they didn’t come with a heel, Katie had them redesigned for Suri. She commissioned a pair of Louboutins for her a while back!”

Tell me who does that? Who allows a child of 5 wear heels on a daily basis? who actually ORDERS shoes MADE with a HEEL for a FIVE YEAR OLD? Where it is not injecting your child with Botox or implanting the idea of implants in her head it is creating an idea and concept of beauty, of woman, of what it is to be a woman. I have seen many pictures of Suri Cruise in her kitten heels, I have seen her inappropriately dressed for the weather carrying various things like blankets and dolls, and penis shaped Gummie treats, ( Ok Katie explained that one… sort of) but I have never seen her carrying a book. Not to say that she doesn’t have them, or that she doesn’t love them but I am not hearing how Katie Holmes if ordering first editions for her daughter. Just sayin’
And another thing What does a 5 year old know of Marc Jacobs, she should be fan of Dora the Explorer. Who is the parent here? Wolves, I tell you wolves may just be the answer, because we are surely going to the dogs.

The article continues:
They added that Suri is insistent in her fashion choices, turning to tears if she doesn’t get her way.

‘Even when she’s going to play dates or walking on the beach, she cries if Katie reaches for anything but a little pair of sandals with some sort of heel.’
Really?

It seems to me that some the issues we are talking about here stem from a warped sense of beauty, femininity and the trappings of luxury. Yes I say luxury because the edicts of beauty of late have been reformed by what money can buy. No longer is the concept of natural beauty lauded. Where natural beauty is acknowledged and rewarded, in the new millennium, the real modern beauty embodies the aesthetic of Bionic Woman. She is a made woman with a beauty that has been bought. It is somewhat required as an upgrade of sorts. Through augmentation, tailoring, tapering, filling, plumping, reducing, and defining, you can buy the “look” you desire, or the “look” of the moment. If your physical re-sculpting doesn’t do the trick then you can always wear your beauty, with the right shoes, bag, and drag you can, by proxy of your vestments be considered a “beauty” and granted monikers like “Fashionista” and in time graduate to “Fashion Icon”. These are important titles as they have the magical power as liberators, they free the women branded from bearing the cross of having to be “beautiful”, or talented, and even wait for it…thin!

The connection between beauty-luxury/money is important to recognized because on a level it eradicates the luck of the draw factor of the gene pool, you can be the child of two homely people, and even be homely yourself but if you parents are two people of stature or means then you have the possibility of being considered a “great” beauty. Where genes made beauty an inheritance in the souped up hyper-linked society we live in you can go from obscurity to international infamy in days, be branded within months and be a millionaire inside of a year and be elevated on the beauty scale almost immediately. The way it works and the speed with which it works is mind blowing. The adage “Dress for the job you want not the job you have” applies here. If you you look like a stripper porn star that Charlie Sheen might crown Goddess, you’re half way there…

The thing about this link between beauty and luxury/money is that it is truly American, because you only have to create the illusion of wealth,it matters little if it is real. To have the trappings, to create the “look” of luxury, therein beauty is often enough to make people feel better about their actual circumstances. It sounds like the root of our financial crisis to me… Fake it until you make it or break it which ever comes first!

So Suri and her ridiculous shoe collection, (and the fact that we know about it) and the mother who wants to be famous so much that she would coerce her eight year old daughter to go on national television and lie about worrying about having wrinkles and being injected with botox (in hopes of what? getting a reality show?) to the “human barbie” who gives her “Skipper” daughter breasts in a box as a pre-pre teen birthday gift (that just reminded me of the Skipper doll I had that when you rotated her arm she grew breasts- I digress)) it’s all about the look of things. Clearly Tom and Katie have the obscene amount of money to afford such trifle but for most of the people who are trying to “keep up with the Jones” they can’t afford it (and t’uth be told neither can the Jones) The larger issue is that it starts the cycle that begins with I am not enough, I need x, y, or z to be better or feel better. It creates a superficial relationship to Self by only addressing the external, by putting the emphasis on looks, and what one wears. In a way having body image issues it is a natural by product of living in our society and bombarded by the media and it’s commercialized images of the body, albeit those issues used to be something that evolved and developed as we did, generally picking up speed and power in junior high, high school. But to have parents who somehow aid in creating these ideas in the heads of vulnerable, impressionable young girls as young as 8,7, and 5… well this is unconscionable. The t’ruth is that sooner or later we are going to end up with body image issues, but when parents start giving them to children as if they are gifts, we are better off being suckled by wolves.

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The 10 Commandments Of Realistic Beauty

I love these and many of them fit into the philosophy of My Body My Image!
Hosted by Huffington Post

By Robert Tornambe, M.D. NYC Plastic Surgeon and author of “The Beauty Quotient Formula”

What is realistic beauty? It is an alternative — and far more appropriate — interpretation of beauty, differing from society’s mainstream, shallow, airbrushed definition. Realistic beauty is a healthy and satisfying concept regarding the way you look and feel.

The concept involves the understanding that true beauty emanates from a combination of physical and mental qualities, working together to create the best version of you. It is all about changing for the better, learning to recognize and analyze your good points and understanding how they perpetuate your own, personal beauty. It involves regaining your sense of self so that you can effortlessly radiate confidence, competence, contentment and charisma. Every one of us possesses realistic beauty.

The 10 commandments listed below can serve as a realistic foundation or attitude towards
achieving satisfying and realistic beauty.


Faye Dunaway once said “the best thing for beauty is just being happy.” You could be the most gorgeous woman in the world, but if you’re down on yourself you will not look wonderful. Owning your beauty means that you accept and recognize the beautiful traits that you already possess. It also means that you build upon that foundation by enhancing and maximizing your best features. This allows you to be confident in your own skin.

for the other 9 jump!

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Vogue Italia’s Franca Sozzani speaks more on the +sized Cover!

I tell you the more I learn about her the more I love her here is some of what she said to New York Magazine

Historically you haven’t featured many plus-size models in the magazine. Why are you doing this now?
I’m doing it now because I did this petition against the pro-anorexia websites, and this petition in a way is going up every day, because now 9,000 signed the petition, and most of them, the people anyway in the comments, they say, “Yes, you are doing this petition, but you only use skinny girls on the runway, in the magazines, so what do you want to teach us?” So I said, I will show you, I will use beautiful women — curvy. And so we did it because they all say Italian Vogue would never do it.

But why haven’t you — and the rest of the fashion industry, for that matter — featured women who were plus-size with any regularity at all over the past couple of decades?
It was skinny, skinny, skinny, and more skinny for so long. Even though plus-size girls are much more visible now than they had been, skinny models unquestionably dominate the casting circuit.
Because I think it’s a mentality. Let’s say, for example in the eighties, beauty was very sporty, very healthy, and we arrived at the supermodels: They had hips and butts, and they were really women, and that started this long wave of teenagers whose bodies are still not shaped, most of them. And immediately they thought the skinnier you are, the more beautiful. All in fashion are victims — the media, even myself, even the runways — of the beauty of the moment.

The new issue makes me think of the all-black issue you did a couple of years ago, which created a lot of talk about the lack of racial diversity in fashion.
With the black girls now it was two years ago that this happened, and I see on the runway more and more black girls and more and more beautiful black girls. This kind of provocation makes a change; it could not affect everybody, that’s for sure. But I don’t want it to change the world. I only would like that instead of skinny girls, that they should have real women — like the moment of the supermodels. Cindy Crawford was an amazing woman, Naomi is so beautiful — so why should we not just see younger girls but adults? [Teenagers] look so unreal in a way sometimes, you know?

Have you shot anymore plus-size models since shooting the June issue?
Not yet, but we will.

Do you think plus-size models will ever get the same work and at the same rate as straight-size models?
No, I don’t think so, because for the moment — and we never know, you know? — but for the moment I don’t think we’ll see the same proportion [of plus-size models as straight-size models]. Just like we don’t see the same proportion of white and black girls. They use curvy models sometimes, like a provocation, but it is just to show something different, which I don’t like honestly. I loved for example Prada, the winter before last she used three or four girls which were curvy girls. So not everybody will embrace that, I don’t think so. But I think in a way we will stop to think, do you really want to go on with all these skinny girls? If this is the only question that comes up, for me [the issue] will be a big success.

For full interview click here

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Allegra Versace Talks about her Body Issues and Battling Anorexia


Allegra Versace is the niece of Gianni Versace and the daughter of Donatella. Upon her uncle’s murder she was bequeathed half of the business. Unfortunately the public attention took it’s toll in her, and she began to show signs of having an eating disorder. Photos surfaced of her looking painfully skeletal.

Here is what she had to say about it:
Via Huffington Post


Allegra Versace, daughter of Donatella and niece of the late Gianni, recently sat down with Italy’s La Repubblica to discuss what she’s been up to these days. The 25-year-old, who inherited 50 percent of the Versace fashion empire when she turned 18, has been dabbling in the design world, spending more and more time in the studio.

And what about making a name for herself in fashion, when she already has the last name Versace? Allegra told Natalia Aspesi:

Definitely, I still prefer the anonymity. I’ve spent some time working with a non-Italian designer, I’ve been helping him organize fashion shows, the advertising, also helping with the creative part. But the great part about this work is that I am no one! They pay me, also, of course, for now not enough to live without worries, but I think you can get used to everything, if you feel free, if you are yourself and not what others want you to be, if you don’t see a photographer around every corner, if you do not bury yourself in cruel gossip that does so much harm.

Speaking of, Allegra was constantly the topic of cruel gossip, growing up for some time in the U.S. where she was studying, but also treating her much-talked-about anorexia. She said:

“I call this my period of absence, I was lost in other thoughts and couldn’t confront reality, with my eyes shielded from everything. Above all, I wanted one thing — to be no one, to not be recognized, not be hunted down. I studied theater, and it pleased me greatly to play parts in little independent films that perhaps no one went to see. For example, I really loved ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ Still, anywhere I went, I was Versace. I couldn’t escape, and it did me harm. I hated Los Angeles. However I did have beautiful moments. For example, when I was in New York, Rupert Everett played in Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit,’ and I, behind the scenes, acted invisibly as a dresser.”

What I find interesting is that she talks about the “period of absence” it’s as if she wanted to render herself invisible and managed to reduce her body to almost nothing as if she was physically trying to disappear. I feel for her, as she never asked for the attention but inherited it (literally and figurative­ly). I hope that she finds the balance that she is looking for inside and outside- and learns how to manage how the attention makes her feel because unfortunat­ely it isn’t going any where. I respect that she is learning the ropes in the industry even though she really doesn’t have to. It show a respect for the craft!

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Who is the woman behind that Italian Vogue Cover- and what’s her agenda…

Wanna know what it is?
Apparently it is a part of a campaign to end Anorexia. Isn’t THAT something!

Well Franca Sozzani the editor of Italian Vogue has been on a crusade against websites that promote anorexia, even going as far as to collect signatures to shut such websites down. Putting not one but three full sized women on the cover of the premier fashion magazine is just another way Sozzani is not only bringing attention to the subject but also celebrates the fact that real woman have curves. She says ‘Curvy women are back in all their splendour.

‘The exuberance of a body with rounded lines is much more alluring and sexy.’ She is also taking heed from the feedback from readers who have been asking to see more realistic images in the pages of the magazine. They want to see a reflection of themselves as fabulous and fashionable. Sozzani admits a truth that few in the fashion industry are willing to talk about let alone own “Fashion has always been blamed as one of the culprits of anorexia, and our commitment is the proof that fashion is ready to get on the frontline and struggle against the disorder.” hence she has vowed that this sort of thing- seeing plus sized women on the cover and in editorial layouts will not be a gimmick but will be seen more often.

Brava to her, and why shouldn’t that be? if this is what the majority of women look like, if real women are the consumers then why should their image not be the form marketed to as the “desired” aesthetic, why should their curves not be glamourized, and celebrated. Why should the desire to be fashionable by reading magazines end up making them feel inadequate because they do not see themselves. Instead they end up feeling that they are too big, thick, chubby, or chunky to be sexy alluring and sophisticated? It is senseless especially when that pin up curvy, zaftig bombshell body with ample booty and breast it really what men like?

Andhere is the thing that perplexes me the most, why is it that Anna Wintour The Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue won’t take a stand like this. She is arguably the most powerful woman in fashion, all she would have to do is endorse the idea of models having a bit more meat on their bones and the designers, photographers, and other fashion magazines would like lemming follow behind the idea, but she hasn’t. I have always wondered about what it is in a women that can see the type of damage the “desired aesthetic” does to both the young girls who want to be models, and the women who read the magazines to be”educated” as to what they are supposed to aspire to and never lifts a finger or utters a word against it, or even deigns to address it openly.


Franca Sozzani is officially my heroine of the day!!!

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