I came across a couple of interesting "apocalyptic" artifacts this weekend that contribute to pulling the curtain back on the fashion industry, so I thought I'd share about them here. The first is an article from the Daily Mail, a UK publication, about a feature in PLUS Model Magazine that depicts provocative photos of a "plus size" (by which they mean size 12) model and cites disturbing statistics about the fashion industry. They claim that today, most runway models meet the body mass index criteria for anorexia. Also, while models twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman, today they weigh 23% less. According to the magazine feature, "50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller."
The second artifact, while also disturbing, is a cleverly humorous take on a "new beauty product" that's the secret of the stars. I appreciate how this faux commercial uses satire to mock the empire's tendency to keep us dissatisfied with our bodies.
By the way, there's a great blog called Sociological Images that does an excellent job of pulling back the curtain on a variety of issues. Here's a link to the gender: beauty category, though they cover many more topics as well. Students in the class might find helpful material here related to the themes of their final project artifacts.
Thanks for posting that link! I just spent a good couple hours clicking back through the different articles. It's so fascinating how advertising shapes our ideas of gender, race, physical appearance, and so many other things without us realizing it! There was a lot of great stuff in there about consumption and societal demands that left me with much to think about and resolve to notice in the future.
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