Is It Over For Gemma Ward?

No, Gemma Ward will not quit modeling just because some people call her fat! She's too young and beautiful to be pressured by fat attacks coming from unstable detractors.


But Gemma Ward did gain weight. She had no modeling gigs after walking away from the catwalk in 2008, following the death of actor Heath Ledger who was her rumored lover. She was reported to pursue acting career in Hollywood that time.

In the latest paparazzi photos of the 22 year-old Aussie, she definitely looks thicker. With a fuller figure that is far from her previous size-0 modeling days, people are quick to ridicule. A fashion blogger writes, "She's a very beautiful woman and I think she could make a name for herself in the plus-size niche."

Gemma Ward's fuller figure makes people speculate on her lack of interest to return back to the runway. With almost a year of being absent from modeling, some even believe that her comeback, if it happens, will be lame.

Although Gemma Ward's agency says that the model has not committed to returning to modeling at any time soon, it is not closing its door for her. Previously, the former promising model has also released a statement denying rumors of her retirement:

"I was surprised to wake up this morning and read news of my own retirement. While I am taking some time off to rest and enjoy the company of friends and family, I am still very much a (excited and enthusiastic) working model and actress. I'm only 20, for God's sake.''

Grace Coddington Speaks Her Mind On Ralph Lauren Controversy

Grace Coddington speaks up on the Ralph Lauren controversy, saying she is worried about the penchant of the fashion industry for very young and very thin models.


Before she worked side by side with Anna Wintour as the creative director of Vogue, Grace Coddington was a model herself. She sympathized with Filippa Hamilton who claimed being fired by Ralph Lauren for being too fat, but her worry has been more on how today's models are getting younger and thus, more vulnerable to the pressures of the industry.

"It is a big problem. I remember when I was young, they told me that if I didn't lose weight I'd be out of the show, so I spent a week living off of coffee. But I'm a very levelheaded person. These problems nowadays are with kids much, much younger than that, and that's most of the problem — when they're very young and vulnerable."

On the other hand, the 68 year-old director believes that Ralph Lauren has been unfairly criticized for using thin models. For one, it is not only Ralph Lauren who uses thin models in fashion campaigns but most of the high-fashion designers in the industry.

"Most of his models are not super-skinny, so this is sort of an isolated situation, and I think it's unfair if he gets a lot of bad publicity because of it. But it is a big problem in the fashion industry. And you go to meetings to discuss it, and you think it's kind of futile, because it's such a big thing, and in the end, people are always asking for more and they're always asking for thinner."

So how do Grace Coddington and the people in the industry address this issue? Will they now stop using skinny models in fashion campaigns and replace them with women of healthier sizes? Why do high-fashion photo shoots choose thin models, by the way?

"They have to be a little thinner than you and I because you always photograph a little fatter, but you don't have to go to the extremes they go to. And because they're kids, they take it too far, and they can't regulate their lives, and next thing you know they're anorexic, and it is tragic.

"And I don't know what the answer is, except to keep on it, which we're all trying to do. Anna's trying to do it. Personally we're not allowed, at Vogue, to work with girls who are very thin, but you never know, because you could book them and think they're a certain size, and they turn up on the shoot and suddenly they've spun into this anorexic situation. And you're on the spot and you have to get the job done and you have one day to do it, and what do you do? But you try to be responsible, as Anna is."

We also don't know the answer Grace, except that with all these posts about weight getting too much, we might finally figure out what annoys us... when models are, in fact, meant to look better than everyone else.

Proclaiming Thinness: Ralph Lauren Models And The Ideal Woman

Despite the controversy over the ridiculous retouching of one model and firing her for said weight gain, Polo Ralph Lauren still makes a proclaimation of thinness by sending skinny models on the runway.


In its every fashion show over the years, ultra-thin Ralph Lauren models walk down the catwalk, making a bold statement for the fashion house's preference for skin-and-bone bodies.

Apparently, those who want to see healthier and thicker bodies on the catwalk condemns the idea. They believe it is time for a change — the fashion industry should now use fuller women on the catwalk, the supposed role model for the healthy American woman.

But Robin Givhan of The Washington Post thinks that it is totally unfair for the fashion industry to be criticized for using thin models. Givhan believes that fashion represents an ideal and so, the thin models that we see on the runway are actually the perfect images of how our society celebrates weight loss.

For Givhan, the skinny models that still make up the majority in the fashion industry have to be seen against the backdrop of a population that is overwhelmingly afflicted with obesity.

"By its very nature, fashion is a business of falsehoods and costumes, all in service to self-definition. The uncomfortable truth about the fashion industry is it has a knack for tapping into unspoken cultural obsessions and taboos. Fashion sets up a rarefied world of perfection that is, in many ways, defined by how much it differs from the mundane, from the norm. And all indicators suggest that as a culture, we hate what we are becoming: fat."

And if there's a decreasing trend of buying glossy magazines, Givhan believes that it is not because the public are turning down publications that feature skinny models, but as a result of the declining economy.

"The fatter the general population, the thinner the idealized woman. And for all the public posturing and blogging, the only force that stopped people from buying clothes and magazines was the souring economy, not righteous indignation over skinny models."

Even Plus-Size Models Damage Women's Self-Esteem

Even plus-size models damage overweight women's self-esteem. This is according to a study by a team of researchers from the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands.


As published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the new study reveals that regardless of the models' weight, fuller women always feel worse about themselves upon looking at photos of models. How does this happen?

Plus-size women tend to identify their similarities to models, unfavorably comparing themselves to the skinny models and finding their similarity to the fuller models depressing.

On the other hand, thin women compare themselves to models and get a lift of their self-esteem when they realize they are more like the thin models.

"Overweight women's self-esteem always decreases, regardless of the model they look at."

This is actually because it is not the body of an ultra-thin or a plus-size model that affects the woman's self-esteem, but the presentation of beauty.

A model's image in any commercial medium like magazine is always rooted on one purpose — to sell. Whether or not it presents a roster of thin or plus-size models, it should not be looked upon as the major player of social change. While featuring plus-size models on fashion magazines and ad campaigns may influence people's perception of beauty, it's main purpose is still the aesthetic value like the diversity of models, the easiest way for it to become interesting.

This goes to mean that every glossy magazine and commercial ad is a culprit to a damaged self-esteem. The study notes that overweight and underweight women are more or less similar on the levels of self-esteem when they are not looking at models.

In other words, if any fuller woman who looks at a glossy magazine does not have a healthy understanding of the difference between fashion imagery and real life, she will always suffer lower self-esteem.

When this happens, it is best to take the recommendation of the researchers: overweight consumers should avoid looking at ads with any models — thin or heavy.

French Magazines Say No To Photoshop Labeling!

In France, around 50 politicians are backing a proposed law that requires glossy magazines and other image businesses to label retouched photos of models and celebrities. This action hopes to fight eating disorders and body-image issues especially among young women.


If passed, the law would affect wide range of image businesses including advertising, press photographs, political campaigns, art photography, and images on packaging.

Naturally, people in the image industry are opposing the proposed photoshop regulations. They argue that retouching is always part of the artistic interpretation.

According to Tony Chambers, editor-in-chief of Wallpaper and former art director of British GQ magazine, "The camera has always lied and always will. These things should always be taken with a pinch of salt. Fantasy and artistic interpretation are core ingredients in fashion, advertising and art photography."

Marc Ascoli, art director for various high-fashion campaigns, believes that manipulation of images cannot be avoided in any commercial presentation:

"It's so arbitrary. It's clear that there have been abuses. Sometimes heads are completely transformed. They'll change the model's eye color and hair. Sometimes I have the impression I'm looking at a window dummy. But there is such a global commercial pressure for perfection."

With or without photoshop, body-image issues prevail among humans, not just young women. True that a retouched image of a model on a magazine cover may influence a young girl's way of presenting herself, but it is not the core culprit for eating disorder. Girls are not stupid to just stare at a retouched model and believe it as the real thing. Just because one is young does not follow that one is naive.

If there's a phenomenon for eating disorder, don't you think leaders and authorities should work more on education and social awareness campaigns, not on labeling obvious photoshop images as "retouched?"

From Waif To Plus-Size Model, Crystal Renn Shares Her Journey

With her memoir called "Hungry," fashion model Crystal Renn tells her journey from being a starving waif model to becoming a successful plus-size model.


Crystal Renn has been one of the many female models who starve to achieve a size 0, the only measurement that the fashion industry considered valid and model-appropriate not so long ago.

In an interview with The Post, the now size 12 model shares all the hardships that she have to go through just to be skinny and stay in the industry:


Crystal Renn was 14 when a scout told her to trim her "big" figure if she wants to become the next Gisele Bundchen. For a hopeful teen like her who stands 5'8" and weighs 165 pounds, losing weight became a profession. After 2 years of strict dieting (vegetables or plain chicken, only), she was already 5'9" and 95 pounds. That figure earned her the three-year, $250,000 contract with the agency. She dropped high school and moved to Manhattan with other models. To keep her skinny figure, she went to gym and ate less than 1,000 calories a day (vegetables for breakfast, lettuce for lunch, vegetables again for dinner).

However, her dieting soon paid its price. She lost her period and even the appeal to attract and get attracted to boys. At 18, her metabolism began to slow down. She tried to keep starving and eat as little as ever, but still she weighed 130 pounds.

At a Chicago shoot, Crystal Renn finally reached her breaking point. She arrived on the set only to be insulted by the photographer who refused to use her because she's "huge."

When she mumbled "You loved me at the casting four days ago," the producer snapped back "Did you gain 20 pounds in four days? You have to leave."

"It was the most humiliating moment of my life. But I collected myself, walked over to the catered food table and downed five plates of mini-burritos with cheese. I gorged on guacamole. I ate until I felt like I was going to throw up. 'Thanks for the food,' I yelled back and left. On the airplane home, I thought my career was over. I knew I was never going to weigh 95 pounds again. I was done. And for the first time in years, I could breathe."

But the modeling world did not really close its door on Crystal Renn. Arriving back in New York, her agent told her that she can still work as a model and aspire to work for Victoria's Secret (but never for Vogue). The option: becoming a plus-size model.

"I was too hungry to keep starving. I made my decision: I was going to be a plus-size model and let my body be what it was meant to be. When I first started eating normally again, I jumped to a size 16 for a few months before settling into a size 12. It was when I stopped starving myself that I became a famous model."


In 2004, Crystal Renn has posed for Teen Vogue. That same year, she has also fulfilled her dream of landing on the pages of American Vogue.

But making appearances in top magazines is not the only good thing that happen to a fuller, radiant Crystal Renn as she recalls, "At the same time I gained weight, I became interested in men." In 2005, the once asexual model has finally met her husband.

For all these experiences that Crystal Renn have to go through in her journey to become a model, she shares:

"Women are taught that if they get skinny, their lives will be perfect. But real life doesn't work that way. I'm here to prove it."

Model: Skinny, No Body Fat And Size Zero?

What defines a model?

MTV's Model Maker gives definition for fashion models, as it defends the reality show that was criticized to be promoting thinness in modeling:

“Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don’t,” says the MTV statement. Skinny, no body fat and size zero are the words and phrases associated with models. Chubby, well-fed and big-boned are not.”

Well, like as it has already been foretold, it's a looooooooong skinny modeling debate in the media, really. And MTV is just one of the many companies that comes out to clearly take a side ...

Skinny Models Inspire Masochism In Women

Skinny models inspire masochism in women – this is according to the recent study by the business professors of Villanova University and the College of New Jersey. The study shows that thin models make women feel bad, but they like it.

In simple terms, women are upset by thin models but they tend to buy products from these so-called skinny models than with those products endorsed by regular size models.

"They (women) have higher evaluation of the brands. With the more regular-size models, they don't feel bad. Their body image doesn't change. But in terms of evaluations of the brands, those are actually lower," says one of the researcher Karen Becker-Olsen.

Further studies showed that women tend to suppress their appetite after seeing product advertisements featuring skinny models. Women may be feeling bad for their not-so-thin bodies but they are actually loving the fact that the products featured on ads are endorsed by skinny models and unconsciously want to become thin themselves – thus reaching to a conclusion that skinny models inspire masochism in women.

The research was prompted by Dove's “Campaign For Real Beauty.” A spokesman for Dove's company, Unilever, believed that while it may still be true that skinny models inspire masochism in women, it is good to see a growing trend in using healthy looking women in advertising. In his words,“There is no question that women and young girls are being bombarded with unrealistic messages and images of beauty that impact their self-esteem. We are excited to see now (and have seen in the past couple of years) a growing trend towards more realistic and healthy looking women in advertising and in the media."