The fashion world was abuzz as word spread we were going to see rather buxom models in the Prada show (one of the most influential shows in the entire fashion spectrum) during Milan Fashion Week and really solidify the trend that bums were back, hips were big, curvy bodies were the next big thing.
So the fashion press waited with baited breath to see what dizzying beauties Miuccia Prada had flown in to prove to the world that she was all for promoting voluptuous women.
Who came down the catwalk? Victoria’s Secret models. You know, the ones with the ridiculously tiny thin bodies who also happened to be blessed with a B-cup (‘cause on a superslim body, a B-cup can look quite large. Most models have zero in the breast department.
Miranda Kerr, size 2; Doutzen Kroes, size 2; Alessandra Ambrosio, size 2; Rosie Huntington-Whitely, size 2 were the brand new additions to the usual crop of size 0 models we’ve come to see rule the catwalk.
Revolutionary? I think not.
It’s more a token nod to the backlash of skinny models in the media recently, and maybe an appeasing gesture to Alexandra Shulman of UK Vogue who wrote a letter to important designers last year, imploring them not to hire emaciated girls.
Should we be happy that this is a positive step for the industry and may lead to an increase in healthier models on the runway, and hope that other designers might follow Miuccia’s lead and not hire dangerously thin girls who put their health at risk for their job? Yes. I think so.
Prada is the queen of fashion. She sets trends, both with the girls she hires and the clothes she designs each season. What this may lead to, if nothing else, is a willingness to stop booking girls that starve themselves and start giving jobs to those with healthier bodies, who work out and eat actual food for breakfast. Whose only previous runway resume was the Victoria’s Secret show because they are normally labelled “too commercial for catwalk”.
Commercial, maybe. But much more attractive to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately though, it’s in no way a step forward to hiring “curvy” girls, because calling these young women curvy is laughable. I’ve got more lumps and bumps in my little toe than these models have on their entire bodies. With not a hip in sight, thighs about as big as a baseball bat and bottoms that would make a little boy proud, these girls are thin, there’s no doubt about that. Healthy, yes. Not starving. But definitely not shapely.
Prada even had to fill their bras out with padding because they weren’t as busty as the designer wanted. Big surprise.
So while the hype didn’t live up to the show, at least we have a tiny step in the right direction. Models that eat good food. Baby steps, I guess. But it’ll be awhile before we see a return to the buxom supermodel of old.
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