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| A Model Replacement by: Nicole Marie When milk sales hit the roof a few years ago after the highly publicized “Got Milk” campaign, orange juice producers suddenly started mixing calcium into their concentrate. Nothing about the milk had changed, but for whatever reason people were just more interested in drinking milk. So those smart marketers over at Tropicana and Minute Maid embraced the trend, hoping that by offering consumers some of the same benefits of milk, they would cash in on some of milk’s sales. This is exactly what the publishers of fashion magazines did when they noticed tabloids flying off the shelves. We live in a celebrity obsessed culture in which TMZ.com has actually gone into syndication as a television show! Now I must admit, I check my fair share of celebrity blogs -more so when I’m bored in history class- dying to know if the paparazzi have captured the fresh-out-of-rehab Lindsey Lohan swigging from the bottle again. Considering that famous faces help sell magazines, it’s no surprise that the nameless glamazon no longer graces the cover of Vogue, W and In Style. But, to be perfectly honest, I can’t say I miss the models. Models all have basically the same body type, and that is a professional requirement. Today, |
| the average woman is 5’5,” 160 pounds. Compare that to the 5’11,” 120 pound model standard, a huge difference! But of course maintaining that wafer- thin body is easier when you’re 16, the average industry age established decades ago. Brooke Shields catapulted to stardom in 1980 in a controversial Calvin Klein ad, not because she slides on a pair of body hugging jeans purring, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins,” but because she was 15 while doing it! Guaranteed momma Shields was on set just behind the camera, opposite her half-nude daughter. Despite the fact that Kate Moss consistently makes it onto every magazine’s annual ‘best dressed’ list, I still fail to see her style as something to aspire to. |
| She has that skinny mannequin figure that can wear anything! When she started prancing around town in trouser pants looking fab, there was no way I was trading in my skinny jeans just yet. Furthermore, since it is their job to wear what they are told, models seem more like fashion slaves rather than fashion trendsetters. Stars on the other hand appear to have more control over their look so their endorsement of a certain style is far more influential into mainstream acceptance. No matter how good Hye Park looks in Dries Van Noten’s new line, it would be hard to believe that Dries had any objections to Kate Hudson wearing his floral print blouse on the cover of this month’s Vogue. One of my best friends is always talking about her star body doubles, whom she claims are Kate Hudson and Eva Longoria. Needless to say, I know she will be one of the many girls checking out the fine print in the far corners of the photo spread to see what Kate is wearing these days. |
| Are models disappearing from the cover? |
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