Yikes! Size 4 is the new plus size for models. Seriously. Read about it here. I certainly don’t want this to become a theme on my blog but we’re hit with yet another round from the media. Only this time, it looks like they’re trying to be on our side. Filippa Hamilton, a longtime model for Ralph Lauren was apparently fired because she could no longer fit into the size 0-2 sample sizes. She’s 5’10”, 120 lbs. and she wears a size 4. Size four – for those of you that feel inadequate with numbers. F-O-U-R.
Filippa Hamilton is gorgeous. She’s young, beautiful…but fat? You decide.
Other countries are now putting a ban on underweight models. America, and Ralph Lauren apparently, need to follow suit.
But what can we do about it? The msnbc article suggests that it’s in OUR hands. And they’re right. We need to STOP drooling over fashion magazines that portray unrealistic women. Reconsider buying products that celebrate emaciated women in their print ads. Write to your favorite magazines and demand realistic representation of women. Kate White, editor in chief at Cosmopolitan magazine, said it best: “Women have to complain and then back it up with their actions — with their pocketbooks.”
Theycallmejane's Blog 
I saw this on the news and was horrified. This is the message we’re sending to our little girls?
This story is crazy. She is gorgeous and skinny. Let’s see some size 10/12’s out there so our daughters can feel sane.
I saw a brief discussion on this subject on TV here in the UK. To my amazement, one of the female presenters (an ‘Apprentice’ candidate so presumably reasonably intelligent) said: ‘Yeah but in reality we girls all want to see this ultra-thin look because that’s what looks good.’ She doesn’t speak for me and wouldn’t have, even when I was back in my teens and 20s, when I almost starved myself on a daily basis to stay stick thin and hated every minute of it. I think the truth is that the vast majority of us are easily led and that given 6 months of seeing healthy sized models on the catwalk and in magazines, *that* is what we’d all aspire to. Given that the average size here in the UK is 16 (I believe that’s an American 14?), it’s about time that designers applied their considerable talents to making ordinary sized women look extraordinary in extraordinarily well designed clothes that celebrate our curves.
I don’t mind at all if it *does* become a theme on your blog. In fact, so much is going on in my head about this that I may start harping on about it in my blog too! If it really is true that this model was fired for not being as thin as a Belsen victim, then we women (who *aren’t* currently hypnotised by Photoshopped photos and lollipop-headed women) need to start a real ground swell and rebel.
Thanks for bringing up photoshopped images. I wanted to publish the original phot0 (found here: http://www.examiner.com/x-14380-NY-Celebrity-Fitness-and-Health-Examiner~y2009m10d14-Ralph-Lauren-model-Filippa-Hamilton-Fired-for-being-fat) that brought attention to the model’s cancelled contract but because Ralph Lauren was suing the blog that originally put it on their blog with criticism I wasn’t sure how/if to go about it. Please check it out. She looks like an alien. Evidently, Hamilton is very upset with the altered photo and told them so. For the record, Ralph Lauren has issued an apology. But the fact that they felt it necessary to photoshop the photo in the first place is really scary!
Interesting. Your link comes up as ‘file not found’ on my machine (which probably says it all). This is almost certainly the photo I saw the other day at Carma’s site http://carmasez.blogspot.com/ hence why I’m fired up about this. As the Mum of two, now adult, girls I’m particularly riled. There are so many issues that in the space of just a few short years I have commented to my husband that ‘I don’t know what I’d do now’.
Good gravy. I heard this on the news yesterday too and was just appalled. She is gorgeous AND thin.
Hello!
Such a great blog! You do indeed inspire me to think out of the box, and ponder the universe. I am flabbergasted (thanks for letting me use that word!) at how ridiculous society is getting over looks and such. I don’t have a daughter yet, but I sure hope I can protect her from what the worldly expectations are for looks and size. I read somewhere that mothers who are confident and have a good self esteem no matter what their size will pass that on to their daughters, but mothers who obsess about their looks create issues with their daughters very early on. Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I am so flattered. I look forward to more of your blog.
http://www.grubandstuff.blogspot.com
Well, if she’s considered “plus-sized” then my goodness, I must be considered a bloated whale!
I don’t mind at all if this becomes the new theme to your blog… spread the word!! Fasion magazines promote unrealistic body images and I, for one, am over it!
-Jen
How very very sad. Being a woman is hard enough work. Magazines and designers that promote these unrealistic expectations do us and our daughters no favors.
Absurd. Size 4….I say F-U-or…..that is ridiculous.
I can’t believe that and it makes me sick too. That photo is just horrible. Why would anyone think taking a beautiful woman and morphing her into looking like a freak show alien is attactive? Those people need their heads examined. What a disgrace!
I am not a fan of fashion magazines for the simple fact that I am just not into fashion, and HATE that this is they type of ‘standard’ they are setting. I am in total agreement with what Kate White is saying, and am a huge fan of Dove and their products for using images of real women in their advertising.
Unbelievable!! Beauty comes from within!!
I’m glad it came out on why she was fired. Samples being a size 0-2 is simply ridiculous.
I am shocked and appalled at this behavior. What were they thinking!
I am a good six inches shorter and weighed 120 pounds for like, a DAY, and that was after losing about with some bad bacon.
I look HORRIBLE. 120 is reasonable for a much shorter woman, but 5’10”? FOR REALS? This is so ridiculous I can’t even muster anger, because my incredulity is in the way.
That just depresses the Hell out of me!!!!
Wow, that is so sad. I just recently went from an 8 to a 4 and I am so happy now. It is weird to think I would basically still be fat in the eyes of the fashion industry. So ridiculous!
I didn’t know about this until I read your post. Thanks for blogging about this! Speechless.
When my mom got married in she was a size 7. Thirty years later her body is the *exact* same size, only she now wears a -0 and she struggles to find clothes that fit right. Imagine if they never adjusted the sizes? These “fat” models would probably be a -4.
No wonder depression runs ramped in our country.
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That is horrible. I am a size 4 and family members tell me I should gain weight. I have never come into contact with a size 0 grown woman in the South.
I just want some people to know that not all thin/fit/skinny women starve themselves. When I was at my largest & pregnant with my first child I could not wear a size 12; it was just too big. After having two children & nearing 30, I am in a size 0/2. I do NOT starve myself or anything crazy like that. I am 5’4″ and 110 lbs. I am just naturally small. So if I were to see mannequins & models in a size 10, then I would be even more afraid to go shopping since I already have a hard enough time finding clothing that fits well. To be honest, I see a LOT of plus sized models & plus sized clothing stores, yet very few stores cater to someone of MY size (ADULT clothes in smaller sizes). I am a REAL person, a REAL American & I am thin. I’m not putting down larger ladies, but I get very discouraged when I hear “I want to see real women as models”.