Natalie+G

[[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/fashion/16DIARY.html?ref=fashion|

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/fashion/16DIARY.html?ref=fashion]]

February 15, 2010 - A Model's Prospects: Slim and None - by Guy Trebay

It's not any surprise that models are skinny. It's nothing new, either. In fact, for a while, society has been on the fashion industry for hiring girls who look like they're sick. They've been masking it, telling the general public that things are getting better when they simply aren't. Things are quickly getting worse. It's not the fact that models are "thin", because it's not about "thin" anymore. It's not about the way it looks, because I'm pretty sure most people would agree that it looks disgusting. I'm not sure why a designer thinks that more people will enjoy his collection if it's hanging on a emaciated thirteen year old girl, but there //must// be some sort of reasoning. Coco Rocha, a twenty-one year old model who weighs 125 pounds and is five foot ten, spoke to NY Times about the subject. She's been in the business since the age of fifteen, when she worked in Singapore and weighed a mere 108 pounds, as she grew into an adult the fashion industry turned their back on her. Her story is common, a brief moment in fashion's limelight, then kicked out before she's old enough to grow hips. Modeling is a career that starts early and burns out quick, and you're lucky if your career will last you past the age of 20. The fashion industry looks at models sort of how normal people look at fruit; Use them when they're fresh, new, and in-season and throw them out whenever you get tired of them.

This article is something that I feel very strongly about because I do a bit of modeling in Dallas. The pressure is light and most girls are healthy, but even here I've been called "extremely curvy". Dallas isn't a competitive market for modeling though, and other markets are a totally different. Models in Europe are young. Very young. The average age of the girls is thirteen and fourteen. Why would fashion throw these girls into the industry at such a vulnerable age? The answer is simple: they have no curves whatsoever. In fashion a hip measurement above 34 is a death sentence. It's stupid and unhealthy. How can someone weigh 105 pounds, be 5 foot 10 and //not// have an eating disorder? I don't care if the fashion industry wants slim girls, I care that they are pressuring preteens into anorexia and drug use because they "need" to fit into a sample size double zero. Young women are impressionable, especially in their early teens, and it's awful to think of all the girls who are unhealthy because of the image that fashion puts out as the archetype of modern beauty. This is something that needs to be changed and I really don't understand why it hasn't been yet.

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February 11, 2010 - Alexander McQueen, Designer, Is dead at 40 - by Eric Wilson

Innovative British designer, Alexander McQueen has dressed some of the most daring women of the world and created collections that are both beautiful and unsettling. His list of clients includes Lady Gaga, whose signature futuristic style is owed to McQueen. He was found dead in his London apartment on February 11th, cause of death is thought to be suicide but is yet to be confirmed. Underneath his art, McQueen was a troubled man, haunted by the death of Isabella Blow, the stylist who discovered him, and his mother, who died less than two weeks ago. McQueen has been working in fashion since the age of sixteen, when he dropped out of school and went to work with some of the most prestigeous tailors in London. His clothing ranged from audacious and a bit scary to perfectly tailored and classy. His early shows often made audiences uncomfortable, and were sometimes extremely offensive, but after two decades in the industry, his designs became some of the most respected and sought after in fashion.

I think that it's very sad that Alexander McQueen died, especially right after he began to have popularity on a commercial level after creating Lady Gaga's signature look and pretty much creating for himself a household name. His last collection was, in my opinion, genius. His clothes were more art than fashion, and they really are like nothing you've ever seen before. His vision is clear just from seeing his fashion show on video. I feel like we've lost one of the great innovators of this generation. His designs, hauntingly beautiful will live on for long after his premature death. []

January 29, 2010 - Masculinity in a Spray Can - by Jan Hoffman

If you've seen an Axe commercial, then you know that the product is targetted at men in their late teens or early twenty's-the product promises success with women and popularity-but the main consumer of this product has turned out the be young teen boys. The major buyer is between the age of 11-15. This is apparent in middle schools, where body sprays like Axe and Old Spice are taken up in mass. Boys are getting more aware of themselves at an earlier and earlier age as time goes on. As girls start maturing at a younger age the boys feel a need to catch up, and they start feeling self-concious. One middle school boy told his principle, who took up his body spray, that wearing Axe was his "best chance to get a girl."

While this subject may seem trivial, I feel like self-conciousness among young teens is growing and growing in this country. About 15% of teenage girls have suffered from an eating disorder, and that includes girls as young as 10 years old. I found this article very interesting because it goes into a subject that would usually be ignored and shows something that most adults may not realize. []

January 10, 2010 - Freeze Threatens Florida's Tropical Fish - by Damien Cave

The uncharacteristically cold weather in Florida is causing many problems for crops such as oranges and strawberries, but another large industry in Florida is suffering from the cold weather. Millions of tropical fish in Florida are dying from the freezing weather. A severe shortage has already been detected and some species such as African cichlids and marble mollies have had their population cut in half. Florida provides 50% of the tropical fish supply worldwide and this devastating freeze has come at the worst time, seeing as how tropical fish sell best in the winter. The weather in Florida has gotten to be around the 20's, which is a major problem since tropical fish have trouble surviving after water temperature gets below 60 degrees.

It's really terrible that this is happening right now since winter is when Florida profits the most off of the sales of oranges and tropical fish and also that this is happening right as we are coming out of a recession. There's really nothing that anyone can do about this since weather isn't something that we can control, we can only hope that it warms up before anything is permanately damaged.