Fashion Industry: Why is normal or average considered fat? Opinions?

Sideway Sunrise · #1 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 01:57 AM

I dont get whats with the fashion industry. Why do I have to be tall and thin to be beautiful? Everywhere I look theres skinny girls plastered on magazines, billboards, online ads, and tv. All of them must be at least 5'8, and I doubt they weigh more than 120 lbs. And then people use curvy girls as counterarguments to that. Sure, there are plenty of curvy girls in advertisements. But they arent chubby and they arent short. They are skinny AND curvy. Thats an even bigger blow to somebodys self confidence, because not only do I need to be skinny and tall, I now need lots of clevage and curvy hips while still being an hourglass figure. And when guys say "Oh, I hate those skinny models, I want someone with curves", those are the women they are talking about. They mean the Victoria Secret models and Angelina Jolie. All this tells me that I am fat and ugly since I am 5'3 and 134 lbs. But my BMI is 24.1 and my doctor says I'm very healthy. So what do you think? What is attractive?And yes, I know, many models and actresses are healthy. But they are all exceptionally tall, slim, and curvy. Why is that what is attractive? Why are they so beautiful? Its sad that body size and shape has become a trend as if it were clothing. Give me some inspiration. I've been hating myself since I was in grade school, wishing I were skinnier and taller. Something about that is wrong. Something is also wrong with the fact that my boyfriend has to tell me everyday that he thinks I'm the prettiest girl in the world and I still feel disgusting. And I'm not the only girl like that. Every girl I know is like that, no matter how tall she is or how much she weighs. Theres something incredibly unhealthy about this. So why hasnt the media done anything about it? Why havent they started using average women? And why are average girls called plus size on the runway, but if those plus sized girls tried on actual plus sized clothing, it would be way too big on them?P.S: You dont have to be skinny to turn a piece of clothing into art. Paintings from 1800s and further back have always had beautiful women displayed who would be considered chubby in today standards, and they were seen as the epitome of fashion and art.Its not the body, its the style of clothing that fits on the body. Since a majority of the world isnt a size 2, why not start off with the average size of the customer who is buying the oufit?P.S.S: I am healthy at my weight. My fat is at my hips, and I am a cross country runner so the majority of my weight comes from muscle mass. Perhaps if I were not an athlete and if my weight were centered around my middle, then I would be unhealthy.

nova_77_22 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 04:35 AM

takeing care of yourself and being confident in your figure and you weight and not worring about what anyone else thinks about you and your body..

Alayna H · #3 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 06:04 AM

I think attractive is more on the inside then on the outside. It can be hard to be outgoing and think that your beautiful. But you have to try. Here take a look at this video. It helped me kinda figure things out.

Liteson · #4 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 07:28 AM

stop looking at those magazines until you can do so without it affecting your own self confidence, you obviously can't discern between art and reality, remember fashion is about fantasy, it's an art form of the unreal, models who are tall and thin are used to display the artwork because it allows the artist more freedom to use imaginationplus photos make models look heavier than they really areif you think that you have to look like them then you aren't mature enough to appreciate the art for what it is, develop some confidence, lift some weights, concentrate on being healthy and learning to appreciate your body for what it is

Vivian · #5 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 08:00 AM

You don't have to be angry just because you were not blessed with such a great body. Being tall & thin is beautiful period, nobody is calling you ugly but yourself. Just because you dont look like the gorgeous Angelina Jolie & are not 5'7 at least means that now everyone has to compromise by only having billboards displaying women of your stature so you can feel better about yourself.

slayer maniac · #6 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 09:14 AM

i like women with some meat on their bones.

AlexAtlanta · #7 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 10:03 AM

Attractive is in the eye of the beholder.To be honest, I do find skinny women very attractive... in clothes.I find women with more normal BMIs (20-25) exceptionally attractive... especially out of clothes.The skinny women have to many sharp bones and exposed ribs that are not seen clothed.So, I might look, but women in the normal BMI are who I would pursue.

Joshot · #8 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 10:47 AM

The image people have come to expect, when viewing either fashion or to sell something, it twiggy.....5'3" 90 lbs.......and as critics of all we see what media says what is best. Normal means a woman has some meat on the bones. Fat can mean anything from a couple pounds showing on the hips all the way up to saddlebags. The way I figure, if you are healthy and your weight is (literally) only a few (5-20) pounds over ideal you have no problem. I don't think I'd care what society thinks is supposed to be the look.

Kitsune · #9 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 01:20 PM

The fashion industry only cares about money and doesn't care who it hurts to get it. No one really cares anymore about true beauty, and I think it's sad. We've lost view of what's beautiful. Beauty is not skin, it's not fashion, it's not how we look. It's how we act, how we treat others. I see people that the fashion industry would call "ugly" as the most beautiful people on the planet, because they've got wonderful hearts. Opinions shouldn't matter to you though, if you think you're beautiful then you are, the only opinion that matters is your own.

naars · #10 (**permalink**) 11-12-2007, 01:35 PM

im not trying to insult anybody or anything like thatbut people always ask why fat people cant model but seriously think about it, does anybody want to look at a girl with rolls and cellulite in a bikini?who would buy stuff from that company?other fat girls and then sadly, we all have to see people with rolls and cellulite in bikinis, its not mean, its just gross if you want to be a model, take better care of yourselfnot all models are anorexicAND why does looking at skinny people make you sad, i mean you did make yourself the weight that you are, you can change that but for now the world isnt going to pretend that overweight is healthy and even if we did put fat people on advertisements, fat people would still see skinny people EVERYWHERE so how would it be any different? unless fat people secretly wish that all of the world was overweight like themsorry if i offended anybody, im just saying my honest opinion