Smoking Hot
A-list BFD tipster Kari sent in a link to an article that struck me almost as a follow-up to our conversation about the fashion industry (in the post below). We talked about the editors; what about the designers who choose to use ever-younger, ever-thinner women (and sometimes even children) as models? And where does it all lead?
Vicodin, of course, is…a drug better appreciated in the fashion business for its appetite-suppressing powers than for the truly unappetizing truth that it is only slightly less addictive than heroin. Clenbuterol is a steroid used by athletes, horse trainers and models to reduce body fat (one study of clenbuterol in horses showed significant weight reduction in a matter of weeks). “A lot of girls are using it now to keep their weight down…”
The one thing you will never hear anyone utter a peep of concern about when it comes to models is smoking. Yet it’s pretty common knowledge that they smoke more than long-haul truckers, road workers or Sylvia Sidney in “Beetlejuice.” The blue-collar reference here is intentional since, despite its putative glamour, a modeling gig is more like that of a supermarket checker than one would imagine. Both draw on a work force that tends to be uneducated and young.
Of course this in turn reminds me immediately of America’s Next Top Model. Here’s what Tyra had to say on the last episode:
During my modeling career, 98 percent of models smoked or had smoked before. So we’re taking a stand on America’s Next Top Model. This is a No. Smoking. Cycle. So many young girls are fans of America’s Next Top Model and right now, so many young girls are fans of you. So if they see their idol puffing and smoking a cigarette, what does that make them think? ‘Wow, she’s smoking? That’s cool.’ So that’s why smoking will be banned as of tomorrow. So if you want to smoke tonight, get your last puffs. And then it’s over.
I didn’t actually see this episode, nor do I know if they have their usual one token “plus-size” model this season. This is what happens when I forget to set the TiVO! Horrible oversight. When is the next episode on?
This post just veered off on a tangent, didn’t it? Well, it’s been a long day!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: ANTM, Eating Disorders, Fashion, TV, Weight Loss
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Yeah, I saw that. But I thought it was pretty freaking disingenous of her to condemn the fact that so many models smoke without mentioning that one of the major reasons they do is to keep their weight down to acceptable modelling levels.
nor do I know if they have their usual one token “plus-size” model this season.
So to speak. They have one girl who is supposedly “plus-size” but she… looks like this
It’s on tonight at 8!
The one plus-size contestant has already been told that she’s probably be too small to be plus-sized, but she’s too big to be a regular model. She’s doomed.
We’re (I watch with a snarky group) rooting for the Asperger’s one and the smart stuck-up one with the big eyebrows. You can’t have a crazy Russian every year (sadly).
I thought it was pretty freaking disingenous of her to condemn the fact that so many models smoke without mentioning that one of the major reasons they do is to keep their weight down to acceptable modelling levels.
EXACTLY. That’s all I could think while I watched it. Nevertheless, she’s making better strides in the industry than most. See, I have to say this to make myself feel better for watching it, haha.
It does tremendously bother me that designers are perpetuating the stick-like beauty standards. Yes, yes, models are just supposed to be ‘hangers’. But hello, real women, the women who buy your clothes, are, for the most part, much larger than the models.
Smoking keeps your weight down? I call shenanigans.
As a 30-year smoker who weighs 297, I think I’m qualified to do so.
I hate to think that all these models are sucking poison (Yes, much the same as with the weight, I am aware that smoking is bad for me!) in the erroneous belief that it is making them skinny.
What’s odd is that while smoking never kept my weight down, the nicotine patches definately made me lose about five pounds. Possibly because I didn’t smoke more than 10/day and a higher dosage of nicotine pumping in more constant stream just zapped my appetite.
But don’t tell the people at Harvard that. I really don’t want to see “Nicoslim-Happy-Magic Pills” at Target next time I am there.
AMNTM is on Wed. nights. Currently they are also reshowing the episodes on Sunday nights. (9pm I think).
Well, everyone’s body reacts differently to different things. But nicotine speeds up your metabolism, which for some people results in them being maybe 5-10 pounds lighter than if they didn’t smoke. On a 297 pound person, 5-10 pounds is a pretty negligible difference. But on a 110 pound person, it’s pretty significant.
I gained 30 lbs. almost as soon as I quit smoking. It wasn’t necessarily that I replaced smoking with snacking, either, as people usually say – it really had just kept my appetite dampened.
Sportspeople are, are not our Rolemodels