Yesterday, I was reading a post by one of my favorite blogs Fashion Bomb Daily. She posted a comment from New York Times writer Robin Givhan that co-signed statements that famed Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld had made last week in regards to round women. A friend of mine asked me why I didn’t comment on my blog about Karl’s comments last week. I didn’t want to becasue I felt like this is how majority of the fashion world feels about women who are not slim or skinny. To familiarize you with Karl and Robin’s comments, see the excerpts below:
Karl Lagerfeld:
Robin Givhan:
The fatter the general population, the thinner the idealized woman. And for all the public posturing and blogging, the only force that stopped people from buying clothes and magazines was the souring economy, not righteous indignation over skinny models.
By its very nature, fashion is a business of falsehoods and costumes, all in service to self-definition. The uncomfortable truth about the fashion industry is it has a knack for tapping into unspoken cultural obsessions and taboos. Fashion sets up a rarefied world of perfection that is, in many ways, defined by how much it differs from the mundane, from the norm. And all indicators suggest that as a culture, we hate what we are becoming: fat.
Fashion doesn’t just reject the overweight and the obese. It also gives the average a hard time, too; it makes them worry about every cookie eaten at the end of a meal or every exercise commitment that goes unmet. Fashion is a test of willpower and determination. It is a measure of good fortune. It is a purveyor of status. It is a badge of honor for having outrun, outfasted saddlebags — unless, of course, they are floral-printed and made by D&G. Those who can indulge in fashion — and do — feel their prize is that much more valuable.
