Critical Investigation

How does fashion/beauty advertising, such as for perfumes, perpetuate the feminine ideal of size zero, does it influence young teenage girls/models and why?

Tittle keywords -synonyms /related words

Size zero- eating disorder /modelling- anorexia
Models-catwalk -size zero -fashion
Feminine-effeminate- danity- ladylike- girly-fashion -beauty- make up
Ideal-model- perfect -skinny
Young-healthy- modern- new- up to date - fashionable- current
Influence- power- authoirty
Fashion-apperance- style- trend-taste -attitude -design- creation
Beauty- physical attractiveness -stunner -charmer- make up -appearance

As two Uruguayan models died from the starvation in the last 6 months, a size-zero issue is today's big subject for everybody. And one of the questions people start asking themselves is - Why does it happen and what has to be done in order to prevent it from happening?
So, are they really that empty-headed, self-obsessed and emaciated clones? Being an overseas student in England, it definitely puts me under pressure to look good, to follow fashion trends, to read fashion magazines regularly and try to achieve a perfect dream model from the Vogue magazine. It seems that media is creating images without bearing in mind possible consequences.
Fashion industry now is making first steps to regulate the situation with size-zero models banning them from catwalk shows, including Milan as well as Madrid Fashion Weeks, and asking designers to concentrate only on healthy models in their shows. Moreover, some restaurants in London popular with celebrities and fashionistas as their main customers are offering now free food to skinny models who have come under attack for promoting a stick-thin image which some say encourages eating disorders in young women.
So, what is a model? It is definitely an object or a person, used for comparison or imitation. Talking about fashion models, what we would like to see? Healthy looking, beautiful, fit bodies, something to aspire to. And what do we have now? Obviously something far away from ideal image. It is certainly not the good example for girls who look at them in the magazines, on TV etc. The certain action has to be taken, like Dove's campaign for real beauty that is telling us that the perception of beauty is extremely distorted by outside world. And congratulations to Europe’s fashion scene. They're on the way to discovering what a model is truly supposed to be.

Academic articles

Size zero is bad news for bones
http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2010/6775.html
university of bristol article
teengae models,New research from the Children of the 90s project suggests that teenage girls who are too thin may be putting their bones at risk.

''There is a good deal of pressure on teenage girls to be thin, but they need to be aware that this could endanger their developing skeleton and put them at increased risk of osteoporosis.''

Psychologist gives students the lowdown on size zero
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/media/media713.shtml
university of sessex article

The guardian articles

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/03/paris-fashion-week-unconventional-models
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/10/immodesty-blaize-five-things-know-about-style
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/30/paris-fashion-week-plus-size-models
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/london-fashion-week-size-zero

Other relevant articles

Teen girls starve to look like 'size zero' role models
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/healthnews/1011005/teen-girls-starving-to-look-like-size-0-role-models

Teenage girls are starving themselves and seriously risking their health in order to be a "size zero", according to a recent UK study.

Kate Moss: "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels".

The UK's Food Standards Agency found that teenage girls are resorting to "size zero" diets, which are low in protein and dairy foods, in an effort to be as thin as celebrities such as Kate Moss, and Victoria Beckham, the UK's Daily Mail reported.
The study found that 46 percent of teens consume too little iron, putting them at risk of anaemia, which causes tiredness and lethargy. They are also lacking magnesium and selenium, which can lead to insomnia, severe headaches and mood swings.

Professor Janet Treasure, an eating disorders expert at King's College London, said that a desire to look like super-skinny celebrities could be leading young girls to swing between starving themselves and binge eating.
"Controlling weight and shape has become a moral imperative for many young girls," she told the Daily Mail. "It's almost a sign of goodness to be slim," she said.
"There is a risk of getting into a starve-and-binge routine which is very unhealthy and has been rapidly increasing in recent generations."
Supermodel Moss sparked controversy last year when she said in an interview "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels".

Size zero diets 'ruining girls' health' warns watchdog over teenagers copying celebrity role modelshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1249683/Teenage-girls-starving-bodies-essential-nutrients-warns-food-watchdog.html

'Size zero' pressure on girls leads to weak bones, say scientistshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1240859/Size-zero-pressure-girls-leads-weak-bones-say-scientists.html
Dieting by teenage girls desperate to reach 'size zero' could be putting their bones at risk, say British researchers. They found bone strength is linked to fat levels - meaning the pressure to be thin may increase the chances of fractures. A long-term child development study shows fat mass is more important to bone development in girls than boys.It has long been known that being anorexic leads to prematurely thin bones, but the latest study suggests a reason for decreased bone strength.
A team from Bristol University looked at more than 4,000 young people aged 15, scanning their bones to calculate their shape and density, as well as how much body fat they had.
Those with higher levels of fat tended to have thicker bones, with the connection being 'particularly marked' in girls. An increase in fat mass of 11lb (5kg) in girls was associated with an 8 per cent increase in the thickness of the lower leg bone.
As girls tend to have higher levels of fat than boys, even when they are normal weight, the findings suggest fat plays an important role in female bone development.

Bone mass continues to increase slowly into the mid-20s but after the age of 35, bone loss increases as part of the natural ageing process.
Building strong bones in youth is particularly important for women as they are three times more likely to develop bone thinning, or osteoporosis, and suffer up to three times more hip fractures than men in later life.

Size zero = twig… nice
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2007/04/04/zeal_size_zero_feature.shtml
The 'size zero' debate is an issue for young people. Zeal writer Kimberley looks at the pressure on teenage girls to be thin.

Young teen models may face catwalk ban
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL1175770420070711
Girls aged under 16 should be banned from catwalk modelling to protect them from eating disorders and sexual exploitation.
The panel said there was a trend for the industry to use younger models, who are more vulnerable to eating disorders such as anorexia.
"There was also strongly expressed concern that it is profoundly inappropriate that girls under 16 ... should be portrayed as adult women," said Baroness Kingsmill, chair of the panel.
"The risk of sexualising these children was high and designers could risk charges of sexual exploitation."
The inquiry was set up by the British Fashion Council, which runs London Fashion Week, in the wake of a long-running controversy over super-thin "size zero" models.
The panel rejected the idea of weighing models and banning those under a certain weight. It said "size zero" doesn't exist in British shops and is "meaningless".
It received mixed evidence on whether models should have tests to assess their body mass index, a measure of fat.Many models told the inquiry that they feared losing work because they were not thin enough.
As well as eating disorders, the panel highlighted health risks from stress, substance abuse and poor working conditions.
"We have grave concerns about other health areas, such as drug and alcohol abuse and the stress caused by working conditions for model," the panel's interim report says.
"We are also concerned that modelling is very much a hidden profession with very little transparency about the working conditions that many models have to endure."
The panel wants better training for designers and agents to help them spot models with eating disorders.