Runway

Sara chops her lunch into equal sized bites,
moves it around on her plate
                                      leaves white spaces
pretends to chew when anyone looks her way,
slides food into her lap.

Sara thinks her belly is as big
as the rising moon, that her thighs rival
those giant Doric pillars on the Parthenon
that she studied in junior year history class.
Ten pounds down and she could be a runway
model like Anna Reston once was
or Barbara Di Criddo, strut flat-eyed
                                      and loved,
a human hanger for size zero dresses.
She doesn't know her runway is fated
to be a dark graveyard, her trophy
a bouquet of dead roses.

Sara dreams the mirror tells her she's beautiful.
She bows to her make-believe audience,
holds frail arms out like angel wings for a curtsy,
smiles as her flesh melts down from bone
                                      to fairy dust
                                                           to ground.


Poem to be published in In The Fray, an online socio-political magazine, June, 2007










Many of you may have read about the banning of unhealthily sized models in Madrid. It's about time the fashion industry took a hard look at its role in promoting the image that anorexically thin is the standard for beauty. We've moved a long way from when women like Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell were considered beauties.

Below is part of an article from Second City. Click the link to read the entire article.

Second City Style has covered this issue before. Now that models are dropping like flies. It's still obvioulsy a big issue. In fact, WWD did a major story on it today. Read below.

In the fashion world, thin will always be in — just not too thin. What qualifies as too thin is a debate raging from New York to Milan, and no matter where one stands, there is one thing almost everyone agrees on: enforcing any kind of body-type rule for models is nearly impossible.

Following the much-ridiculed move last fall by officials in Madrid to ban what they considered too-thin models and the death last month from anorexia of 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, the issue is forefront once again because Italy's Camera Della Moda plans to promote a nationwide campaign against anorexia, recruiting the fashion industry as a key ally. The Council of Fashion Designers of America also said it is considering drawing up guidelines for American designers, editors and stylists.

At a time when size zero is becoming increasingly common, many in the industry said that the plans to regulate model size are a noble effort but are impractical. They point out that every body type is different and that in many cases, models are thin either because they are young and not physically mature or it is in their genes and not necessarily indicative of an eating disorder.

What's YOUR opinion on this issue?