In 2012 I’ve decided to mix things up a little bit and add a monthly opinion piece written by a fabulous fellow blogger. They will be humorous, serious, opinionated and are aimed to get you thinking about fashion in a completely different way. I’ve found that when I occassionally put my own opinion pieces on the blog (last year there were only four) they garner a great response, but rather than me sitting here ranting to my computer I thought I’d leave it to the professionals.

To kick things off I’m delighted to present ‘Should the use of models under 16 be banned?’ by Amelia Grevis-James. A former News Limited journalist, Amelia created Musings of the Media Obsessed to share her thoughts on issues that relate to women- from career to politics to pop culture, and everything in between.

Enjoy!

Opinion: Should the use of models under 16 be banned?
By Amelia Grevis-James

Last week, Versace’s PR team released a single of image of the newest addition to Versace’s stable of models. Her name is Kaia Gerber and she is Cindy Crawford’s daughter. She is 10 years old.

For now, Kaia is the face of Versace’s junior line, but if the fashion industry’s long-running trend of using pre-pubescent models in its biggest campaigns and shows is anything to go by, it won’t be long before Kaia is walking the runway for world’s biggest fashion houses, modeling clothes marketed to women more than twice her age.

There has been plenty of debate about the effect modeling at such a young age has on girls, with touted effects ranging from lowered self-esteem to early sexualisation.

But it’s not just young models suffering. When the girls used to sell clothes to adult women are not just pre-pubescent, but in many cases young enough to be our daughters, the collective effect on women is highly damaging to our self esteem, sense of self and the way we perceive attractiveness.

The use of young models by fashion houses is by no means a recent phenomenon, but it is one I believe is becoming increasingly fraught and less willingly accepted by women outside the fashion industry.

In 1980, Brooke Shields became the youngest ever fashion model to appear on the cover of Vogue. She was 14. Later, at 15, she became the face of Calvin Klein, uttering the famous line “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” Nude photographs of a 10-year-old Shields were banned from being exhibited and she raised controversy playing a child prostitute in “Pretty Baby”. None of that seemed to matter to the millions of women who bought Calvin Klein jeans after she appeared in the ad campaign. Calvin Klein went on to attract criticism in the mid 1990’s when he used 15-year-old models in a shoot designed to mimic a pornography set.

More recently, we have witnessed the fashion industry becoming increasingly brazen in its attempts to push the boundaries, with male Australian model Andrej Pejic modeling women’s clothes for Jean Paul Gaultier and becoming the face of a push-up-bra.

Vogue magazine has also courted controversy last year for its editorial use of 10- year-old Thylane Blondeu, who was used by the magazine to model women’s clothes.

As a woman, it disturbs me enormously that for an huge section of the fashion industry, “normal” and “attractive” equates to a body that is devoid of any and all of the hallmarks of womanhood, in all its beauty and diversity.

I’m not trying to incite debate about the use of “plus-size” versus thin models, however, I believe that when the “women” modeling women’s clothing are not women at all, but are children or men, there is a problem.

Women come in an a huge array of shapes and sizes, but the fashion industry has thus far been slow to accept and recognize this, as exemplified by Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld’s take on the increasing demand for diversity in fashion:

“These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly,” Lagerfeld said in a 2009 interview.

“(Fashion is all about) dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women”.

What do you think? Should the use of models under 16 be banned? Would you like to see more diversity in the fashion industry?

You can read more of Amelia Grevis-James’s writing at Musings of the Media Obsessed.

You can submit your opinion pieces for consideration to ladymelbourne@gmail.com