MoDeL

Model

A model is a person who poses or displays for purposes of art, fashion, or other products and advertising. Modeling is distinguished from other types of public performance, such as an acting, dancing or mime artistry, although the boundary is not well defined. Appearing in a movie or a play is generally not considered to be modeling, regardless of the nature of the role. However, models generally have to express emotion in their photographs, and many models have also described themselves as actors. Types of models include glamour, fashion, fitness, bikini, fine-art, and body-part models.

Fashion

Fashion models are used mainly to promote apparel. Fashion Modeling generally can be divided into the following sub-categories:

• Fashion catwalk or runway modeling
• Fashion editorial modeling
• Fashion catalog modeling
• Fashion print modeling
• Fashion showroom modeling
• Fashion lingerie modeling
• Fashion swimsuit modeling
• Fashion fitness modeling
• Fashion fit modeling
• Plus-size modeling

Supermodels

Supermodels are highly paid, top fashion models. These (usually female) celebrities appear on top fashion magazine covers, in catalogues and in fashion shows. They often live in New York City, and during fashion weeks they usually have 4-5 shows/day.

The first model to pave the way for what would become the supermodel was Lisa Fonssagrives. The relationship between her image on over 200 Vogue covers and her name recognition led to the future importance of Vogue in shaping future supermodels. Fonssagrives at the height of her career could be both sophisticated and yet a kook, with which every American woman could identify. Her image appeared on cover of every fashion magazine during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s from Town & Country, Life and Vogue to the original Vanity Fair. Model Janice Dickinson, however, asserts that she was the person for which the term was coined.

Other notable supermodels and top models have included Twiggy, Gia Carangi, Tyra Banks, Christie Brinkley, Niki Taylor, Rachel Hunter, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Elle Macpherson, Stephanie Seymour, Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss. Currently, according several fashion world’s personalities as Claudia Schiffer, Gisele Bündchen is the only true supermodel of her generation, although there are some others famous names as Alessandra Ambrosio, Carolyn Murphy, Laetitia Casta, Natalia Vodianova, Adriana Lima, Karolína Kurková, Daria Werbowy, Gemma Ward, Ana Beatriz Barros, Fernanda Tavares, Isabeli Fontana and Heidi Klum. Notable male models include Tyson Beckford, Marcus Schenkenberg and Evandro Soldati.

History of fashion models

The first true fashion model is generally believed to be Parisian shopgirl, Marie Vernet Worth. She became the first professional mannequin in 1853, to help her fashion designer husband, Charles Frederick Worth.

Body type

US catalog size

Bust size: 31.5 inches (80 cm); Waist size: 23 inches (59 cm); Hip size: 32 inches (82 cm). It is often mistaken for a petite size because it is so small. While many petite women do wear size 0, the true definition of petite sizes in the fashion world has more to do with height than with thinness; in the United States, it generally refers to a woman who is under 5′4″ (163 cm).

Size 00 is a size smaller than size 0. Size 00 is the equivalent to a UK size 2, which can be extremely difficult to find.

Fashion concept

In European fashion circles, the concept of ’size zero’ models has gained recent notoriety in the media when the organizers of Madrid Fashion Week 2006 prohibited models with a Body Mass Index below 18 — classified as unhealthy by the World Health Organization — from participating in the event. International debate followed concerning the purported effects upon impressionable people of the fashion industry’s continued use of underweight models.

Size zero has been linked to anorexia nervosa and bulimia as many women have to lose a large amount of weight to become so thin.^{[citation needed]} The deaths of models Luisel Ramos and Ana Carolina Reston have been attributed to the Size Zero trend. Luisel Ramos, aged 22, died of a heart attack in August 2, 2006 after apparently trying to survive on Diet Coke and lettuce leaves. Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston too, died from the pressures of maintaining slimness; her diet was reported to consist solely of apples and tomatoes and she died from renal failure. Although there are people in the world who starve themselves to become this thin, there are those who are naturally this size. The media have labeled many celebrities as size 0, which dilutes the meaning and “size 0″ now often refers any woman no matter what her size as long as she is slender.

The Association of Model Agents (AMA) says that female models should be around 34-24-34 inches (86-61-86 cm) and at least 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall. Currently, the height required to do fashion shows has increased. During the last fashion shows in Europe, the average height was 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in), the average weight was 50 kg (110 lb), with bust between 85 to 90 cm (33.5 to 35.4 inches), waist under 62 cm (24.4 inches), and hips under 90 cm (35.4 inches), to fit the 34/36 size of haute Couture prototypes. Average dimensions for a male model are a height of 180-188 cm (5 ft 11 in- 6′2″) and a weight of 64-75 kg (140-165 lb). Male models are also toned and fit.

The unusually thin shape of fashion models has been criticized for allegedly warping girls’ body image and encouraging eating disorders. Organizers of a fashion show in Madrid in September 2006 turned away models who were judged to be underweight by medical personnel who were on hand. In February 2007, six months after her sister, Luisel Ramos, also a model, died, Uruguayan model Eliana Ramos became the third international model to die of malnutrition in six months (The second victim was Ana Carolina Reston). Luisel Ramos died of heart failure caused by anorexia nervosa.