Do fashion shows promote an unhealthy body image?

Yes and Yes!

There is nothing nice about looking like you have just come out of a Concentration Camp!
The image it does send to young wannabe's is totally insane! I don't care how they do it....but something by now, should have been done to counter attack this insidious idea.
I get upset to see such a look, it is a walking skeleton.The clothes look dreadful, so what they should do is tell the models they are tooooo thin!
It would seem, they think nothing of it.Whoever the models work for should be fined, and health officials should be in charge.As for the male models, I have never seen one as bad as the female's.
At the end of the day, the models work for someone...that someone or group need to take charge, they are the people who hire the models!

by jonaja

I don' think it's easy enough to blame fashion shows for unhealthy body image. I think that society in general plays a much larger role. I think there are some pretty nasty aspects to the fashion industry, but media and the attitudes of friends and family would still continue to be far more damaging whether fashion shows did or didn't exist.

by Natasha Stewart

I think that models are supposed to be seen as the peak of perfection in both males and females. They are people who work hard at the way they look because for them it is a job, they work out, keep themselves fit, eat healthily (or don't eat much, which is unhealthy) and in general lead the kind of lifestyle which would allow them to look like they do, on top of having fabulous genes in the first place. I'm sure once people hit 30, they don't care much about models, but up until that point, some people can be swayed by how models look. Probably because models are usually young examples of how people could look. I think it has changed a lot in recent times because of the unrealistic reality set and hopefully there is enough education now about how people get to look like that that the industry doesn't continue to promote unhealthy and unrealistic ideals.

by Sarah Bell

I think it may - but it depends how you look at it. If you look at it trying to compare yourself to the models...well you know you won't beat that competition. I do think media has a play on it too because they always harp on a model if they have put on weight. But if we teach our daughters to see the fashion show as an art form...then they can walk away see the clothes and not the figure! ;)

by chipp

In a way, I think they do because of the requirements needed to be a model. You have to be a certain height, certain weight, and certain build, which I think is totally the wrong message. If anyone could be a model then I would think it was fine, but sadly that is not the case.

by Bryony Harrison

Yes and Yes!

There is nothing nice about looking like you have just come out of a Concentration Camp!
The image it does send to young wannabe's is totally insane! I don't care how they do it....but something by now, should have been done to counter attack this insidious idea.
I get upset to see such a look, it is a walking skeleton.The clothes look dreadful, so what they should do is tell the models they are tooooo thin!
It would seem, they think nothing of it.Whoever the models work for should be fined, and health officials should be in charge.As for the male models, I have never seen one as bad as the female's.
At the end of the day, the models work for someone...that someone or group need to take charge, they are the people who hire the models!

by jonaja

Sorry! not my fault :( I only pressed once......

Tell me it's Photoshopped, please (*waves hands about in the air*). I am going to be sick. Literally.

no photoshop sadly

Great question. It depends on the individual in question, and how well informed they are when it comes to body image. Everyone has different points of view, and they're all perfect.

by Justine Crowley

To be honest, I kind of think in Fashions shows you aren't actually meant to see the model, just the clothes (Victoria Secret personality models are the exception). Magazine shoots are a little different. I know this makes no sense at all really, just the way I see it...

by Lydia C. Lee

I Think they do. I work with some good looking ladies and I've suggested to some of them that they could try out modelling. They would then say to me that they are too fat. Whatttt???!!!!!! Too fat? These ladies in my opinion are quite slim.
When I check it out, the ladies used for fashion shows do look unhealthily slim. They really don't look that great to me at all.

by dwatk

Too thin, too thin.

by Vee