On Sunday, I was watching America’s Next Top Model while sipping my morning cup of java. There were a dozen young ladies between the ages of 18 and 24 competing for the top position. The theme for the show was “The Garden of Eden” and the mostly male directors had sketches made of women wearing body paint to match the theme. The young ladies were shown each theme designed exclusively for them and all but one were fairly confident to go forward with the body-paining project. And here I ask, since when is body-paint not art but rather fashion?
The one young lady in question was reluctant from the start and not comfortable with the idea of having all her private parts shaven and having artists place paint and glued-on rhinestones in the most private of private areas of her body. Assuming she would change her mind the directors sent her to the dressing room to undress. The other young ladies were all ago and fairly confident that they could handle such an undertaking.
Then came the last part of the theme in the form of Adam when half a dozen very handsome young male models walked on to the set wearing only a small black Speedo. The first of a series of photo-shoots began and the models began to pose in full body paint next to the now fully naked and confident male models.
Frustrated, the producers where still trying to talk the one reluctant young lady out of her robe. But she stood there shocked and even more uncomfortable than she was before saying “I love my husband and I cannot see anyone touching my private area or seeing me naked other than my husband” at which point she broke out in tears. In the moment of feeling the least dignified of what she had gotten herself into, the head producer, a male, fired her on the spot and told her, to go home, that she was no longer part of the show. The young lady left in tears.
In this example we see how little value the fashion industry attributes to those who wish to retain his or her dignity. I wonder if that producer would have said the same thing to Linda Evangelista or if he would have treated her with more kindness? Probably not. I found it appalling to see how the producers of the show were so eager to help those who were willing to bare all and showed no respect for the one young lady that showed she had strong feelings about what she was unsuspectingly placed in the middle of.
Having been an aspiring model myself, and having had a mother who was a successful fashion model and fashion designer, I know that the fashion industry has always had an element of nudity that was necessary for the job. In my mother’s days of modeling all over Europe, fashion was about style and elegance. In my time fashion was about showing more nudity, smoking, drinking and doing drugs to retain an emaciated look. But in this instance, a young lady showed dignity and a level of self-respect we should all strive for in our young women. These days the fashion industry crosses the line with young women all the time and tries to get them to go against their own dignity. I for one would like to see the fashion industry teach women how to dress, not how to undress.
