And now, a little something for the ladies. You women have complained for years about fashion models that supposedly encouraged an unrealistic image of feminine beauty. Well, we here at Agent Bedhead are all about gender equality, so you’ll be glad to hear that now it’s men’s turn. At least, that’s what the highly credible New York Times is saying. In an article called “The Vanishing Point,” the paper of record says that in the fashion world, carved biceps and six-pack abs are the anatomical equivalent of Members Only jackets:
“The look is different from when I started in the business eight years ago,” Mr. Ballou said last week during a photo shoot at the Milk Studios in lower Manhattan. In many of the model castings, which tend to be dominated by a handful of people, the body style that now dominates is the one Charles Atlas made a career out of trying to improve.
The article goes on to note that today’s ideal model wears a suit four sizes smaller than he did in the Nineties, and that a 6-foot-1 model would be expected to weigh no more than 155 pounds, with a 28-inch waist. Just for comparision, the average American male stands 5-foot 91/2, up from 5-foot-8 in 1960. Meanwhile, average male weight has increased from just over 166 pounds to an imposing 191 pounds. No word on what that’s done to the waistline, but it can’t be good.
It remains to be seen how men will respond to the new male paradigm that’s floating down the runways. Most of us can’t meet this standard, but we also didn’t bear much resemblance to the old Gold’s Gym physique. Still, say what you will, those guys were built. These new guys look like they’d be much easier to beat up.
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I was about to say I could take three of them on at once, but that may conjure up the entirely wrong sort of image.
Male models in the last 10yrs seem to be uninspiring, waxed, tanned, scrawny, chicken-legged, dead-eyed clones. It would behoove the industy to offer an array of body types if they really want people to buy their crap. As it is, they appear to be shilling a body type, not clothing.
It has everything to do with homosexuals using the media to redefine the standard image of masculinity.
This is illustrative.
Women would look at skinny, heroin-chic anorexic models (who no real man would find remotely appealing) and think “so this is what men find attractive? I better go throw up.” You certainly will not see men being fooled into thinking women are attracted to these wimps.
Yeah, “the homosexuals” are always up to no good..
Really, though, I don’t find it attractive when a man has a slimmer waist than I do, nor do I like guys who appear to spend more time at the gym than anywhere else.
I have to disagree with you, Ben. While a lot more women than men may feel threatened enough by super skinny models to take such drastic action, anorexia in males isn’t unheard of.
Actually, I’ve never heard a woman say “I wish I looked like Kate Moss.” Most women I know don’t want to look like a 12-year-old boy. However, what I do hear is women saying “I wish I looked like Jessica Alba/Jessica Biel/Megan Fox” et cetera, who are all heavier than most supermodels but still far below the weight of the average woman, even before the average went up. So, no, guys might not want to look like the new male models, but how many wouldn’t think what women want is a Matthew McConaughey, who has a physique that is equally unrealistic for most men?