Body image

Fashion bloggers are airbrushing images of scarily thin models to make them appear more healthy but the Melbourne girl whose anti-airbrushing protest prompted Cleo magazine to reconsider its retouching policy says it’s never ok to publish altered images of women’s bodies. The Weekly reported yesterday that images of models at Australian fashion week were being […]

Skinny women are the norm at Fashion Week, but the waifs walking the runway at this year’s shows are thin even by model standards. Top designer Alex Perry has defended his choice of models, claiming he ran out of time to find healthier-sized girls, but former Vogue editor Kirstie Clements says as far as most […]

Models at Australian fashion week are so shockingly thin fashion bloggers are Photoshopping them to cover up their protruding bones. Fashion publications are often lambasted for using Photoshop to slim down models and celebrities but while covering Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, editor of fashion blog Style Melbourne Sarah Willcocks, has had to smooth out one […]

Like hundreds of celebrities before her, Barbie has been photographed without makeup — to the delight of social media users around the world. The images — created by graphic designer Eddi Aguirre — show what Barbie would look like without her war paint, and it’s not pretty. Instead of her usual flawless look, Barbie sports […]

With a quarter of Aussie kids now overweight or obese and thousands of others battling eating disorders, mum-of-two Zoe Arnold asks if it’s possible to raise kids with no body image hang-ups. Fat kids are becoming normal, just like fat adults. Visit any suburban mall and overweight families appear to outnumber average-sized people. But what […]

Images of the “normal-sized” mannequins on display at a Swedish department store have been shared more than one million times on social networks. The size 12 figurines have been used in all 76 Åhléns stores since 2010, but have only appeared online in the past week, when a blogger posted a picture on Facebook. The […]

Parents are concerned that kids are growing up too quickly with influences like constant engagement with technology, social media, and pressure to be “macho” or “sexy” cutting childhood short. A UK survey found that 90 per cent of parents think modern children are growing up faster than ever, and body image is their biggest concern. […]

A French fashion magazine has caused controversy by “blacking up” 16-year-old white model for a photo shoot entitled “African Queen”. Ondria Hardin appears in the March issue of Numéro magazine “heavily bronzed” to resemble a black woman. The teen model — who usually sports blonde hair and very pale skin — wears an African-style headdress […]

Mannequins have never represented Miss Average but today’s store dummies look more like porn stars. Former Vogue editor Kirstie Clements questions how we can hope to raise well-adjusted girls when our kids are constantly bombarded with sexually explicit images. Yesterday, I spent the day in Brisbane making an in-store appearance for Sportscraft with glamorous model/mum […]

The fashion industry has been accused of promoting “manorexia” after an array of shockingly thin male models were sent down the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week. Designer YSL was criticised on the blogosphere for “woefully irresponsible model casting” as a photo of an emaciated model prompted a barrage of responses on social media. Photoshop fail: […]