Under pressure from an anorexia awareness group, Topshop has replaced a promotional image starring model Codie Young with one where the model doesn’t appear to be quite so thin. Eating disorder awareness activists were in an outcry over the original image (below), arguing that the young model appeared unhealthy and that the image promoted anorexia and bulimia.
In the new image (below), the model’s lines don’t appear to be quite so sharp: cloaked in extra layers, Young’s frame appears fuller, and looking downward at the camera, her jaw-line and bone structure appear to be softer.
Topshop posted a note about the change on its website: “We do recognise regretfully that the angle this image has been shot at may accentuate Codie’s proportions making her head look bigger and neck longer in proportion to her body . . . We have taken down that specific image at the earliest opportunity.”
Codie Young does look crazy-thin in the original picture, but my reaction to seeing the original photo was mostly just surprise that it caused so much controversy. Maybe it’s because Topshop is such a mass brand, but I see photos of girls that skinny in fashion ads constantly, and at this point, their actual body shape doesn’t even register as a phenomenon. Whenever I see a model, unless she’s being photographed for her unusual (for fashion) body size, I pretty much just accept that she’s a girl paid to take photographs for money, and that she’s not really supposed to look like a real person, and that it’ll just take too much work to try to look like her.
So, yes: models like Codie Young probably aren’t the best thing for promoting a healthy body image and eating habits among young women that think they need to do whatever it takes to achieve model size, but then, so do Coco Rocha and Karlie Kloss. If you think there’s a problem, it’s with the entire fashion industry, not just one young girl.
