Cover of Italian Vogue Sparks Controversy
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September 29, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Italian Vogue’s September issue, which features a model with a digitally altered 13 inch waist, has met with considerable criticism.
The cover of the September issue of Italian Vogue has been criticised for showing a digitally altered 13 inch waist.
Italian supermodel Stella Tennant, a 40-year-old mother of three, is clad in a billowing black gown that is cinched in to an extreme waistline.
According to Carlo Ducci, executive news director of Vogue, this styling aims to emulate an image of Ethel Granger, who died in 1994. She was an English woman who was married to a corset maker.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, her 13 inch waistline was the smallest in the world.
Fabiola De Clerq, founder of ABA, Anorexia and Bulimic Association, an Italian association based in Milan to aid recovery from eating disorders, told Women’s E-News:
“Considering that Italian fashion week is going on, Vogue Italy would have done everything in its power to shock and be ‘unique.’ This picture mortifies women’s bodies.”
She went on to add: “Anorexia is such a widespread psychological disorder because, nowadays, thinness corresponds to women’s power.”
“Exaggerated slimness is byword of a woman in total control over her life, someone who is even able to renounce a vital need: eating food … Vogue understood this deviant trend and showed it yet again.”
The Italian strand of the magazine has previously been criticised for digitally altering model’s photographs to create an idealised image of the female figure.
In an interview with Women’s E-News, Mr Ducci, emphasised that the image was unusual and thus would not inspire imitation.
He added: “Our magazine drew on reality. If this reality is perceived as bad, this is not our problem.”
Anorexia and bulimia are growing problems in Italy. According to Italian statistical institute Eurispe, there were 3,500 cases of anorexia during 2010, compared to the annual average of 3,000 in 2008.
6,000 cases of bulimia were recorded in 2010 compared to 5,400 cased in 2008.
Moreover, eating disorders are the biggest killers for Italian women between the ages of 12 and 25, according to Eurispe’s 2011 study.
By Gwen Smith
[Image provided by Maryori Coello design]
