Fashion Magazine Brigitte Trades Skinny Models For Real Women
Germany's most popular women's fashion magazine "Brigitte" has announced big changes to the look of its pages.
As of January 2, 2010, Brigitte will no longer feature ultra-thin, professional models. Instead, they'll be using regular women of all different shapes and sizes to model clothes.
After this year, ultra-thin models won't fill the pages of Brigitte magazine. iStockphoto.com hide caption
According to their website, the new initiative, called "Ohne Models," or "Without Models" is focusing on everyday living and fitness and less on unattainable high fashion and beauty.
Instead of the traditional size 0 models, they're hoping to photograph influential women and even regular readers.
The editor-in chief Andreas Leberts told reporters in Hamburg that he wants Brigitte models to be "the 18 year old student, the head of the board, the musician, and the football player."
These real women will get paid the same as professional models, but they'll look like everyday, regular women.
This isn't a new trend. In 2004, the American beauty products company "Dove" began the "Campaign for Real Beauty" featuring models with curves. Several European countries have also been tightening standards on minimum body weight and body-mass index for their models.
But the Ohne Models initiative does seem to be signaling a larger, more egalitarian trend.
Brigitte says that fashion isn't just on the runways anymore. It's on the street. It's at the movie theatre. It's in a cafe around the corner. The message seems to be that great style is attainable and it's coming from the bottom up.
This move hasn't been celebrated by everyone. Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer and creative director for Chanel, says readers don't want to see real women in their fashion magazines.
"No one wants to see curvy women. You've got fat mothers with their bags of potato chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly."
If Lagerfeld's assumptions are indeed correct, such fashionistas will have to look elsewhere. Brigitte is now opening up photo sessions to its readers.