As I mentioned in one of my previous posts (See the Best of the Zeros According to Meggasus) Coco Rocha is my favorite model of all time. Her editorials are always so expressive...full of energy and spirit. She's been on top for awhile now, and two years ago she spoke out at the CFDA conference about the pressures that she and other models are put under to stay thin...stating that her agency once told her "the look this year is anorexia...we don't want you to be anorexic but that's just what we want you to look like."
Recently, there has been more discussion about Coco's current figure and that her demand in the industry has decreased. On February 18th, Coco released this statement on her blog speaking up for herself and urging the industry to change once and for all. Here is her full statement below:
There has been quite the commotion over the recent articles about me in the New York Times and The New York Daily News. As only a few select statements of mine were printed I find it necessary to properly express my point of view, without outside editing.
I’m a 21 year old model, 6 inches taller and 10 sizes smaller than the average American woman. Yet in another parallel universe I’m considered “fat”… This was the subject of major discussion this week and the story that was spun was: “Coco Rocha is too fat for the runway”.
Is that the case? No. I am still used and in demand as a model. In fact I find myself busier than ever. In the past few years I have not gained an extreme amount of weight, only an inch here and there as any young woman coming out of her teenage years would.
But this issue of model’s weight is, and always has been, of concern to me. There are certain moral decisions which seem like no brainers to us. For example, not employing children in sweatshops, and not increasing the addictiveness of cigarettes. When designers, stylists or agents push children to take measures that lead to anorexia or other health problems in order to remain in the business, they are asking the public to ignore their moral conscience in favor of the art.
Surely, we all see how morally wrong it is for an adult to convince an already thin 15 year old that she is actually too fat. It is unforgivable that an adult should demand that the girl unnaturally lose the weight vital to keep her body functioning properly. How can any person justify an aesthetic that reduces a woman or child to an emaciated skeleton? Is it art? Surely fashion’s aesthetic should enhance and beautify the human form, not destroy it.
