ColumnIf you’ve met more than a handful of American women in your life, then you know all women are unique. So, why haven’t fashion designers and politicians read that memo?

Society seems to have a strange desire to make all women the same. We’ve noticed quite a few instances of this societal behavior over the past week, but the following two stories caught our eye. Why were they interesting? Well, because the people at the heart of these stories are demanding we change this all-too-common dialogue.

Yeah, It’s Hillary

While Hillary Clinton was recently accused of being unfit for the presidency because she’s had to take some time off due to phenomena–a serious illness–she’s also had to deal with other negative press.

Recently, a prominent Republican tried to accuse Clinton of looking too angry… Yes, we’re serious.

The New York Times recently reported that “Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, wrote on Twitter that Mrs. Clinton had appeared ‘angry + defensive’” during last week’s national security forum on NBC.

Here’s all of Priebus’ tweet so you can see what he wrote:

“@HillaryClinton was angry + defensive the entire time – no smile and uncomfortable – upset that she was caught wrongly sending our secrets.”

Nah, Reince. She was just too consumed with answering questions. Maybe she, like many women, just has what you men can’t seem to stand: a bitchy resting face.

But the real question is why do people want Clinton to “smile more” yet they don’t care about Trump’s face? Is it because she’s a woman and everyone expects women to be “nice” and “accommodating” all the time, no matter what? Of course it is. So, you know, even when she’s talking about national security she should be always thinking about her appearance.

Fashion Designers

The other story that caught our eye this week concerns Tim Gunn and his official “boy, bye” to the boring, out of touch fashion world.

Gunn recently penned an editorial in The Washington Post about how absurd sizing in the fashion world is.

Titled “Designers Refuse to Make Clothes to Fit American Women; It’s a Disgrace,” his article is full of great observations about how stupid designers can be about everyday women’s sizes. Gunn is, thankfully, over that:

“This [designers’ overwhelming desire to only cloth thin women] is a design failure and not a customer issue,” Gunn writes.

“There is no reason larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women. The key is the harmonious balance of silhouette, proportion and fit, regardless of size or shape. Designs need to be reconceived, not just sized up; it’s a matter of adjusting proportions. The textile changes, every seam changes. Done right, our clothing can create an optical illusion that helps us look taller and slimmer. Done wrong, and we look worse than if we were naked.”

Damn straight. It’s insane for designers to think that women have to change in order to fit their beauty standards—it needs to be the other way around, bozos.

So, everyone, take note. American women and women everywhere owe you nothing. Just leave us alone and maybe you’ll get our business… and our vote.

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Image of Hillary Clinton via Shutterstock, Evan El-Amin

The post American Women Owe You Nothing: #NowWhat appeared first on EcoSalon.

Apparently mannequins have ribs now…even though they’re not human. While most store mannequins have usually been on the thin side, the “too skinny” ribby mannequins at La Perla sparked uproar. But don’t blame the store. You can thank our obesity epidemic.

Last month the high-end lingerie boutique in Manhattan removed the mannequins that were deemed “too skinny” from the store.

According to TIME magazine, a passerby prompted the removal of the mannequins when he noticed the “emaciated figures” in the window and took his outrage to Twitter. A rash of complaints from other customers soon followed.

La Perla issued a statement:

The mannequin photographed has been removed from the store and will not be used again by any La Perla boutique. We are in the process of redesigning all La Perla stores with a new concept image and the mannequins that are currently displayed in our US stores will no longer be used. We appreciate and value everyone’s comments, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

This isn’t the first incident of this kind. TIME reports that in 2011, Gap was criticized for using thin mannequins to promote the company’s “always skinny” jeans. “In fact, most mannequins in the U.S. are still between a svelte size 2 and a still-small size 6, and often if you peak behind the figures, you’ll find clips pulling the clothes so that they are more form-fitting,” TIME explained.

On average, mannequins are six inches taller and six sizes smaller than most women, reports TIME. And Bloomingdale’s visual director Roya Sullivan told the Chicago Tribune: “Clothes look better on tall, thin, abnormal bodies.”

Granted, a mannequin doesn’t really need to have ribs. She doesn’t need hands either (glove modeling mannequins aside). Nor does she need a nose or eyes. A mannequin is just a slight upgrade from a hanger; showing off the clothes with a tad more accuracy. It’s always been understood that mannequins are there to flatter the clothing—not the customers. If something looks enticing, whether on the rack or on the plastic model, we’re more likely to try it on and buy it.

But America’s expanding waistline has led to extreme sensitivities about these store display figures. “Swedish chain Ahlens has been using full-figured mannequins for years. British department store Debenhams began displaying size-16 mannequins last year. And a trend of mannequins with enhanced breasts and buttocks is sweeping Venezuela,” explains TIME.

As the obesity epidemic spreads, department stores seek to make these customers “more comfortable” by making larger mannequins to fit the larger clothes—clothes, mind you, that have also changed sizes to accommodate obesity. While brand sizes often vary (maybe you’re a size 4 in one pair of jeans and a 2 in another), they now generally run a lot larger, too. “[W]hat would have been a 12 in the 1980s is in fact an 8 today,” Tim Gunn, host of Project Runway told the Huffington Post. That’s because so many more women are overweight or obese. Brands want women to think they’re smaller sizes so they’ll feel sexier and buy more clothes.

But the brands and their mannequins aren’t really to blame.

We’re normalizing obesity. It’s a problem.

We’re also elevating extremely thin women to the gold standard of beauty. That’s also a problem.

The food industry and pharmaceutical industry may love the obesity epidemic, but the fashion industry hates it. There’s a struggle to meet the growing demands of the overweight customer. One of the main problems is that people distribute excess weight differently. For some it’s in the thighs and buttocks. For others it can be in the stomach and chest. It’s hard to make clothes with that many variables. You can’t just make clothes “bigger,” said Gunn. “It’s not a matter of sizing up or sizing down from a size six,” he said, “It’s a matter of reconceiving things altogether. There are just some things that you can’t or shouldn’t do [design-wise].”

One-third of the world’s population—and we’re talking developing as well as the developed world—is now overweight or obese. It’s more than 2 billion people. Two billion people who need clothes.

Some people are naturally bigger than others and still healthy for their size. There are defensive linemen who weigh more than twice as much as I do who could outrun me, twice as fast, too. We are an adaptable species.

And strangely, as the world’s weight escalates, things like “thigh gaps” become more desirable. Lingerie boutiques decide at some point, that it’s a good idea for mannequins to show ribs. The media has does one heck of a job distorting the images of women and beauty to an audience that can’t relate. There is now as much of a delusion about how we should look as there is about how we actually look.

The truth is, many thin people are just as picky about their clothes as people with weight issues. They have insecurities and confidence issues because comfort levels with our appearances are factors of our mental health. We are an emotional species. Some days we feel prettier than others. We’re sensitive and awkward, and it’s probably a big reason why clothes have come to mean so much in the first place–why we allow people to suffer and die for fast fashion. Because we feel so naked, so exposed that we think a new dress will make us, somehow, prettier on the inside too.

If we’re going to normalize obesity, if we’re going to make mannequins with love handles, then maybe there is also room for mannequins with ribs. If someone like me—a healthy size 6—can be called “too skinny” by bigger people, then can we start to call people who are a size 16 “too big?” Of course not. Because even as we continue to accept our obesity epidemic, we’re still all aware that it’s not normal. That one in five children shouldn’t have a weight problem. Or diabetes. Or hypertension. We wouldn’t have “The Biggest Loser” or a huge diet market if that was the case.

Of course some degrees of skinny are too skinny, particularly the Photoshopped kind.But most aren’t. The obesity epidemic surely isn’t the result of people being skinny. So let’s not blame the mannequins. They’re not even real. Let’s actually not blame anyone or anything. Let’s just take the steps to fix this, regardless of what size clothes we wear.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

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Image via BBC

The post ‘Too Skinny’ Mannequins Cause Outrage, or is the Obesity Epidemic the Real Problem? appeared first on EcoSalon.

VideoOnly beautiful, sleek cats allowed.

This EcoSalon exclusive video by Ace Salisbury and designer Eliza Starbuck takes a look at the beauty industry, and with the help of animated character “Buttons the Cat ” and Tim Gunn, is made easier to digest thanks to a healthy dose of humor.

“These aren’t just cat models, they’re role models…”

Image: Michi Moore

The post Video: Buttons Meets the Cat Show Industry appeared first on EcoSalon.

Column Facts are facts.

It’s almost the end of January, which means that for at least the last 3 weeks your life has been a gray, dull, hopeless blur of days in which you’ve almost certainly been forced to listen to your co-worker’s latest cleanse. Nobody’s drinking, nobody’s going out, and it’s probably raining. Wouldn’t it make you feel better to read a string of sex-related facts?

Number of years since the last time Tim Gunn had sex: 29

$1.30: the price of a gallon of gas in the last year that Tim Gunn had sex

Number of unique combinations of sex acts the average sexually active adult has recently performed, as reported by a recent American study: 40

3 years: Length of time a male lobster’s sperm can survive inside of a female

What happens to the genitals of male honeybees after having sex: they explode

What happens to the genitals of banana slugs after having sex: they are chewed off and eaten

10%: Percentage of office workers who claim to have slept with a co-worker in their building

14: Factor by which having an abortion is safer than giving birth

Reported increase in sexual dysfunction, as related to the use of intravenous drugs: 800%

The post Sex by Numbers: It’s Only Natural Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

With the eighth season of Project Runway debuting this Thursday (for the first time on Lifetime Television), a new crop of designers will once again have to woo host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn and judges (designer Michael Kors and Marie Claire Fashion Director Nina Garcia).

As this season’s 17 designers make this the largest amount of designers thus far in Project Runway history, we wondered if there were any sustainable designers we’d be able to cheer on to the end. Luckily there was one shining glory: Portland, Oregon’s Gretchen Jones, designer of Mothlove, a label we’ve written about a few times here on the site.

We’ve watched Gretchen evolve over the past few seasons into an even more contemplative, artistically and aesthetically sound designer who’s only negative was that she needed more investing in to continue manufacturing her line.

Will Project Runway be her Golden Ticket? I certainly hope so.

I recently caught up with Gretchen via a phone interview. Here’s what she had to say.

Were you the only sustainable designer on the show?

As far as I know, I was the only one that focused on sustainable materials but as I’ve said many times before, I think sustainable business practices go beyond materials. For example, I still believe that small scale production and producing locally is also very sustainable.

Was it hard to be on Project Runway as a designer who uses sustainable materials and practices with what was available to you?

When I was going through the application process, Tim Gunn’s first concern was my intention to stay sustainable on the show. We only shopped at Mood or used the alternative materials offered to us for challenges but Mood uses over-run materials from high-end designers so that sort of fit into my idea of sustainable. To represent myself as a solid designer was to let go of some materials I was used to using though.

Does a show like Project Runway accurately represent the fashion industry?

Some ways yes and some ways no. Being challenged continuously on the show represents a designer’s adaptability whether on the show or not. There are a number of factors that can make or break you. Having a strong enough conviction to stay true to one’s original concept and not second guess yourself as a designer. Articulating your vision especially in an economy and industry collapsing and being mindful of the choices you make is similar to being on Project Runway.

Without the ability to articulate perspective you can’t move forward to win on the show OR be a successful designer. And a big one, judges hold your fate just as a customer does.

Did the letting go free you to be a better designer?

Again yes and no. Using sustainable materials and the different low toxin dying processes I use off the show actually enable me to be very creative. I’m forced by limitation to create textiles and because that’s what I think, that’s what makes me special.

Because I didn’t have the time (on Project Runway) to focus on the usual processes, I focused more on concept than materials. For me, coming on the show wasn’t to spread the gospel of sustainability. How I approached the show was to focus on fashion first.

Did the speed of creating on Project Runway give you a new appreciation for “Fast Fashion?”

As an advocate for slow fashion, I was definitely creating and producing in a manner that was different for me. During challenges, pieces had to be produced regardless of how wearable they were or if they could even be worn time and time again.

I still felt that I had to create garments that had integrity and quality. That said, because there wasn’t as much of an editing process for lack of time, there was definitely an element of fast fashion.

How was it being judged?

Being judged was one of my reasons for going on the show. I wanted the critiques. Small time designers lead self-indulgent lives working out of their studios and often times have locals supporting them rather than critiquing them. I feel very privileged to be supported in my eco-community but it definitely doesn’t come with the full criticism I need.

That said, what makes a designer good are the critiques. It’s hard to get out of being creative to see what you’re doing and there’s a fine line between being talented and challenged.
Project Runway did challenge me and to have not taken the tools and criticism I got would’ve been arrogant regardless of how convicted I felt.

Did you ever just want to walk away from the show?

There came a point where I wondered if the challenges were really representing me or not, and I think all of us were worn down and questioning what we were doing at one point or another. What Project Runway showed me was that I’d put myself in a place of vulnerability so I had to push through to my own aesthetic to stay authentic for sure.

If given the chance, would you do it again?

For most participants on the show, it’s the hardest thing any of us have ever done. Not just the creative part, but the day to day living. I went on the show because I was in dire need of the greater American public and investors to get to know me.

Ask me again in six months.

Project Runway, Season 8, premieres on Thursday, July 29th at 9 p.m. EST.

Images courtesy of MyLifetime

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