See you on the catwalk!

I read this horrifying article on Telegraph, about how Australia is forcing magazines to carry an air brush warning. 

Under a new code of conduct for the fashion industry, magazines must now agree to refrain from heavy retouching of body parts, including the common practices of lengthening of legs, removing of freckles and trimming of waistlines. The Australian government’s latest strategy to tackle body image and eating disorders now requires that where photographs have been altered, all images must carry a disclaimer. I felt momentarily sorry for my fellow art directors, knowing how painstakingly they work on models’ images, to make that perfect piece of communication. Before we know it, this law will filter down to the Advertising circles. It is just a matter of time.

So is it really bad news for the fashion industry?
Most of us will assume that this is bad news for the fashion industry and for those who dream of taking up a job, strutting the cat walks. There will be fewer models earning more, we could assume. But, I think, this new law will the benefit the fashion industry in toto. How? Brands are good at exploiting laws. So, instead of scrambling to find those zero size models, they would rather turn to real people to showcase their products. This means that now there will be a larger population of potential models, my guess being that every other person will eventually become a model. :)

And what exactly will these potential models do?

Consume more fashion products, ofcourse. And considering that all of us are born with the ‘ape syndrome’ anyway, we will end up consuming more. This will be the ultimate Armani dream, coming true.

So see you on the ramp soon.

SilentDog