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Till a few days ago, Madrid was a place Anu and her cronies
were not much interested in. Ok, they knew vaguely that it
had handsome matadors and gorgeous Spanish girls dancing Flamenco.
But now, the Spanish capital has gone to the very core of
their aspiring hearts. They are at a loss as how to cope with
it. You would wonder what this beautiful city has done to
upset them so much in far off India. Well, the culprits are
the Madrid Fashion Week organisers. Anyone familiar with the
current international news would know how they, at the behest
of the local government, have raised a storm by insisting
that stick -thin models are no more to be allowed on the ramp.
By projecting a body image that does not tally with a healthy
woman's figure, they may have triggered off nursing unnourished
figures by countless young followers of the with-it fashion
scene.
The echo of this revolutionary step- because it is indeed
so in a world where women starve to look waif- like, has now
been heard in the recent high profile London Fashion Week
and Milan fashion organizers are not falling behind. No less
than style guru like Armani has come out supporting the move.
Another fashion stylist Sir Paul Smith has even predicted
the end of 'size 00' reed thin models. The latest to support
the move is India's health minister Anbumani Ramadoss who
cautions against osteoporosis setting in many young girls
who starve to look thin.
A few years go, it would have seemed absurd that fashion-diktats
from across the Mediterranean Sea should break like invading
waves against the Arabian sea. But now that we live in a globalised
world, the look westward is even more pronounced. Girls from
good old Indian stock want to look like ramp models of Paris,
their thin knees knocking against each other and looking as
if a gust of wind would blow them away. Sometime ago, during
the Football World Cup in Germany, there was wide media speculation
about what size of jeans -for a 13-year-old maybe? would fit
former Spice-girl Victoria Beckham, now a mother of two, and
wife of David Beckham.
It would have been easy to dismiss these celeb gossips had
they not affected young girls across the globe trying to imitate
their heroines and making them eat like a sparrow but inviting
in health hazards for lack of nutrition . In fact, principals
of two girls' schools in Kolkata are planning to hold interactive
meetings with guardians because their wards often eat so little
that fainting in the class has become a regular feature. Anorexia
is no more a western lifestyle disease.
Above all, this is also an unhealthy trend related to the
body image of girls. Talent, individuality, pragmatic outlook
- all get pushed to the background while the important thing
is to flaunt a flat tummy and be able to wear the latest -in-fashion
pencil trousers, no matter that physicians always say that
every figure is differently constructed. But who listens?
Not the fashion gurus either who hold sway over them. Granted
that, belonging to a group is of supreme importance to teenagers
but this relentless pursuit of the unnatural body beautiful
is a trend that needs reining in. That's why the bold step
taken by the Madrid Fashion Week organisers is to be applauded.
High time someone called a spade a spade.
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