IT APPEARS reed-thin, tall, angular, flat-chested models with exotic African features are no longer in vogue
That is if the models who walked the ramp last week at the SA Fashion Week are anything to go by.
Last week saw prettier, lighter, bustier, curvier and fuller-hipped models, a rare appearance on the South African fashion circuit.
About 80 percent of these models were local, according to Jenny Andrew, one of the show's producers. She blames the size-zero concept for being responsible for body image issues as well as eating disorders among models.
She said after tons of complaints from local models about not being used, SA Fashion Week decided to have more local models this year.
In 2008 Kgomotso Seboko of KS Models, one of South Africa's top black-owned modelling agencies, complained that South African models did not have "that Y-factor", they were fat and their faces were too ordinary. He complained they had Eurocentric features.
Is fashion undergoing a revolution?
Healthy-looking models are back. The trend was started by fashion icon Victoria Beckham who banned size-zero models from her collection at the New York Fashion Week in March this year.
Beckham reportedly rejected 12 models for being too thin and used the ones above or at size six.
The move towards healthier-looking models is getting the nod from most designers, including Hangwani Nengovhela of Rubicon Fashion.
Nengovhela, one of the designers who showed at the SA Fashion Week, said she was happy with the pool of models she had to choose from.
"They looked normal and healthy. We have always wanted models that our consumers can identify with. We were happy to choose from women who had South African features and body shapes," said Nengovhela.
A glossy magazine editor who didn't want to be named told Sowetan the publication was under pressure to airbrush some of the pictures to make thin models look healthier.
This is not new. An overseas health magazine was recently embroiled in controversy after pictures of Polish model Kamilla Wladyka were airbrushed before being featured on the cover page of a health magazine, to make her look bigger.
Nonzwi Cekete of Move!, a magazine for women, said their policy was to use real women.
"We use realistic women that the woman in the street, our reader, can identify with. The woman has to be a reflection of the society we live in," Cekete said.
Award-winning couture designer Gert Coetzee, who makes glamorous gowns, told Sowetan that he preferred thinner models as his outfits looked best on leaner forms.
"Though I make clothes for both thin and fuller women, I use size 32 on the ramp," he said.
Busty models take to the ramp
IT APPEARS reed-thin, tall, angular, flat-chested models with exotic African features are no longer in vogue
That is if the models who walked the ramp last week at the SA Fashion Week are anything to go by.
Last week saw prettier, lighter, bustier, curvier and fuller-hipped models, a rare appearance on the South African fashion circuit.
About 80 percent of these models were local, according to Jenny Andrew, one of the show's producers. She blames the size-zero concept for being responsible for body image issues as well as eating disorders among models.
She said after tons of complaints from local models about not being used, SA Fashion Week decided to have more local models this year.
In 2008 Kgomotso Seboko of KS Models, one of South Africa's top black-owned modelling agencies, complained that South African models did not have "that Y-factor", they were fat and their faces were too ordinary. He complained they had Eurocentric features.
Is fashion undergoing a revolution?
Healthy-looking models are back. The trend was started by fashion icon Victoria Beckham who banned size-zero models from her collection at the New York Fashion Week in March this year.
Beckham reportedly rejected 12 models for being too thin and used the ones above or at size six.
The move towards healthier-looking models is getting the nod from most designers, including Hangwani Nengovhela of Rubicon Fashion.
Nengovhela, one of the designers who showed at the SA Fashion Week, said she was happy with the pool of models she had to choose from.
"They looked normal and healthy. We have always wanted models that our consumers can identify with. We were happy to choose from women who had South African features and body shapes," said Nengovhela.
A glossy magazine editor who didn't want to be named told Sowetan the publication was under pressure to airbrush some of the pictures to make thin models look healthier.
This is not new. An overseas health magazine was recently embroiled in controversy after pictures of Polish model Kamilla Wladyka were airbrushed before being featured on the cover page of a health magazine, to make her look bigger.
Nonzwi Cekete of Move!, a magazine for women, said their policy was to use real women.
"We use realistic women that the woman in the street, our reader, can identify with. The woman has to be a reflection of the society we live in," Cekete said.
Award-winning couture designer Gert Coetzee, who makes glamorous gowns, told Sowetan that he preferred thinner models as his outfits looked best on leaner forms.
"Though I make clothes for both thin and fuller women, I use size 32 on the ramp," he said.
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