Headline November 26, 2016/ ''' *Modelling -STUDENTS- Meaningful* '''

''' *Modelling -STUDENTS- Meaningful* '''

BUT AS I FOUND DURING MY short career as a male model,  men and boys are  increasingly at risk in the odd, unregulated workplace that is the fashion world.

Being a man does not make you safe: Male models are often subject to sexual harassment but very, very rarely report it. And, like their female counterparts, they are under tremendous pressure-  to have just the right kind of body.   

Recent menswear trends have polarized male catwalk modelling, encouraging either extreme muscularity or waifish androgyny. Want to look like that? It will likely make you sick.

THIN IN JAPAN : Nowhere has  *supper skinny*  become  more prevalent than in East Asia.   *Japan has long been a major player in the fashion world*-  but the rise of  China  and  South Korea  has cemented the importance of East Asia.

But Asia just doesn't present new opportunities; it also brings new threats.

The market is known in the fashion world for its preference for ultra-skinny male models. More on it, in the following next publishing. In the meantime back to Europe.  

ON CERTAIN JOBS, I have been shocked by how young many of the models are. At my last show, the  Andrea Crews collection shown in Paris in January 2016, I shared a cigarette with a boy backstage-

Whose tousled hair,  slender body, boyish features and full lips combined to male him look delicate and androgynous.

''How old are you?'' I asked him. ''Fifteen.'' he said, looking nervous. 'I don't really know what I'm doing here.''

Critics and Commentators  have long criticized the use of very young male models in the fashion industry, but the current trend for models with boyish or androgynous looks has intensified the criticism.

The androgynous look pushes male models to lose muscle mass and women to lose their natural curves. One model, Jack -that's a pseudonym  -says that has increased competition between men and women for the same shows.

[At Gucci's menswear show in January 2015, for example, boyish female models walked alongside waifish men.]

In stark contrast to the androgynous male models on the catwalks are the muscle-bound male models typified by the perfectly sculpted  British model David Gandy. But beneath those hypermuscular builds are often serious health problems.

''The big, muscular guys are no better off,'' says a British photographer, whose work is regularly featured in  American Vogue  and  GQ France and who requested anonymity.

''Men who are that big, who go the gym that often and have 2% body fat  -they are starving themselves too.''

Researchers and mental health experts have coined the term  bigorexia to describe muscle  dysmorphia, a distorted perception of the body as too weak and lacking muscle that fuels obsessive workouts even among the most toned men and bodybuilders.

The pressure to lose weight is common among male models. In December 2013, Jack,who had trained as a dancer and had muscular legs, was told by his agents to lose 3 kilograms, {about 6,5 pounds} from his legs for a Saint Laurent fitting.

''It was a huge pressure.'' He prioritized reaching his target weight over his health. ''It pushed me towards`a eating disorder. All the gilt, constantly -it was like pre-bulimia.''

Almost every one of the 15 insiders spoken to by the author, for a highly respected magazine, disclosed that Saint Laurent's recently departed creative director, , Hedl Slimane, spearheaded  the rise of the ultra-skinny male model.

Karl Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel and one of fashion's most powerful designers, wrote in  The Telegraph in 2004 that  ''Silmane's fashions modelled by very, very slim boys, required me to lose at least six of my 16 stone.''

Silmane defended his preferences for super skinny young men in an interview with Yahoo Style last year, explaining that he was bullied as a teenager for not having a traditionally masculine build:

''I was precisely just like any of these guys I photograph or that walk my shows. Jackets were always a little too big for me.

Many in high school, or in my family, were attempting to make me feel I was half a man because I was lean.'' Silmane says later in the interview that there was derogatory and homophobic undertone to the idea that skinny was  ''queer''.

For many fashion insiders, the reason for his casting choices are hardly relevant; what matters is the impact  Silmane had on models  -and even men outside the fashion world.

The British photographer who worked for American Vogue is highly critical of the male body type promoted by the designer.

''Hedi idolizes emaciated boys,'' he says. Slimane created an aesthetic that he sums up as-

''Underage  and   underfed.''  Saint Laurent and Silmane declined repeated requests for comment when approached.

The Honour and Serving of the latest Operational Research on  *Life and the Thin Sins* continues. Thank Ya all for reading and sharing forward and see you on the following one:

With most respectful dedication to all the  Models, Students and Fashion Industry's  *Creative Directors*  of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students and Twitter-!E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:  

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Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless