In a scathing Instagram post, outspoken supermodel Tyra Banks hit out on the fashion industry’s increasingly unfair treatment and high expectations of young models. Posting a photo of herself backstage from one of her first ever YSL shows in “sneakers, plaid flannel and bad jeans” she continued “Mr. Yves Saint Laurent couldn’t care how I looked when I arrived to his show. But when I hit his stage, he expected excellence.” The model addressed the long-debated issue of size 0 in today’s industry, “When I was a young model, yeah, we had to think about our weight, but not like today. I think I was a size 6, not a size 0.”
Banks also expressed her feelings towards the demand for “Insta-famous” models and the impact on not so insta-savvy models’ careers, “They have to have tons of followers on social media to book top-notch jobs. And they have to do selfies to make them look relatable but not TOO relatable, because then people may comment that they don’t understand, ‘Why the heck is THAT girl a frig**n model??!!!!’.”
The ascending topic of diversity and ethics in the industry has slid into the forefront again this week. Tyra’s post follows after equally forthright model Amber Valletta took a stand on fashion’s unethical practice of child labour in an interview with Vogue this week, stating, “No one wants to wear clothes that were made from someone’s blood.” Valetta teamed up with Made-In-A-Free-World, an organization which uses software to check for “Slavery footprints” and calls for “free markets, free people”.
Check out Banks’ post here.