There has been a lot of coverage in regards to sample sizes being too small. Just recently MP Friend plus model Sage Salzer participated in a discussion put together by the CFDA “The Beauty of Health: Resizing the Sample Size” with some industry heavyweights like Zac Posen, casting agent James Scully, and straight size model Doutzen Kroes. I’am pleased that they were smart enough to include Sage, her point of view is something that the fashion industry is lacking. She has lived both lives as a straight model and plus.  Sage understands first hand the pressures of fitting into that sample size.

“The consensus that evening was that the fashion industry (designers, magazine editors, modeling agencies, & casting directors) needs to stop hiring models under about the age of 18.  After a woman has gone through puberty it’s practically impossible to get her hips as small as they need to be for these shows.” – Sage Salzer

They discussed the weight requirements in the industry and how to best change the established mind sent of the fashion industry, it is an uphill battle as you can see from this quote. None of this will be solved overnight.

“I can open up any magazine or go to any show and tell you what girls are taking Adderall, how many girls are taking Vicodin, how many girls are throwing up — girls are really resorting to dangerous things,” – James Scully

The core of the problem is not the technical sample size but that the designers are choosing to create the sample size so small. There are many reasons this is done one of them is money related and the other is that the smaller the girl the more the outfit becomes the focal point over the model. The fashion industry is a buisness and I think just now they are starting to see the beast that they created. I am hoping to see some changes, but like everything, it takes time.

Robin Givans fashion editor for the Washington Post also points out that:

The sample size is so tiny that only extraordinarily thin women can fit in it. And when magazines have to photograph those clothes four or five months before they hit stores, the only way to photograph them is to use the samples. As a result, the models have to be thin enough to fit.

“Editors constantly say, ‘Oh yeah, I would definitely use a larger model, except they don’t fit the clothes that we’re shooting,’ ” Givhan said

Read more here & here.

What do you think about the sample size debate?