THE fashion industry and its models are out of step with the average Australian woman, according to a University of Queensland researcher.
Department of Art History head Margaret Maynard said the industry had produced 'physically improbable fashion models' who were regarded by model agencies in Australia as imports, with Australian models generally larger than their European counterparts.
Dr Maynard said today's fashion model was presented as a 'woman-girl' or 'woman-boy' with many as detached from their audiences as store dummies.
But the trend towards thinner and at times almost skeletal models was nothing new, she said.
As far back as the early 1920s, modelling was an important new career option for women seeking upward mobility despite the fact it was poorly paid initially and shared the dubious reputation held by actresses, Dr Maynard said.
Dr Maynard said the 1920s also saw the start of the 'impossible image' when the plump 'Gibson Girl', with measurements of 38-27-45, was replaced by an ideal who was tall, slim, languid and graceful.
In the terminology of the day the model was also described as 'a bit tired and frail as a reed', similar to today's washed-out-waif and drug addict looks.
Even then, the media of the day noted the dangers of trying to emulate models' slender looks as women tried to achieve the new image of slim, svelte fashionability.
Dr Maynard said the multi-million dollar fashion industry had continued to ignore consumers and was now in crisis.
'Women are exercising greater discrimination and finding store clothes no longer fulfil their needs. Happy to look, they are resisting fashion's powerful messages and not splurging,' she said.
Dr Maynard said while most people agreed clothes look better on slim models there was a growing hostility towards the 'thinness trend'.
'While an average Australian woman is estimated at size 14, and in Britain 47 per cent of women are size 16 and above, ?figure fascist designers' continue to promote and produce unrealistic garment sizes of eight to ten,' she said.
'Compared to the eighties, women consumers are becoming more assertive and are visibly reconstituting their own self-images of femininity which is proving unprofitable for both manufacturers and retailers.
'The fashion dummy, living or still, continues to encourage indulgent dreams and pleasures and although women are looking and enjoying, they are not always believing.'
Dr Maynard trained as a dress historian in London and Brisbane and has written widely on dress and art history. She is an honorary adviser on costume to the Queensland Museum.
For information phone Dr Maynard on (07) 3365 2960.
