A Model’s Point of View
Sudanese model Alek Wek recently spoke out about an issue that has plagued the fashion world for years and continues to wreck havoc in the catwalk community. Coming from a war torn country with a long and tragic history of famine, she has a hard time accommodating the reasons behind anyone wiling starving themselves to maintain a thin frame.
The modeling world can be a cruel awakening to the ugly side of glamour. It’s not all about the designer clothes and exotic locations it’s also substituting a balanced diet with liquor and drugs. Being on a high can relieve the hunger pains which guarantee that you won’t pack on the pounds and your job as jet-setting model is intact.
Wek acknowledges that she is in an enviable position to use her high-profile status to spread the work about hunger in her country and also in the fashion industry even though both cases are vastly different. After attending the Refugee Congress in DC, this past summer, she was humbled by the stories she heard and more determined than ever to give this heart-wrenching issue the kind of attention it deserves. That’s also why she is revolted by the dietary practices of models who have access to food and are surrounded by abundance but prefer to starve.
But at the same time the fashion world is quite unforgiving, and the stipulations are almost unattainable so until the sizes become a little bit more flexible, it’s hard to see this problem eradicated anytime soon.
Hopefully more models like Alek Wek will step up and encourage the industry to re-think their stringent practices and adapt a more realistic forecast.
21 Comments – Add Yours
Latest Articles
Most Popular This Week
Recent Comments
-
overseas_honeybee on
Meagan Good Tells Life & Style She & Her Fiancée Are Waiting For Their Wedding Night
+1. It's rare to hear someone stand up for what they believe in and be that example of what is right for those proclaiming Christianity. So...
-
Ja Moss on
Meagan Good Tells Life & Style She & Her Fiancée Are Waiting For Their Wedding Night
I would like to congratulate Megan and her fiance for doing what goes against the norm of this now sex crazed society. God Bless their...
-
NY's Finest on
The Black Beauty Standard
@Pseudonym: That lyric means her face is bleached but the rest of her body isn't.
-
elaine on
Dear H&M: Thank You For Reminding Us Beauty Doesn’t Stop At Size 6
@rlizak While I find some of your reasoning flawed (who is running 5 miles without breating hard?!?) I agree with you. While it is...
She has a long road to travel, wish her luck.
i think the fashion industry is run by gay men who have little regard for women….
You Think? You are right on the money. The fashion industry is made up of a lot of gay men who require grown azz women to have the bodies of 12 yr-old-little boys so they can play dress up. It is sick. (note: I did not say or elude that gay men are child molesters)
I wish they just let them accept transsexuals on the catwalk and leave the women alone.
Which is why I boycott anything Victoria Secret. This place threw out a woman who was breast feeding her infant. Yeah!!!!!
She’s gorgeous! Love her and what she’s doing
I have always LOVED Alek Wek. I love the fact that she didn’t listen to what others probably said to her about her look and stuck to what she believes in. No weave. No skin bleaching, just dark lovely and natural. As far as her cause, I hate to seem pessimistic, but she’s fighting a losing battle. The modeling industry likes to make it seem like they tolerate anyone over a size 2, but the major fashion houses don’t.
but doesnt her looking that thin benefit her career though???
@james umm you’re late sir. we all know that women only listen to their gay friends and not the men who constantly express that they don’t find women on america’s next top model attractive. so many men tell me they like a woman with meat and not a starving skeleton. i always thought women were going anorexic because men loved skinny girls but they really don’t
*yawn*
what is she trying to say? that she’s so perfect with a “natural” supermodel body and other supermodels that have to work to get a body like her “natural” one should just go get a job as a substitute teacher instead of making millions of dollars walking and posing? Or that girls shouldn’t aspire to look like her or like other models who pose seductively on the covers of magazines or wear beautiful clothes on runways. I lost respect for her. She should use I statements. “I feel ashamed of what I’ve done to keep this body so that I can continue to be in the 1% of Americans. I am willing to do X for the starving children of Sudan. I will not continue modeling as long as I have to force my body into unrealistic ideals of beauty.”
You’re assuming that she has to go through those same lengths to maintain her small frame. Some people are in fact naturally skinny and can maintain their frame in a health manner. She’s not addressing being skinny, but those that go about it the wrong way…
I think Alek is stunning and an authentic beauty. I wish her the best of luck. I support her cause. Many runway models are 5’11 and 105 pounds which is really sad.
I love her I love her I love her… She is so poised and she is a model that I love to hear speak.
That’s exactly it feri. If she doesn’t have to go through those lengths to look like a “supermodel” and she is saying to models that don’t “naturally” look like that “eat ‘normally’” then that is unfair. Why shouldn’t they be able to make that exorbitant amount of money as well and get fame and be regarded as exceptionally beautiful, sexy, etc.? That is so judgmental. It’s like telling an NBA athlete, that they should not exercise excessively and watch their diet. You can play a good game of basketball without a six pack. It’s the models’ job to look like that. Anorexia is a mental disorder. You can’t just catch it. And it’s not their job to make “regular” people feel good about their BMI. LOL
I love this woman, my boss used to work for her and she has nothing but praises to sing! She told me Miss Wek loves to donate her clothing after a fashion shoot, which is kind of funny and sad; even my boss, this uber thin gorgeous chick, often times could not fit into Miss Wek’s clothing! I have no doubt she has the best intentions.
“It’s the models’ job to look like that. Anorexia is a mental disorder. You can’t just catch it. And it’s not their job to make “regular” people feel good about their BMI. LOL”
Wow, you do know that most models are underaged and suffering from anorexia. Of course you just can’t catch it, but when you have the pressure to look like an impossible work of art, no sh*t you’re going to get an eating disorder. Really, MOST models starve themselves in some way. I suggest you read up first… most models also don’t break past 60,000 a year. You are really misinformed. The ones we see makeup a small fraction of the actual industry. It has been consistently rated one of the most depressing jobs to have.
Shoot me, but I’m just commenting because she is African! Go wek go wek go wek!
I hope folks don’t get too angry with me but I don’t see anything remotely attractive about this woman. I admire what she’s doing and am happy for her success but she’s just not pretty to me. She doesn’t even have a nice body…too thin. Just my opinion
This article has absolutely nothing to do with her level of attractiveness (or supposed lack thereof).
@kim.
When you become a model you do so on your LOOKS. I’m entitled to my opinion. I just don’t see it….whatever
@Shirl
That’s not even half correct. Victoria Secret models [and super models] have to be beautiful because A) They are chosen by women to represent women and B) They sell lingerie. Most models look ATYPICAL at best. Hardly beautiful… especially without makeup. A normal runway does not include the beauties we see in the papers.
@ Timcampi,
Girrrrrrrrrrrl, uh uh…..VS supermodels have to be beautiful. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because that Selita Banks is NOT, not even close to beautiful. She is maaaaaaaaad regular to me.
Shirl does have a point, cruel but nonetheless very pointful (is that even a word?!)
i can’t see the comments. ?
I guess she is very striking if that means anything. And I totally agree with African Mami. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure that Ms. Wek is somewhere having a wonderful life while I sit here at my desk wishing I could experience half of the things she has. So I’m sure she cares what I think right.
My agent told me to gain or loose weight to be a fashion model. I failed to gain so had to loose weight instead and became miserable. Models out there don’t starve yourself to be thin. You can become a commercial model still grace the covers and be a top model.