So Karlie Kloss has caught the spotlight for being way too thin, a ‘thinspiration’ as pro-anorexia websites think. They love her.

But are these accusations true in any sense? Do you think she’s unnaturally skinny, or is there nothing wrong with her frame? 

Read below for a closer look. 

The editorial, which saw her being hailed as ‘The New Body’, is now being used on several pro-anorexia websites as ‘thinspiration’ for those seeking to loose weight in an unhealthy manner. One picture in particular, of Kloss wearing black micro-shorts, with her abdominal muscles contorted at an unusual angle has caused the most consternation, Fashionista reports.

Vogue Italia were quick to react to the huge amount of negative comments from those worried about it encouraging young girls to match the former dancer’s slight figure, taking the image off their website earlier this week. However, this latest development will be particularly unwelcome as they have campaigned against the dangerous ‘pro-ana’ websites themselves.

[Via source]

A few thoughts from Franca Sozzani at Vogue.It

I think that letting people talk about things they don’t know, or about what they assume to be the truth, is rather interesting as it entails various conclusions.

First: who said these pictures have been heavily Photoshopped is wrong.

Second: very few understand photography and don’t know about the viewpoint a body can be shot from. If the bust is imbalanced with respect to the pelvis and the picture is not frontal, the hips will look wider and the waist thinner.

Third: not only Karlie is not anorexic but has a muscular body with a rounded contour due to the muscles’ tension, as you can see on the cover picture, where the “buttocks” are muscular and rounded, just like the thighs and the biceps, and to hush everyone up on this matter it will be enough to know that she was picked by Victoria’s Secret, the underwear line that loves real women par excellence and for which all models have posed: Adriana Lima, Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Eva Herzigova, Laetitia Casta, Bar Rafaeli, Gisele Bundchen or Miranda Kerr. Victoria’s Secret would never use an anorexic model as this would clash with their philosophy that enhances a woman who is provocative and sexy, especially when wearing a bra and knickers or a micro-petticoat.

Fourth: I did not remove the first picture from the site because I thought it set a bad example due to its thinness, but because I am aware of the fact that people can easily attach labels without thinking, so I believed I could avoid a pointless debate. I made a mistake. I had to do what I thought was right, that is leave the picture and let everybody express their opinion freely. The picture is beautiful and that’s all.

A few years ago I had to argue with the readers when they accused Karen Elson, who is beautiful and has a very feminine figure, of being anorexic. Those pictures had been realized using a technique conceived by Man Ray called “distortion”. Images shot with an elongated “distorted” effect, a bit like when we look in a convex mirror, obtained using zoom lenses and in particular wide-range zoom lenses, but also with normal lenses and in this case the effect depends on how close the shot is made. The limbs look elongated and obviously thinner. It’s a photographic technique.

Fifth: I started my battle against pro-anorexia websites speaking as a layman and I would never want to set a bad example. But if in order to avoid doing “visible mistakes” I must give up on special and experimental pictures, I’d rather start photography courses to educate many people who work in this  field who don’t know anything about the history of photography.

Just to enlighten yourselves, have a look at the pictures shot by Penn or Avedon in the 50s and 60s as, although the models are clothed, you will understand that movement was key in their photography and the models’ moves where expressly over-enhanced to add depth to an image.

Sixth: before talking, why not just ask? I would have answered your doubts before, without causing so many pointless remarks.

And, by the way, don’t forget Karlie is first of all a classical ballet dancer and her body and mucles reflects this. Her body resembles that of Margot Fonteyn, one of the greatest classical ballet dancer of all times.

[Via source]