Grace Jones on today’s models: ‘Size 0 is like the walking dead’

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I have been fascinated with Grace Jones since I saw the video for her song “Demolition Man” back in the infancy of MTV. I also loved the arresting visuals of her “Slave to the Rhythm” video, but don’t get me started. Grace has also, well, graced the silver screen in such camp classics as Conan the Destroyer and Vamp, and got to play a Bond villainess in View to a Kill (a/k/a the Bond movie with the best theme song ever.)

Grace, with her unique, androgynous beauty, has done her share of modeling. At the age of 18, Grace signed with Wihelmina Modeling Agency and was one of the Paris fashion scenes most in-demand models, walking the runway for Yves St. Laurent and other prominent designers and appearing on many magazine covers, including Vogue and ELLE. When asked by The Guardian about the current state of the modeling industry, the always outspoken, 69-year-old icon said “I’m glad I’m not doing it now. I’d probably be dead. Everybody’s so skinny. Size 0 is like the walking dead. Not sexy at all.” She went on to add “When I modeled, I would normally be a model size 6, 8, though my shoulders are wide, it’s hard to make them fit into things. Now I can’t get into model sizes, because they’re really small.”

Actress and model Liv Tyler shared a similar sentiment back in 2015, noting, “If you look back at Helena Christensen or Christy Turlington, they were probably a 4 or a 6 — they had beautiful bodies, very lean, obviously, and gorgeous. They obviously took beautiful care of themselves — they weren’t malnourished. The girls walking the catwalk [now] are very, very thin and very tall.”

Grace is currently on the promotional tour for her upcoming documentary, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, directed by Sophie Fiennes (yes, sister to Joseph and Ralph). I can’t wait to see it myself, and I still need to read her wonderfully titled 2015 book, Grace Jones: I’ll Never Write My Memoirs. It’s too bad that she doesn’t model anymore, as she still looks amazing and we could use a little more excitement on the runway. Of course, I would make any excuse to see more of Grace anywhere.

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42nd Toronto International Film Festival - Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami - Premiere

42nd Toronto International Film Festival - Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami - Premiere

42nd Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) - 'Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami' - Premiere

Photos: Getty Images, WENN.com

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89 Responses to “Grace Jones on today’s models: ‘Size 0 is like the walking dead’”

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  1. Enough Already says:

    She’s right and no, it’s not skinny shaming. Of course there are naturally slender size zeros and some of them may even be six feet tall but we’re talking about an industry that promotes and condones eating disorders and body dysmorphia for profit. Ugh.

    • Lolo86lf says:

      +1. Women who have a too-low measure on the BMI should not be allowed to model. I am loving Project Runway season 16 because they hired curvy models who represent real women not malnourished women.

      • Ladidah says:

        I know it is not what you were trying to say (that skinny women bodies are not real women), but just in case anyoe feels hurt – I will say it – skinny women are real women too. If you look at advertisements from the 1950s, straight and narrow was out, they sold weight gain supplements for women who lacked curves, boobs, etc.

        There has always been some ideal body standard for women to which no one could ever measure up.

        But all women’s bodies represent real women 🙂 big, small, tall, short, in a wheelchair, or otherwise ill or disabled which can make one very thin or sometimes very fat.

      • LAK says:

        I’m sorry, but by your comment really infuriates me.

        Outside of the preferred body type and size of the modelling industry, women come in all shapes and sizes. They may or may not be tall, short, fat, skinny, and with or without boobs or butts. They may also be healthy or unhealthy at all weight sizes and sizes and have body dysmorphia.

        They are women. Not ‘unreal’ or ‘real’ according to your internalised dislike of the fashion standard that fetishises only one body type and size. And yes, regardless of the fashion standard, those skinny models are ‘real’ women too.

      • Miss Jupitero says:

        Thank you for standing up for us skinny girls! Seriously, Up until age 35, I couldn’t gain weight at all and was constantly hassled for it. I think the central problem is that we live in a culture that views women’s bodies as community property. It hurts all of us, and this is what has to stop.

      • magnoliarose says:

        I am a real woman, and I don’t starve myself, and I have always been thin. Weight gain would mean I would have to consume an enormous amount of food and that is as bad as starving. We are all real women and ok the way we are.

      • littlemissnaughty says:

        Okay for all the people who constantly scream about “all women are real”: Yes, we are. But can we acknowledge that a lot of what we see in print ads, in magazines etc. is just not real? Nobody looks like that because they’re Photoshopped to hell and back. So no, a lot of what’s presented to us is actually not real women. On the runway, sure. We can replace the word real with the word natural there. A lot of what we see on runways is not actually natural because these girls and women do diet and starve themselves. Exceptions exist but they ARE exceptions. Most women are not naturally skinny.

        I don’t know why everyone always feels so attacked.

      • magnoliarose says:

        Littlemissnaughty

        Models have to take care of their bodies and maintain a size, but the photoshopping is exaggerated that it is as extreme as it is stated.
        https://d1w5usc88actyi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/fstoppers-victoria-secrets-retouching-9.1.jpg

        My point is the exceptions are the models with long careers. It is modeling. It isn’t meant for women to emulate a finished photograph. Women aren’t supposed to work on their bodies like models do it isn’t their job.
        That being said Kaia Gerber does not look healthy and looking at Cindy she seems somewhat haggard lately too. What gives? Not good. Not attractive.
        I don’t like that at all. THAT is a wrong message and should not be praised.

        Women should love themselves and accept they are beautiful as they are. I see beautiful women all the time, and they are all sizes, ages, ethnicities, shades and styles, but they don’t believe it when they should. As cliche as it is a beautiful human being is beautiful from within but an ugly inside is just ugly.

    • Sixer says:

      Definitely NOT skinny-shaming. I’m a skinny rat. Can’t help it. Genes, dontchaknow. She’s not skinny-shaming me, is she? Size 0 models are pressured into the weight they are by the industry they work in, which is a completely different thing – harmful not only to the models themselves, but to generations of girls and women who feel equally pressurised to emulate them.

      • LuckyZeGrand says:

        Skinny and malnourished are two different things.I gain weight fairly easily and due to my job(not modeling) have to control my weight.I do that by following a diet based on lean protein,low on carbs and almost no sugar apart from fruit.
        Models starve themselves in order to appease an industry that caters overwhelmingly to women and yet still creates standards and rules that they can never fulfill.

      • Sixer says:

        Yes. Exactly. In my case, I could eat the sweet shop* out of chocolate and still look half-starved to everyone else. Natural inclination to thinner or bigger is not what Jones is talking about, is it? It’s industry pressure as you say.

        (*Er… candy store stateside?!)

      • shlockOftheNEw says:

        Cindy Crawford was a bit more muscular in the theme of the “super models”, but her 16yo “I’m a model too” daughter has giant starvation eyes and jutting leg bones? I guess we have to pretend it’s “genetics” when her parents are standing right there, obviously NOT ectomorphic people.

      • third ginger says:

        Sixer, I eat the “sweet shop out” [much better than candy store] and look like an apple, thin legs and an old lady belly. LOL I do not know anyone size zero, at least I don’t think so. My daughter is a 4 or 6 and seems tiny to me.

        On my 65th birthday today, I just wanted to say thanks to the witty and amazing posters here on CB. They brighten my life in these dark times for our beloved republic.

      • Sixer says:

        Hippo bathday to you, Ginger, m’dear!

        I’m more of a feeble banana than an apple, but I like the idea of being fruity!

      • Enough Already says:

        Agree with you both for making this important distinction.
        Sixer
        I was like you until I turned 40. I endured so many nasty comments because of it – even to my face. When I ate large, carb heavy meals to gain weight people whispered that I must be bulemic. When my doctor advised me to drink meal supplements between meals people assumed I was having them instead of meals in order to stay thin. smh. I was sitting on a bench enjoying an ice cream cone once when a woman said hi and commented on how hot it was. I told her it was perfect ice cream weather to which she snapped that it must be nice to be skin and bones and eat ice cream all day. Wtf? That stung for a long time because I was already super self-conscious about my appearance. Fat shaming is and should be seen as wrong and hurtful but it’s funny how comfortable people are criticizing people they feel are too thin.

      • Sixer says:

        Enough – when I was recovering from chemo, I had to drink those supplements just to keep the weight I was at, let alone put it back on. If I get fed up about anything, the weight falls off me (what there is of it). I eat like a horse. All day, every day. I’ve given up being annoyed by it now – it is what it is. But I feel sorry especially for younger women like this. Because it makes women as vulnerable to other people making unwarranted judgements about their bodies as being overweight does.

        But it is an important distinction. Because it is NOT what is happening in the fashion industry.

      • Nikki says:

        Happy Birthday, Third Ginger!! Have a (cele)bitchin’ year ahead!! <3

      • Beth says:

        @Enough Already, people make the same exact judgements and nasty comments to me all of the time. When they see me pig out like I always do, they ask about bulimia, when I have a bottle of water, they assume it’s anorexia and tell me I should go get something to eat. I drink 2 bottles of gross tasting Ensure every morning with my pancakes and donuts to help keep weight on, but it doesn’t help much. It drives me crazy when people are comfortable criticizing thin people, but think fat shaming is wrong and hurtful. Shaming is shaming no matter what size a person is

        Happy birthday @third ginger!

      • third ginger says:

        My God, the garbage some people will say to others. It takes so little to keep one’s comments to oneself. And it can spare so much pain.

      • Bellagio DuPont says:

        @ Sixer:

        Wow….. regarding recovering from Chemo. I nursed my father through cancer and chemo and it was an ABSOLUTE, EPIC, BIAATCH to go through. He got so little I could carry him easily and 80% of the time, I spent managing his eating, supplements, nutrient management, etc (I suspect if I had to go through it, I wouldn’t be strong enough to win the fight).

        Still, congrats for winning and lots of respect!

        I used to be pretty skinny as well (U.K. 6/8). I also got some mean comments from some women at work. Specifically, a group of about 3 hard core dieters who took it as personal insults that I could eat whatever I wanted anytime and still stay skinny (one spitefully told me to drink a keg of oil once to put on weight! Another one said I had the flattest arse she’d ever seen (the bitch….))

        I guess it also infuriated them that I very clearly didn’t give a damn about their comments mainly because it was clear to me their comments were driven more by envy than anything else.

        In retaliation, I would buy a big box of Krispy Kreme’s (sometimes 2 boxes, depending on how pissed I was) for the office in general and munch through quite a few while they watched 😡😡😡

        The climax of my Schadenfreude would usually be when one or more of them would break ranks and have a diet-breaking, sugar encrusted doughnut as well. 😁😁😁

        I guess I should have been nicer, but sometimes, bitches only understand bitchiness.

        Sadly, they would be glad to know that I no longer enjoy the privilege of not having to worry about what I eat. If I tried that Krispy Kreme sh*t now, I would be the size of my car before I finished swallowing the first bite.

        🙁🙁🙁

      • Sixer says:

        Bellagio – the weird thing was that when I was actually HAVING the chemo, I was like a ravening beast! Constantly hungry, almost a vampire in my search for red meat every five minutes. I ate so much that even I couldn’t lose weight. The medics said it was probably all the steroids I was taking. But afterwards – total nightmare. Weight fell off and I was having to force myself to eat and eat just to maintain – hence the nutrient drinks.

      • Bellagio DuPont says:

        Did you go through it alone? Because I had to literally feed my father every meal time otherwise he wouldn’t touch a morsel of food. He would have probably died of starvation eventually.

        I guess my question is, did you go through it alone (which would make you Superwoman, literally) or did you have people cheering you on and keeping you on the right track? (So to speak)

      • magnoliarose says:

        Happy Birthday to triple ginger the third.
        @EA I KNOW THE FEELING!
        @Sixer I am glad you made it to the other side and are healthy now. We couldn’t be without our snarky resident Britisher.
        @BellD
        You are mean. lol

        I used to feel guilty about my weight like I should apologize but not anymore. I got rude comments because my body bounced back after childbirth, but I don’t judge women who struggle or feel better than anyone else. In fact, I hate when new mothers feel that way in their moment of happiness.
        I have had so many nasty barbs or have had people eagle eye me while I eat and then sit like they are waiting for something and then I realized they think I am bulimic. smdh

      • Sixer says:

        Bellagio – I’m talking mostly about the second time (I relapsed), but first time, yep – lovely parents and wider family, and second time, lovely husband, still lovely parents and wider family. So very lucky. My mum was making steak casseroles on an almost permanent basis!

      • Bellagio DuPont says:

        @ Sixer

        Really glad to hear you have a boisterous family around you, or really makes all the difference. 😘😘😘

        @ Magnoliarose:

        Lol….I just refuse to be anybody’s victim.

      • Enough Already says:

        Love all of you ladies and your stories so much!!
        Happy birthdayyyy Miss Ginge!!

        Bellagio
        You’ve got me lmao over here – when I hit my 40s I felt lime someone pulled the cord on the world’s smallest parachute ha ha. I humbly admit I look great and pull off the extra pounds because I’m tall but yeah, no more crunch cake and cocoa breakfasts for me lol. I still swerve on Krispy Kreme though…

      • Maren says:

        I think this is the difference in how to look at it. If you are naturally skinny, and not starving yourself, and eating Adderall and smoking like a fiend, then that is natural and beautiful and healthy. If you are doing those things I just mentioned to stay so thin, then that is unhealthy.
        And after menopause, I don’t know one woman who stays thin like Jane Fonda is without extreme exercise and very careful food intake. They may exist, but I just don’t know them.

      • Bella Dupont says:

        @Enough Already…

        Re still looking tall and beautiful effortlessly….

        You lucky bitch! 🙂 🙂

    • Zondie says:

      Happy Birthday @THIRDGINGER !!

  2. Sixer says:

    If I ever feel miserable, Grace’s La vie en rose is the best tonic EVER. She’s properly, joyously, fierce and bonkers and I love her, even when I disagree with whatever it is she is saying. Here, though, I completely agree with what she is saying.

  3. Miss Jupitero says:

    Speaking as a former ectomorphic teenager who got skinny shamed all the time (seriously, for some us this is just our body type), I don’t take this as skinny shaming at all. She’s right. It is a really hurtful and toxic industry that could easily be very different and better not just for women, but for fashion and style. They need to change their sample sizes.

    • magnoliarose says:

      What is needed is an extension in categories as long as the other qualities and every other thing works then healthy and fit should have a market for a mid-size range. Plus models are already finding their place.

      • Imqrious2 says:

        You DO realize that a very healthy size 8-10 IS considered Plus sized in today’s fashion industry?? How warped is that?!

      • magnoliarose says:

        Yes I do and it is warped. All women should feel good about their natural body type and see it reflected back beautifully.
        Women shouldn’t feel the need to fight nature just to be considered attractive.

    • Miss Jupitero says:

      I would love to see them find a place for petite women. Not just skinny. Some of us are short and have little bones. I am so tired of the limited options and having to have everything I wear altered.

  4. Sunglasses Aready says:

    My older sister is such a huge fan of this lady. When she speaks about her the sentence always starts with ” the one and only original Grace Jones’. She will be fan girling about this documentary

  5. Whatever Gurl says:

    Size 0 with bolt-ons!

  6. milla says:

    I love Grace. She is timeless and fierce and just amazing.

  7. greenmonster says:

    She is right. I remember when Kate Moss started modeling and how she stood out for having an even skinnier bodytype than all of the other models. Todays agents would tell the same Kate Moss to lose some weight.
    Love me some Grace Jones. Back in the day this little girl with a chubby butt would sit in awe in front of the TV when a GJ video came on. I admired her whole attitude (and bodytype) so much.

    • Esmom says:

      Yes, Kate’s “heroin chic” look was a huge departure from the previously healthier looking norm. According to the girl model documentary, which horrified me, the girls eat cotton balls soaked in orange juice. That really stuck with me for some reason, it’s so sad and messed up.

      I saw someone the other day that I’d guess was a model or an aspiring one. Super tall, lovely hair and face but she was so rail thin that she looked like a walking skeleton. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, wondering how she managed not to collapse in a heap with such fragile looking limbs.

    • magnoliarose says:

      No, they wouldn’t tell Kate she was too skinny. Her frame would be standard now; she was tiny. Contrary to what is often reported a model can be too lean. They don’t want grey skeletons with dead eyes and fragile with thin, dry hair.
      The models that do that are lower tier struggling models. No way a model making 2 or 3 million dollars a year is going to mess her body up like that potentially. She has a nutritionist and is invested in looking fresh and healthy.

      • MilaMartini says:

        Have you seen Gigi Hadid lately? She doesn’t look fresh and healthy. She looks like she developed a serious eating disorder. The models walking in Paris and Milan are extremely thin.

      • magnoliarose says:

        Gigi doesn’t look healthy, and that is always the clue that a model is abusing herself with things she shouldn’t. She will be fighting against her body type until her body says No. She looks haggard and spacey.
        There have been complaints about the past seasons, and some labels are continually showing overly thin models. That is unhealthy. So much so that some models skip it and refuse to hurt themselves.

      • shlockOftheNEw says:

        I would like to think the models look “fresh and healthy”, but the first runway show looked like the final scene of invasions of a 3rd kind. The backlit models had willowy limbs and big heads, for me, it was disturbing. I mentioned it to the people I was with and they said I “didn’t understand fashion”. Yeah. I don’t.

  8. JA says:

    Its a total shock to see the figure shift from the 90s super models to the figures on the runway today. Yes some people are naturally thin but to pretend that the fashion does not have some unhealthy expectations for their models is wrong…

  9. JustJen says:

    It never really hit me how tiny the modern models are, until my daughter started wearing clothes from the adult/junior section. She’s petite, a size 1 or 3 in juniors and a size 2 in womens. But then, she’s 5’3. Trying to imagine her size stretched out to a 6 ft tall model rattles my brain. I miss the Cindy C and Linda Evangelista days. Remember Claudia Schiffer?

  10. I love her. Still authentic and uncompromising. I agree, we need more Grace in our lives! 💋❤️

  11. Artemis says:

    I had to convert size 6 – 8 to EU sizes and…it’s doable for most women I think. It would still be lean and takes some effort but you wouldn’t have to deprive yourself like with size 0.

    I was reading an article on SELF about a journalist who followed a supermodel diet and exercise plan for 2 weeks and it’s diabolical. There’s no joy. Like the trainer said (Heather Marr), she prepares the models for aesthetics not athletics and most foods like carbs are forbidden. To think that size 0 is not deliberate is foolish. Genetics can only take you so far. Those girls work very hard to get their bodies so slim AND toned. And it trickled down to these Insta models with their salads and avocado toast while spending 3 hours in the gym because being thin is not good enough, they have to have abs and a bigger ass too. I would rather have a 90s supermodel diet, they seemed to be able to indulge once in a while.

  12. Wren33 says:

    I was skinny until kids, so it is not like I have a problem with skinny women. My issue is that the industry really is fetishizing the 14-year-old body type for women’s fashion. Of course skinny women are real women too, but this stick thin, no curves anywhere look is not something 95% of women have after the teen years.

  13. LizLemonGotMarried says:

    I think all women, skinny, lean, full figured, or curvy, should be comfortable and have a body weight they can maintain and work for an active, balanced lifestyle. The fashion industry doesn’t celebrate muscle or lean strong bodies-they simply want skeletal figures which most closely resemble a hanger because designing clothes to lay nicely is harder when there are bumps on the body (hips, thighs, butt, breasts, etc). What is challenging to me is how we’ve fetishized the crossroads of youth, leanness, and fame to the point where people are dying or mutilating themselves to achieve those results. The 90s supermodels aren’t to blame, but the culture of celebrating inhuman standards of beauty has taken a nasty turn in the last 30 years.

  14. Tiffany says:

    I remember a interview Dolph Lundgren did and he was asked about his life with Grace. It was so bananas and I wanted to date Grace after that.

  15. crotchetyoldcatlady says:

    Well thank god, I now have “View to a Kill” theme song stuck in my head to start the day with. Thumbs up.

  16. magnoliarose says:

    It isn’t skinny shaming because a model who is naturally thin isn’t starving herself. There is nothing a person can do to become a very successful model unless genetics have come together for height, bone structure, proportions and being photogenic. If you have to drop 40 pounds to model then eating disorders and drugs are used to compensate. It will be a daily struggle and a life of misery, and they end up looking unhealthy and don’t last very long.
    One thing Grace doesn’t realize is that her size 4-6 is now a 0-2. 70s models were as thin but not as tall. But even when you look at her now after menopause, you can see she is not prone to being fuller figured. For some models as they age weight becomes a problem because their body is done and will no longer cooperate. Karli Kloss was a skinny kid, so it is natural for her to be very thin.
    Starving for supermodels with longevity is a myth, but it is accurate before show season a model may reduce calories and up the exercise because they expect your measurements to stay static. If it easy then the hardest part of modeling is the other stuff.

      • detritus says:

        “I was horrified to hear what the industry was covering up and I felt complicit. We were all complicit. But in my experience it is practically impossible to get a photographer or a fashion editor – male or female – to acknowledge the repercussions of using very thin girls. They don’t want to. For them, it’s all about the drama of the photograph. They convince themselves that the girls are just genetically blessed, or have achieved it through energetic bouts of yoga and eating goji berries.”

        Thank you for sharing this article.

      • jetlagged says:

        Yes, thank you. It was enlightening. I was particularly struck by the observation that it all starts with the fit models and the samples that come from the designers. Fashion houses might be forcing the fit models to get smaller and smaller in order to cut the cost of producing a show. The fabrics and trims used in high-end fashion and couture are shockingly expensive, with no guarantee a style is going to catch on with editors or buyers. If a designer can send thirty looks down the runway using half-starved models, instead of twenty worn by slightly larger girls, their financial backers would be thrilled.

      • magnoliarose says:

        That article was written four years ago and perpetuates a favorite storyline about models. Those stories are more popular than a model simply saying they maintain their frame with healthy eating and exercise. I am not saying there aren’t models who starve but they don’t last long, and they won’t get editorials or campaigns. They will never make the most money over several years. It shows on a model’s face, and agencies do tell models to gain weight, or they are let go.
        This myth is why I keep saying if a model is not a naturally thin then don’t model. Many plus models started as standard models and decided it wasn’t natural. Ashley Graham is probably much healthier than Gigi. She glows and has the stamina for a busy career, and it radiates from her.
        A healthy body comes in all shapes within reason on both ends of the spectrum. I am not supposed to look like Ashley, and she isn’t supposed to look like me. Modeling is a career that requires a standard and the discipline of an athlete to stay healthy and slender. Shortcuts catch up to a model.

        Coco Rocha debunks five myths about modeling http://wapo.st/16qdKuV?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.25ea06e0914f

      • jetlagged says:

        But isn’t there a different expectation for the girls that toil away doing runway show after runway show, snagging an editorial once in a blue moon, and those that are lucky enough to book editorials and campaigns? It just feels like there is a vast difference between what the everyday model has to endure vs. those that are considered top-tier “supermodels”.

        Gigi Hadid achieved success while she looked thin yet healthy, but fast-forward a few years and she’s melting away before our very eyes. If she feels the need to drop weight at the height of her career, I feel sorry for the anonymous girl just off the bus from Iowa whose agency tells her they can’t send her out to be seen by designers unless her measurements are X-Y-Z.

  17. Charlotte says:

    Hmm, I’m on the fence here.
    I am naturally thin and small-framed, but not that tall (5’6) and a lot of people assume I must diet like crazy all the time to maintain my size (I’m a 0), which I don’t. So my inclination is to think that the majority of models are naturally like that as well. Then I make the mental note that they are are 5 to 7 inches taller than me, and it seems I suppose, yes, a bit unlikely/unnatural.
    But even between models there a differences. Miranda Kerr by example doesn’t look like she starves herself at all, but clearly maintains a balanced lifestyle and also has that aforementioned small frame. For women that height though, I guess the nineties models do look more “realistic” than the current runway girls (Kerr isn’t really runway anyway).

    • MilaMartini says:

      Sorry to tell you that, but you’re a little naive. Many models starve themselves. It’s not even a secret. You can read up on it in Kirstie Clements’ book. She used to be an editor at Vogue.

  18. Betsy says:

    I’d be happy for runway models to be adult women with any size other than the ultra skinny size they are presently. It’s sheer laziness on the part of the designers, for one thing – these women are so thin that clothing can just hang and look decent. Designing for someone other than straight lines is more complicated.

    ETA: perhaps what I am hoping for is something that reads as aspirational possibly attainable. The glamazon look wasn’t necessarily attainable either, but it was closer than what there is now.

  19. Megan says:

    I don’t know….first of there is vanity sizing, so a 6-8 today was probably a 0 back in the day.

    We watched “Mahogany” on TCM on Friday night and Diana Ross was scary skinny! I’ve noticed this about a lot of older movies – the actresses were so thin! Of course now we know they were given diet pills, and later on cocaine…

  20. Ladidah says:

    Grace Jones is my everything, and also she is right.

    They have to photoshop models like Karlie Kloss to look less underweight

    https://jezebel.com/5947061/karlie-kloss-loses-her-ribs-to-numero

    Kloss works out diligently, sticks to an egg white omelet, has to watch what she eats – all so they can photoshop more weight on her. Really??!? Let the women eat.

    • Betsy says:

      And that’s it, isn’t it? They hide how truly thin these models are.

    • Maren says:

      That is startling!! Karlie’s ribs sticking out are frightening, but when you look at her sternum – those bones sticking out?? That is truly scary. She looks starvation thin.

  21. Heather says:

    Is that Ralph Fiennes sister in the picture with her?? Grace Jones is also an abusive person. Given the abuse that has come out of Hollywood in the past few weeks, I’m suprised that you are willing to overlook her behaviour simply because she is a woman.

  22. Meggles says:

    I don’t disagree with her but with vanity sizing who can even say what a size 0 is? I bought a skirt the other day that was size 0, and the waistband was larger than that of a size 12 pair of shorts I bought in about 1998.

    • Beth says:

      Every brand seems to be totally different than each other. My Levi’s and Gap shorts, both labeled the same size, are not even close to actually being the same size.

      • Lynnie says:

        It really infuriates me that women don’t have standard sizing the way men do for their clothes. I honestly don’t see why not other than the fact that life is very unfair to women and/or they get extra money in all the confusion, but still. Standard measurements does wonders in science I don’t see why fashion can’t have the same thing smh.

      • Julianna says:

        Women can’t have standard sizing because we all come in such different shapes, and we wear a lot of clothing that highlights those shapes, unlike men who primarily just cover up whatever shape they are.

        The vast, vast majority of men will have shoulders wider than their torso and their hips and ass will be relatively in proportion to their waist. So if a top fits their shoulders, it fits, and if pants fit their waist, they fit. Might not be a perfect fit, but it’s workable. Obese men, athletes, bodybuilders etc. have the same issues women do because they change their basic proportions.

        With women you can’t just go by shoulder, hip and waist measurements. Even with clothing that just has to hang, you’ll get women with extremely narrow shoulders but a massive bust, or a narrow waist and hips but thick thighs. When you take more fitted clothing into account, standard sizing is just a nightmare. It’ll only work for women who are ‘standard’, and that’s not most women.

        We all have stores where the measurements don’t suit out shape. Now imagine that’s every store, because there’s only one set of measurements.

    • Erica_V says:

      Ugh THIS! I’ve worn AE jeans for years and years and my old size 0s are the same waist band measurement as my new size 6s. I can’t even get a size 0 from them up my leg anymore.

      Now one could say my old jeans have stretched out and they are no longer the size they were when I originally bought them but they didn’t stretch 3 sizes in the waist.

  23. Zondie says:

    So happy to see this story on Grace Jones! Just yesterday I randomly started singing the song of hers -Where has everybody gone.. And then I started missing the 80ies. Weird coincidence

  24. booRadley says:

    Grace was before my time, but my dad, of all people, loved her. Always, would find reasons to bring her up in conversation, and once tried to sit me down and give like an hour lecture on her greatness lol.
    I miss him 🙁

  25. Leigh Reyes says:

    Amen to Grace’s comments. This season’s new “it” girl Kia Gerber is terrifying to look at she’s so skinny. Yeah, I shouldn’t body shame her, but by promoting that as the ideal the fashion industry is body shaming 99% of us.

  26. PoliteTeaSipper says:

    I am so sick of being classified as “the walking dead” because I work out and take care of my body and my health. I guess my size 0 body is “fake” and I’m not a “real woman”. *eyeroll*

    • Maren says:

      Working out and eating healthy are both good, and I don’t think anyone is saying that a size 0 is fake and bad. What they are saying is that when you have to do crazy dieting and/or working out to be a size 0, that is not healthy. And it’s not!!
      My sister has an eating disorder. She is 5ft5in and when she hit about 125 in high school, she drastically changed her diet and worked out like a fiend. 40 years later, she barely eats and works out for 2 hours a day. She has circulation problems, and is always sick.

  27. adastraperaspera says:

    I am living for this documentary! Cannot wait!

  28. Pandy says:

    I saw a pic of Gigi Hadid with mother on Reality Tea earlier. Link from above from Brandi Glanville needs a cami. Her legs were bony. She used to have that lean athlete look. Of course it’s the industry.

    • magnoliarose says:

      It is her choice, not the industry’s fault. She is forcing herself to be something she isn’t, and not everyone should be a standard sized model. Modeling isn’t a life requirement. It is a career for some people that is all.

      • Stella Alpina says:

        It’s the industry’s fault. The ones most responsible for the starvation trend are the designers. They could easily change things. They won’t because they don’t want the healthy supermodel to return again. They don’t want a repeat of a time when the models were treated like movie stars, when they attracted more attention than the clothes, when models had real bargaining power.

        It’s easier for the industry to control a model barely out her teens, who is inexperienced and, in many cases, starving. They can’t assert themselves like the supermodels did. Linda, Christy, Cindy, etc., had a lot of power in their time. Plus, there are plenty of designers these days who don’t have the skill to tailor clothes to a body that’s not straight up and down.

        During the late 80s – early 90s supermodel era, there was more variety in body shapes. The models were still slender, of course, in comparison with body types outside fashion. But you had “curvier” models like Helena and Cindy. Claudia was busty. Christy had 36″ hips and a tiny waist. Fashion models can’t have hips bigger than 35″ now. There was a lot of ethnic variety and models of mixed heritage. Today’s models are very much interchangeable. And it’s no accident that the models they employ are getting younger and younger. You often see 14 to 16-year-olds on the catwalk.

        Designers set the rules and the sample size for the runway. They allowed more variety back then. They have become more and more rigid about body measurements over the last 2 decades. It really took off after that disgusting “heroin chic” trend in the mid 90s and it’s never recovered. The pendulum has never really swung back to a healthier-looking appearance. When Kate Moss started, she was described as underweight by the media and by many in the fashion industry. Now that body type is considered the norm.

        Designers could EASILY decide that a size 6 be the new sample runway size. That would quickly become the standard, such is their influence. What would then happen is that more models would be able to wear the clothes and not have to starve as they would to wear a size 2 or 0. Also, the models who exercise now aren’t doing so for health reasons. It’s so they can have the lowest body fat possible.

        The industry is run like an oligarchy. The small group of power players at the top decide what’s “in” and everyone else falls in line. A power player can promote a starting model (who is bland or a bit quirky-looking to others in the industry). This power player can then declare her to be a rare beauty and a great muse. All the people lower on the totem pole will agree and hype her up, whether or not she really has any ability to model.

        As I said, it’s very much the industry’s fault because the ones who rule it have the power to make industry-wide changes. They could decide that Gigi’s earlier body is where it’s at – “the return of the curvy girl” – similar to how they hyped up the return of the busty model (Gisele, with her implants) back in the early 2000s. But they won’t. It’s easier for them to exploit teen girls than grown women.

  29. Melanie says:

    Not only should you read Grace autobiography but purchase her CD “Hurricane”. Get the remix version and play it LOUD

  30. gobo says:

    It’s the designers who make the clothes a sample size for the run way. For the industry to change they need to stop making the sample size ever smaller as this is the primary pressure impacting models. Helena Christensen or Christy Turlington wouldn’t get Catwalk work if they were starting out today because they wouldn’t fit into the clothes.

    • Stella Alpina says:

      Exactly. Some designers in the past have said how “shocked” they were at the skinniness of runway models. So disingenuous of them. Designers are full of sh-t because they are the ones with the power in the fashion industry. They decide the sample size the models must wear. The blame lies entirely with them.

  31. Hikaru says:

    “Size 0 is like the walking dead. Not sexy at all” neither is being fat yet we have media pushing both down our throats all the time. What happened to being a healthy 20/21/22 BMI? Must we all aspire to be either walking dead or waddling fat?

  32. Her Higness says:

    MORE GRACE JONESSSSSSSSSSSS PLEASE