Liv Tyler, 38, has a new interview with Yahoo! Style. She’s currently starring in The Leftovers, which is in its second season on HBO, and has a new indie film coming out next year called Wildling. Plus she just designed a clothing collection for British brand Belstaff, which I suppose is why she talking to Yahoo! Style. She also has a ten year-old son and an eight month-old son at home. She’s described by the journalist as exhausted and she sounds like she has a lot on her plate. Liv is also thinking about body image when it comes to fashion and while she seems to hold herself back from saying that today’s models are too thin, she does describe the models of the 90s as not “malnourished”:
“I go through periods where I just want to wear sweatpants and a puffer coat, and I wish I lived in Maine where I grew up and I could just jump in the car and go to school,” she says. “And then I stop myself and say, wait, you’re so lucky you get to live in New York City and you have beautiful clothes. Pull yourself together.”
“Samples are a size zero — they’re so tiny,” says Tyler. “I’m 5’10”, a giant, and I wear a size 10 shoe. Sometimes I just have to settle for what fits.” She says a sample came in the other day from a designer brand she often works with, and the bra looked like it wouldn’t even fit her 10-year-old. “It was like a training bra,” she says with a disappointed sigh. “But if I were 5’2″ and really petite [like a lot of actresses] I could wear those things.”
Samples, she notes, weren’t that small when she first started modeling. “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,” she says. “They obviously took beautiful care of themselves — they weren’t malnourished.” Today, sadly, is a different story. “The girls walking the catwalk [now] are very, very thin and very tall,” she says. But when I ask her what she thinks of that change, Tyler demurs. “I hate to make big statements because people just run with it and take it out of context,” she says. “The whole industry has changed, it’s hard to comment.”
Like any woman, though, Tyler says, she has days when she wonders whether she should try harder to fit into certain beauty standards: “I’m looking at photos and thinking, wait, should I look like that? Do I need to do that? Do I want that?”
But Tyler always manages to find a way back to herself. “I’ve always felt this strange combination — a will to be myself and to keep what is authentic about me [juxtaposed with] this other side of my work, which is very much about beauty and physical appearance,” she explains. “I think there is a lot of pressure [in Hollywood] to look the same, now more than ever. But I always try to remind myself of who I am, and stay true to that, to not compare myself to others.”
Liv makes a good point about the sizes of 90s models vs. today. It would be nice to see more size 4 and 6 models in general, although of course today’s sizes 4 and 6 are not what they were in 90s. It’s interesting because the body size of the average person has increased while the models have gotten smaller. It’s like high fashion keeps getting more unattainable.
Also, I made a similar point about sample sizes in a story yesterday on Lindsey Vonn, but I hadn’t read this interview before I wrote that. I was just thinking about how actress’s body images must be influenced by the fashion available to them and Liv spoke to that. Imagine being told that you could get free designer clothing straight off the runway as long as you were a certain (very low) size. It could be alternately infuriating and motivating, although Liv just seems introspective and thoughtful about it.
photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet
She’s so beautiful and love her style. She seems ageless to me. It’s a pity she’s doing that crappy HBO show. I only watched two episodes and quitted.
Should have stuck with it. Season 2 is incredible
It is AMAZING. It’s easily my favorite thing to watch right now.
I keep hearing this so I want to watch asap! I assume I need to watch season 1 first, though, right? I read the book but I imagine the show departs from it in many ways.
I haven’t started Season 2 yet. You guys and Mimif are hyping it up like crazy so it better be good…or else! 😉
I was undecided about Season 1..great acting but annoyingly overwrought at times. Excited to see S2 though..
Oh yeah, season 2 is crushing it.
Yup. Season 1 is a grind, but so worth it to get to the season finale and then season 2 (even with its ultra-weird cavewoman opener).
Yes! Season 2 is soooo much better. I’m enjoying it.
Matts storyline alone has made this season so good….last episode was also fantastic.
I’m just here to praise The Leftovers. It’s amazing! Carrie Coon and Regina King are reason enough, they are killing it. Such incredible acting on that show.
P.S. Love Liv and I’m always enlightened at how smart she comes off in real life.
She’s coming across as smart and sincere. I like her!
With the exception of the younger crowd (18-25) I really don’t see many people who are very thin when I am out and about. Plus many of these fashions are fairly expensive much more than the average person can afford. Who is actually buying this clothing?
The 1%.
Crazy Rich Asians.
(but actually though, luxury fashion makes the majority of its sales in East Asia)
People who’s go-to is Net-a-Porter instead of Amazon. Or Nordstrom instead of Target.
That’s because 2/3 of America is overweight.
People in Europe are generally slim. Not skinny, but slim. US sizes 8-10 (UK 10-12) are quite common.
All I could see yesterday on the VS post was this. How malnourished all of the models looked. I cringed when someone called their bodies ‘aspirational’.
It’s scary to me how underweight is considered attractive and valued. Not slim, not fit, not strong. Skinny to the point that your ribs show from the front.
Maybe some of them are healthy and just have very different body types but I remember reading an article about their diet beforehand and there were a lot of juice cleanses.
Presenting malnourished women, many with implants, as the physical ideal is so distorted and it just makes me sad. Liv sounded way more diplomatic than I’m being though.
The stick + implant look is really grotesque, as is the idea that these teens are somehow sexy. I find nothing sexy about a woman who isn’t even 20!! The media keeps celebrating bodies that have a ton of work done, and so many women defend plastic surgery and fillers, etc. as just something that “makes you feel better.” But I see it as a way to continue to make women lesser citizens. Imagine how much time and money we would have if we could look in the mirror and say “looking good” like the majority of men can do!
I notized that Lily Aldridge lost weight. She looked healthier in the last years. What a shame. Her stomach almost went inside of her.
When Candice Swanepoel has one of the healthiest looks, something is definitely wrong (I do think she’s a stunning woman). I was shocked as well. If you google the VS shows from a few years ago (not even 10), you see how drastically things have changed.
gigi hadid looks healthy to me.
Actually, so does Kendall Jenner but a LOT of them do not. At all. Big difference between naturally slender or even thin and whatever is going on on that runway.
Actually, very well put. I do not seek to shame anyone’s body, but we’re presented with these images of women (although as many of them are teens, they’re girls) who are terribly, terribly thin and told that they’re just naturally like that! But here are the cleanses, skimpy diets and extreme workouts they do to look their best. We’ve all read accounts of models who gained a little weight in their early 20s and were told basically to do anything to lose it or not work anymore.
I have no beef with models being thinner and taller than the general population, but I fail to see the point in making the absolute thinnest people into models. The clothes don’t even look good on them anymore.
I agree. I see nothing aspirational about sunken in body cavities and flabby thighs (because they can’t maintain muscle due to being too thin). The clothes don’t look good like that to me; they might as well advertise them on a hanger.
She’s not wrong. Sure some women/models may be naturally thin but I think we’re all aware that models having been skewing younger and thinner for years now. I really do wish the emphasis would be on fit and healthy rather than thin. And speaking as a petite person with a big rack, I have trouble finding clothes, esp., bras that fit well as well.
It’s like high fashion keeps getting more unattainable. This exactly!
Anywho, I like her. She’s always seemed like such a sweet person.
Everything you said! Also, I share the petite with big breast syndrome that is seemingly so difficult for designers to acknowledge, boo hiss!
Maybe a 4 or 6 in old sizes, but with today’s vanity sizing, no way. I’m a 6, and I’d look like a whale next to 90’s era Christy or Naomi or Claudia.
Plus those models were an anomaly on the catwalk. Most catwalk models were just as thin as today. There’s always a small group that’s curvier and gets the make-up contracts and the lingerie contracts alongside the catwalk stuff, but they’re the top of the food chain. Everyone else is just a hanger for an outfit, and as such they have to have a body that makes clothing look like it’s on a hanger.
Nonesense. Look at fashion magazines in the 80’s and early 90’s and models looked like adult women not anorexic teens. That shit started with Kate Moss and the whole heroin chic.
There was always a line between catwalk models vs editorial vs commercial/catalogue models in the 80s/90s.
Everyone understood that catwalk models were much thinner than their editorial counterparts who were also thinner than their commercial/catalogue models.
When versace blurred the lines, and started using editorial/commercial/catalogue models for the catwalk, suddenly everyone had to become thinner.
And of course Kate Moss. Who technically is too short for catwalk, nevermind her overall size.
And of course actresses wanting to wear fashions straight off the catwalk which meant they had to become thinner than before.
BTW: do you remember the thin off on the Ally McBeal set? Those ladies were skeletons by the time that show ended. Sadly all across TV, the actresses started to lose weight to look smaller.
@LAK – I remember all of that!
Back in the day, runway models never really crossed over to magazine editorial work – most of the time you never knew their names. Editorial models never did lingerie/swimsuit work, and the ‘swimsuit models’ were considered 2nd class citizens by the modeling world. “Commercial” was a dirty word. How things have changed!
I agree with you. I was a young teen reading all the magazines during the early 90s when Linda, Christy, Milla, Naomi were huge and they were NOT a size 4-6, at least not by today’s standards. They just weren’t. They weren’t the Kate Moss heroine look but let’s not re-write history. Oh and Twiggy- its not like skinny models are new now. 1980s models were more “normal” (Christy Brinkley) but the 90s super models were so tall & SO thin. Just watch George Michael’s Freedom video or google pics. The only supermodel in the 1990s who had curves was Cindy Crawford & she was told to lose weight until she hit it big. She’s talked about that before- being the curviest model out there at that time. It’s BS to say that era had “typical” body sizes. I will agree it’s gotten worse but it wasn’t like we were looking at attainable body sizes in the 1990s.
I don’t understand these sizes sometimes and it makes me feel fat. I’m tall-ish and with a broad frame, and while I ‘only’ weigh 115 lb at 5’6″, I have to wear a UK size 12. I’ve no idea who is buying the clothes in a UK size 4 and 6. Teenagers, probably. (I am 27).
More than the size of the models, what bothers me is their extremely young ages. I know 18 is technically an adult, but I really hate seeing teenage girls (16, 17 and 18 year olds) modelling clothes intended for adult women. At 17 you have a completely different body type to a 30 year old woman and haven’t stopped growing yet. I don’t know, it makes me feel sad.
Yeah, nothing like a 14 year old girl talking about wrinkle cream on a commercial. Gag. It makes me sad, too. The clothes are for adults. Let adults model them.
Yeah exactly. To be honest when I see an image in a fashion magazine, I don’t honestly know how old they are. I’m assuming they’re older teenagers (17-19) as they look so darn young. Of course, they could be in their early twenties and young-looking. Or just somehow airbrushed, styled or somehow made to look younger than they are. But they seem SO young. And I find it almost more disturbing how we are sold ‘youth’ even more than ‘thin-ness’. I am an adult, I am happy with my age and I would like to see more models in their late twenties modelling in fashion.
Boy, do I agree with you!! backing out other Kardashian issues, what 30/40 yr old woman who buys/wears Estée Lauder wants to look like Kendall Jenner? Liv has always been stunning, and hope her collection does well.
@BlueBell I knew a guy who was doing some male modeling and one of the girls who was being represented by the same person was around 15-16 and was getting a lot of editorials. But what shocked me was when he told me that she had done a wedding gown shoot for a magazine when she was 13. So actually, some of the models in magazines are much younger than that.
Die Zicke, that’s the sort of thing I worry about. The models do seem so young. I didn’t mean to imply that no fully grown adult women can possibly be a Uk size four or six and be healthy. But most aren’t built that way and I do think the models they use aren’t all naturally that size. Especially considering their height as well, normally very small framed people are quite short in height as well. But these models are all 5’9″ and above AND teeny tiny in frame size. Again, I’m not saying that can never occur naturally. Of course it can. But your comment confirms what I have long often suspected; that many of these models are not even adult women and of those that are, many of them are not ‘naturally’ that slender and are at least restricting their diet to maintain that level of thinness.
I’m also 27 and typically use a UK size 4. I’m 5’0 and 102 pounds and although I may be smaller than the general population I’m definitely not a teenager and there is nothing wrong with me. It’s possible to be a small adult and still be perfectly healthy.
@consumer no one is arguing that small individuals can’t be healthy, you are naturally small that’s a different story. There are many women starving themselves to be stick thin than are claiming they are naturally like that- this is where the problem starts. And the idea of a 13-17 year old modeling clothes meant for women is a bit ridiculous considering a woman’s body type is very different from a young girl even if said woman is naturally thin.
Consumerofnerds, sorry if my comment offended you, I didn’t mean it to and my comment probably came out the wrong way. I’m not saying you’re a teenager or can’t be healthy. I just think there are very few adult women who are naturally that small, petite and slim and most women with slightly bigger bodies aren’t represented.
Just to add: I didn’t mean to imply that there was anything wrong with you. There’s definitely nothing wrong with you. I just wouldn’t have thought there would be that many extremely petite adult women around. I’m 6 inches taller than you and only weigh approx 10-12lb more and yet I’m four whole dress sizes bigger than you. It’s all to do with frame and size. The problem is that we are constantly fed images by the media of extremely small women/girls. Of course some women are this petite naturally, but let’s be honest, most aren’t. It doesn’t mean we’re fat – not in the least. It’s a sensitive issue for me, so apologies if I sound tetchy.
I’m jealous of your weight.
I am 5″4 and 120ish and I am usually an 8 to 10uk but my waist can fit a 6 sizes over here are getting bigger I bought a size 8 top from primark I have a big bust but slim waist and regretted not getting a 6 apart from the boobs it was too big. I am slim but theres no way I should fit a 6. When I was 13 or 14 which was only eight years ago and underweight I wouldn’t of dreamed of fitting a 6.
I still remember the collective shudder and gasp when Callista Flockart showed up for an award show with all her bones jutting out. Her back and shoulder blades were really disturbing. Yet, she’s naturally small boned, so she was really, REALLY underweight for it to be that visible.
Now we take it as normal that they are that small.
Did you read that Calista later admitted maybe she did have an exercise/food problem? And the woman that played Georgia (Courtney Thorne Smith) admitted to starving herself too and feeling awful about her body while on set. And of course the story of Portia de Rossi is so sad too. So basically, on a successful 90’s TV show, 3/5 of the women admitted disordered eating, and one had outright anorexia. I hate the world.
I forget about Liv. She seems very balanced, I think. I guess I’m just old, but I have learned to live with the fact that it’s not my purpose to satisfy society’s expectations of beauty. I try to look the best I can, for me, because I feel good about that, but I’m not and never will be a size 0 and that’s fine.
…I try to look the best I can, for me, because I feel good about that, but I’m not and never will be a size 0 and that’s fine… AMEN!!!
You mean that you are embracing the best you instead of beating yourself up? Pffft, that’s not gonna sell billions in beauty products and diet aids and the self-loathing impetus our culture demands! Get with the program😜
While models always were not going to look like most people on the street, I do agree with her. It has gotten much worse. The girls are increasingly tiny and unhealthy looking, and way too young – too young to be working in such a high pressure environment and not mature enough to make good decisions whether related to eating or being put in scary situations (Terry Richardson anyone?). On top of that in magazines everyone gets airbrushed to death. So there is a huge dichotomy between what we see on the runway and the magazines and reality.
But – here are two things no one mentions:
First of all, actresses who get seen on the RC are actually wealthy people. They can afford to BUY the clothes they wear rather than starving to fit into “free sample sizes”. WTF? Why do they need free clothes? It’s not like they are behind on their rent. Or they can demand that designers provide them with clothing in the appropriate size – if the clothes manufacturers want free advertising, why is that such a big deal??
Finally – we, as a society, can stop buying the magazines full of glossy adverts featuring 14 year olds selling makeup and clothes to grown women. #boycottunrealisticfashion – wouldn’t that be simpler and cheaper than starving, surgery or diet treatments that don’t work??
I don’t understand why these wealthy celebrities would need freebies, either. If a designer wants to dress them, then the garment should be made to fit their body. As far as the runway goes, I doubt there will be a trend evolving with regular sized models, which is unfortunate.
It’s just my theory but I think a lot of them don’t feel like they should have to pay. I work in an environment where a lot of people make very very good money (possibly millions) and they are ON IT when it comes to claiming expenses etc. Even when it comes to €15 for a taxi. Suddenly they’re hyper organized and do not forget that they’re owed money. It comes through in everyday conversation too. Wealth doesn’t make people generous or rather, less frugal. If anything, rich people can be super stingy without wanting to live a lifestyle that reflects it. Just my observation.
Think of the numbers of fancy outfits an actress would need if she were an Oscar nominee. Go look at Tom and Lorenzo during Oscar season – Lupita N’yongo (I am butchering that) had luncheons, pre-awards shows, talk shows. It’s not like they’re “allowed” to recycle outfits, or just wear a twin set from Lands End. If you had ten engagements a week at $700 an outfit….
Yeah, the problem is that when you start talking about this issue then skinny people jump up and say, “you’re body shaming us for being skinny!” But no, we’re not.
BMI was a scale invented by insurance companies for life insurance estimates. Not the best, just one measure of health, but their tables showed that BMI<18.5 actually has the highest risk of death!!! and most models/cover girls are BMI<16.5 or 17.
Anorexia (BMI<17.5) is the #1 killer of women between the ages of 16-25. it's sad and I hate it.
Plus, I don’t think it is “body shaming” to want to see a wider variety of bodies featured. If we’re talking women over the age of 25, I personally know 2 who are naturally very, very thin, and even they are people who just don’t seem all that interested in food. My cousin from a very young age has just never been an eater, and my friend has a sensitive stomach and could never handle much junk.
yes, Anna W is a gay man.
Edit: Nevermind, the troll is gone
I’m not a troll, it’s the truth majority of fashion designers are gay men and to them women are nothing but coat hangers who need to looks like 15 year old boys. You’re blind if you don’t see it.
I’ve read that theory too, as well as the theory that runway models shouldn’t have “sexy” curves to distract viewers from the clothes. In either case, the grotesquely thin look was never meant to be aspirational, just utilitarian.
There’s a sweetness about her. What I find most fascinating is that she was raised by Todd Rudgren and didn’t know Steven Tyler was her father. Mom knew, which I think was really kind of a f’d up thing to both Todd and Steven. Well, at least she has interesting stories to tell her grandkids.
I didn’t know that about her parenting situation, I assumed she’d been raised by Stephen. But I agree she does have a sweetness about her, she reminds of Drew Barrymore in that regard.
Tyler was heavily into drugs when Bebe Buell was pregnant with Liv so she moved up to Maine and Rundgren agreed to raise Liv as his. Not sure Tyler even knew at the time. Liv didn’t learn who her father was until she was a teenager and she actually figured it out herself when she met one of her half-sisters
Oh wow, thanks for the background.
Hi guys! What a few weeks…got new job..part time but foot in door.
As for Liv Tyler, she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in life. I met her a and she is snow white..flawless and very kind. And nice.
I have yet to get my dad, mom and Ecd(east coast dad) in the same room. Read what she said about her wedding to roystan Langdon..it was healing.
I give her kudos for the way she has handled all of her up bringing, and healing.
I agree on her beauty in-person. I have seen her twice and she is stunning, her porcelain skin is to die for.
She’s lovely! And, of course, speaks the truth.
+1
I can sense “Kate Winslet’s syndrome” here. Liv always talked in interviews about struggles with her body type. Liv was the most chubby model at her time and she wasn’t ever a super model or close to be one. Liv lived through the “Heroin Chic” period and she was good friends with some models from that period. Talk about backstabbing.
I don’t see any backstabbing here. But you throwing shade.
Liv Tyler was a model in the 90’s… grant it, she wasnt big name like Christy, Cindy and so on… but she makes a fair point. High fashion models after 95 were all heroin chic. But the big names, they were healthier and took amazing care of their bodies. They were quite lean but they were healthy and fit. In the 90’s Liv looked about a size 4 to me and I wouldnt be surprised if the bigger names were as well. I remember her being the prettiest woman alive back then to my 12 year old self! Haha!
Sizing is also quite weird. I’m 120lbs, I lift heavy weights so I have muscle tone, Im 5’6 and I wear a size 2/4/6 or a UK 8/10. Someone above mentioned they were the same height, 115lbs and fit a UK12. Size isn’t the most reliable indicator of someone’s physique.
Sizing is so strange! I’m 5’3″, 126 lbs, and I, too, lift weights. I’m usually in a 4/6 or a UK 8/10, but then I’ll randomly be in a 8 in a different brand, or a 2 in another one.
About six months after I had my son I went through my wardrobe and tried on everything. One pair of pants fit – labelled a size 2. The next pair of pants – a size 4 – were too small. At that point I gave up and resolved to not place any of my self-worth in a size label.
Exactly! Size is a reference with which to select an approximate measure of fabric that may or may not fit you. Its really quite irrelevant to saying anything about one’s body.
Yeah-sizing is strange. I’m 5’6″, small framed but muscular and weigh anywhere from 125-130 lbs depending on the day. While I usually wear a U.S. size 6, I have dresses, coats and one or two pairs of pants that are a size 2 and a few pairs of pants in junior sizes 7 or 9.
When I was in high school, I was very thin and weighed about 118 lbs. I was a size 10. About 10 years ago I went through some health issues and a divorce and dropped 50 lbs and again weighed that much and was a size 4. I’m 5 ft. 6. (I gained it all back when I got happy again and now I’m slowly losing weight in a more healthy manner.) I had forgotten about the size changes til you mentioned it. Sad really. As is the size of today’s models. I don’t find it attractive at all. I personally find Liv beautiful.
Is that really true? She’s saying Naomi, Claudia, Kate, Tyra, Christie, Linda, etc. were size 4s and 6s?
That’s hard to believe.
Yes and no. Back then, most of those models were 34-24-34, give or take an inch. That was size 6 on top, size 2 for bottom, size 4 for dress. So yes, they would have been a size 4 or 6, and in Cindy’s case, a size 6 or 8. But with their height, they’d look more slim.
I remember watching an episode of Oprah in the early ’90s wherein Oprah went out shopping with Cindy Crawford for some red carpet event. The only very clear memory I have of that episode was Oprah asking Cindy what size she was and Cindy said “I’m a 6 or an 8.”
I remember that so well because I was probably about 15/16 at the time and I was also in that size range and 5’10” so I felt less gangly and weird when I heard that. Clothing sizing has definitely changed over the years but if what Cindy said about her size at that time was true, then Liv is also speaking the truth about models and sample sizes being larger then.
Uh, what? “Heroin chic” was the talk of the 90’s when it came to models. Does no one remember Kate Moss and the CK controversy?
http://www.oystermag.com/sites/default/files/kate_young_copy.jpg
Kate became famous in the mid-nineties.
And? That’s still the 90’s.
Yeah but with vanity sizing I highly doubt that these 90ies models would be a todays size 4 or 6. I am from Europe and usually wear a solid size 36 or in some dresses a size 34, which in theory would translate into a US 4 or 6. I was recently on vacation in the US and Macys had a sale and I was on the hunt for a nice dress for a wedding. I tried on douzens of dresses from various designers and absolutely everything was too big even in a size 2. And by no means I am malnourished-I am slim and tall. Now I also own a couple of size 0 stuff which is hilarious considering that this is just not my true size, maybe I should have a look at it on my bloated PMS days to make me feel better lol.
I’m 5’5, 98 pounds and generally wear size medium back home. (4-6)
In North America I’m either 0 or 00 up top and always size 24 in pants.
Everybody in my family is built the same way, and we all like to eat.
I believe that European sizes were drastic different in the mid 90’s and perhaps that is why models were “size 6’s”?
Sidetone, there was an article about Molly Sims on dailymail about how much she had to work out and basically became a part-time anorexic to maintain her physique in the 90’s, (with flabby stomach and all) which just seems insane to me. Perhaps people who are not gifted genetically should not aspire to become high fashion models.