Another model dies of malnutrition
When Luisel Ramos collapsed and died - apparently of a heart attack caused by malnutrition - after a catwalk show last August, her death sparked the size debate that has dominated the fashion world ever since. Just six months later, it seems her sister, Eliana, also a model, has suffered the same fate. Eilana, who was just 18 years old, died today at her home in Uruguay, with preliminary tests suggesting that, like her sister, her death was also caused by malnutrition.
Pancho Dotto, owner of the modelling agency that represented the Ramos sisters, said that their deaths were clearly "due to a genetic problem and not an eating disorder."
Madrid bans skinny models | India denounces skinny models | British Fashion Week to set up "Healthy Model" Task Force
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Genetic problem my cuddly bottom. The girls were clearly undernourished. The standard first glance diagnosis of malnutrition is when ones thighs are thicker than their calves. Another prime example in LaLa land being Teri Hatcher. (Although I concede there are lots of different types of malnutrition diagnoses another one being the bloated tummy for example.)
As a geneticist in my day job - at last I knew white coats would be useful in fashion - there can of course be underlying susceptabilities to genetic disorders relating to "thinness", however I do not know of a case where these women could be up and about (and not clipped to a life support machine as children) and then suddenly die. Genetic disorders which cause susceptabilities to poor weight usually manifested in very "un-average/skeletal" sized people, much smaller than size 0000, who die, mainly in childhood, because the body can't use up the nutrients properly. Or in later life people can die when they suddenly loose alot of weight after a trigger "activates" this underlying suceptability to poor weight gain, giving birth is a frequent cause. However Luisel and Eliana were clearly thin for a great deal of time, and although Eliana looked relatively healthy in the picture shown above, Luisel never did and clearly needed to put on weight.
Of course I could be wrong but it seems that unfortunately both sisters were victims of pressure to be thin to get the work. I am worried as it appears that in the "newer" fashion cities, such as Brazil, there is a higher pressure to get the jobs that allow you to travel to fashion capitals rather in the established cities of Milan, Paris, New York and London. I applaud the Madrid council for attempting to relate models to "normal" sized people. I especially like the "average woman" study that CQ mentioned earlier this month. I wonder ridiculous the percieved normality of size 8 women in fashion really is, when compared to the general population. Saying that I do fear that Eliana and Luisel could also become almost martyrs to the size 0 panic that is sweeping the media. Some people can be naturally skinny and perfectly healthy, we mustn't villify them because the majority are not.
My ideal catwalk would contain models of all sizes and shapes. For although we are not all clothes horses that can make anything look good, we buy the clothes and fund the industry.
Posted by: Juji | February 14, 2007 8:45 PM