Tyra Banks 'Too Fat' to Model in Today's Industry?
Tyra Banks has long been on top of the fashion industry and an example to young aspiring models, but with an industry that is increasingly looking for super-thin models, Banks has expressed her disappointment with the industry leaders.
In an open letter, Banks expressed her pleasure when she learned editors at Vogue decided to ban pictures of models that "appear to have an eating disorder," but still feels that there needs to be more done to protect young girls.
In her letter she points out that if she were starting her career today, she would not have the opportunity that she had when she started.
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"The truth is that if I was just starting to model at age 17 in 2012, I could not have had the career that I did," she wrote at The Daily Beast. "I would've been considered too heavy. In my time, the average model's size was a four or six. Today you are expected to be a size zero. When I started out, I didn't know such a size even existed."
Banks explained that she had to go against the industry in terms of how she took care of her body in order to stay healthy.
"In my early 20s, I was a size four. But then I started to get curvy. My agency gave my mom a list of designers that didn't want to book me in their fashion shows anymore," Banks said. "In order to continue working, I would've had to fight Mother Nature and get used to depriving myself of nutrition."
She then reveals that she sat down with her mother and came up with a new plan.
We "strategized about how to turn my curves into a curveball. In a way, it was my decision not to starve myself that turned me into a supermodel, and later on, a businesswoman."
Banks said she would like to see a guild for young models like the ones actors of all ages enjoy.
"There needs to be more industry-wide protections for models, and we need to be more consistent with what the acting world does: protect our minors, as well as the health and well-being of models," she explained.
