Devoted customers of the traditionally conservative fashion label Ralph Lauren were both startled and confused when a recent advertisement for the brand showcased a shockingly thin model.
The 23-year-old model Filippa Hamilton appeared looking somewhere in between a Bratz doll and a bobble-head, which she, of course, is neither of. In fact, Hamilton has modeled for Ralph Lauren a total of eight years and is known for her flattering curves and sky-high height.
Bloggers across the Web went into an instant frenzy the second the image was posted and called out the American-based designer for displaying a Photoshop job gone drastically wrong!
In response to the claims, the company attempted to sue numerous websites for “copyright infringement”; however, their actions only added public interest and animosity over the distasteful image that looked more like an ad for anorexia.
In an effort to save their otherwise honorable reputation, the company released the following statement:
"For over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman's body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately."
Ironically, they opted to leave out a rather staggering piece of information. The fact that they fired model Filippa Hamilton for what she claims was solely because “she was too fat”. In person (outside of Photoshop) Hamilton is healthy, 5’10” and 120 pounds, which is far from being overweight. In fact, according to BMI (body mass index) calculations a woman of Hamilton’s height should weigh somewhere between 129-174 pounds. So if anything, she is underweight.
Although Hamilton insists this is the reason behind her breach of contract with the company, Ralph Lauren insists that they let her go, “as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us.”
“They fired me because they said I was overweight and I couldn’t fit in their clothes anymore,” Hamilton said.
“I was shocked to see that super skinny girl with my face...it’s very sad, I think, that Ralph Lauren could do something like that.”
Apparently, the company fired Hamilton six months ago because they were unhappy with her shape, but they continued to use her gorgeous face, which had been the image of the company, as well as the face of their Romance fragrance for the majority of the last decade.
Editors continued to use photos of Filippa, because she still had the same stunning face that they originally chose to be their muse, yet would distort and reshape her body to the point that it became unrecognizable. Which, made many bloggers and consumers worldwide ask the obvious question of why didn’t they just get a different model?
As this issue continued to catch the interest of more and more people including celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and NBC’s “Today Show”, Ralph Lauren once again made a public statement in an active attempt to put this issue to rest.
“The image in question was mistakenly released and used in a department store in Japan and not the approved image, which ran in the U.S.,” Lauren said.
To some (extreme) degree, this remark seems more defensive and less apologetic than the first claim.
To sum up the issue: the photoshopping was an “error”, Hamilton is “beautiful and healthy”, but... she was still fired over her “inability to fit the clothes”. Hmmmm...
Ralph Lauren is still neglecting to accept the issue at hand and refuses to offer a sincere apology to Hamilton for what the company has done.
Someone who is handling the issue professionally? Filippa Hamilton. “I think they (Ralph Lauren) owe American women an apology, a big apology,” she just said. “I’m very proud of what I look like and I think a role model should look healthy.”
Even though numerous major fashion labels chose to include plus size models in their fashion week shows, the unfortunate truth is that there are still a large amount of size 2, pin-thin models who get turned away from jobs or ignored from the very beginning for what some people in the industry consider being “overweight”.
Many young girls and their mothers have been touched by Hamilton’s decision to come forward and openly deal with the controversy. This all comes at a time where more and more models and celebrities alike are doing the same by frowning upon the over-photoshopping and false representation of their bodies for either ad campaigns or movie posters.
Hamilton follows the footsteps of public figures such as supermodel Ali Michael who went on the “Today Show” and publicly talked about being sent home from Paris during fashion week because ‘her legs were too fat for the runways’. This was the same girl who won the Kim Dawson model search and the year prior walked runways for Lanvin, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Chanel, John Galliano and Christian Dior, among others. So what changed?
Michael was first discovered in her home state of Texas when she was 5’9” and 130 pounds and was given the simple tip “to tone up a bit” (which, most models are told to do). She admits that she took it way too far and eventually dropped to 102 pounds, but somewhere in-between the drastic weight loss Michael experienced an overwhelming amount of success, but shortly after, hit rock bottom.
“I was on a plane from Paris to Texas, and I ran my fingers through my hair, and when I took my hand away there was a dry brittle clump of hair in my hand. And that’s kind of when I realized that this wasn’t worth it anymore, and it had completely taken over,” Michael said.
After getting home, Michael worked with a nutritionist and got her health back on track, before returning to Paris the following February and walking for Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.
“It has to change,” Michael said. “The fashion industry affects everyone.”
Ali continues to book superior work for top designers including Burberry, Fendi, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld; has been on the covers of French Mixte, French Wallpaper, Latin American Vogue, Italian Flair, Lula; and has become of the face of Coach as well as Lanvin.
Other celebrities who have gone through similar situations include Kelly Clarkson, Keira Knightley (whose chest was digitally enhanced in order to promote Pirates of the Caribbean) and Faith Hill.
As for Filippa Hamilton, the French beauty continues to work as a model for Next Model Management and in the last year alone has worked with Russian Vogue and Italian Elle. She also has an impressive list of clients under her (tiny) belt including nearly every foreign version of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Numero, Allure, Flair and Marie Claire magazines.
Hopefully the ban foreign companies have placed on underweight models from even stepping foot on their runways, as well as the inclusion of plus-sized models in both fashion week and magazine spreads is definitely a move in the positive direction for the future of fashion.
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