Ana Carolina Reston

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A BUM RAP: OUTRAGEOUS ATTACKS ON KAROLINA KURKOVA

By Medusa on | From 2medusa.com

Karolina Kurkova walks the runway on June 18, 2008, during the Cia Maritima show in Sao Paulo, Brazil

With both designers and the fashion industry moving away from "size 0" models, the recent attacks on Karolina Kurkova for being "too fat" are simply outrageous.

Last week, during the Cia Martima show in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Brazilian press skewered 24-year-old, 5' 11" Karolina Kurkova, Czech supermodel and model for Victoria's Secret, for being "too fat" for the catwalk, reporting that audience members were "shocked" when they saw "cellulite on her butt."

Ralph Lauren, Chanel, and Balenciaga have used Karolina in many of their ad campaigns, and her photos have graced the pages of fashion magazines worldwide.

Karolina Kurkova

The Brazilian press lambasted her for showing "back fat," "love handles," and "cellulite" while wearing a bikini for Cia Martima during Sao Paulo Fashion Week.

Ana Carolina Reston

This is especially troubling in light of the fact that another Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, died at the age of 21 from anorexia on the eve of photoshoot in Paris. At the time of her death, she weighed only 88 pounds.

Uruguayan fashion models and sisters, Luisel Ramos, 22, and Eleana* Ramos, 18, both died from complications of anorexia.

Luisel Ramos

Eleana Ramos

Luisel had consumed only lettuce leaves and Diet Coke for three months, after being told she could be an international sensation if she lost weight. Luisel suffered a heart attack moments after stepping off the catwalk at a hotel in Montevideo in August of 2006. Luisel's father told police that Luisel had not eaten at all for "several days" before she died.

*NOTE: I have just learned that it has been incorrectly reported by the international press that Eleana's first name was "Eliana." It is, in fact, "Eleana."

Eleana Ramos, also known as Elle Ramos, worked for Pancho Dotto Models, a renowned modeling agency in Argentina. In February of 2007, Eleana was found dead at the home of her grandparents in Montevideo, Uruguay, of a heart attack. At the time of her death at age 22, she weighed only 98 pounds which, given her height of 5' 9", gave her a BMI of only 14.5.

Photo from AP Photo by Marcelo Hernandez. Luis Ramos cries during the funeral of his daughter Eliana Ramos in Montevideo, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007. Model Eliana Ramos was found dead at her home Tuesday, six months after her sister Luisel Ramos, 22, another model, died of a heart failure while participating in a fashion show in Montevideo on August 2006.

With the tragic deaths of Luisel Ramos and Ana Carolina Reston, Madrid began banning models with BMIs of less than 18.5. Let's hope that the ban of "size 0" models will be adopted worldwide so that a model with a healthy BMI will not suffer the scourge of the press and others for looking "too fat."

And for a trip down memory lane...
REMEMBERING WHAT ONCE WAS THE BODY IDEAL...
TO READ THESE PREVIOUS POSTS, PLEASE CLICK:
BONES OF CONTENTION ON THE CATWALK...
ANA CAROLINA RESTON: SHE WAS YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL & STARVED TO DEATH
HOW MANY MODELS HAVE TO DIE ?

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