Vogue Italia, the Bible of fashion, has taken the unprecedented step of pulling one of the images from its website.
This black and white image of supermodel Karlie Kloss by photographer Steven Meisel was removed from the site after pro-anorexia websites used it as "thinspiration."
The image features the 19-year-old supermodel wearing a pair of unbuttoned hot pants, her hipbone protruding out. According to the profile on her agency's website, Karlie is 5'11" and measures 32"-23"-34.5". Yes, you read that correctly; she has a 23" waist.
Franca Sozzani, Vogue Italia's editor, has been a vocal proponent against pro-anorexia sites, and even launched a petition against pro-ana sites on her blog.
"Vogue Italia, the magazine par excellence that deals with and promotes aesthetics and beauty, has decided to make use of its authority and its readers on the web (over one million of contacts per month), to battle against anorexia and collect signatures with the final goal of shutting such sites down," Franca posted.
Despite her public stance, as editor-in-chief, Franca likely approved this image in the first place.
Lynn S. Grefe, MA, President and CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, is just happy the image is gone. “I think it's great that [Vogue Italia] pulled it,” she said. “If they recognized that it was a bad image, that it was having a bad effect ... I'm sorry they put it up there in the first place, but good for them for pulling it.”
Karlie has defended her figure in previous interviews, attributing it to her sports and ballet background. Her agency, Next Models, issued this statement to toofab exclusively: "Karlie is a role model and trained hard for this shoot as an athlete and the results show positive women taking control of their bodies and being strong and healthy."
She's currently the "it" girl in modeling, closing a number of shows at Milan and Paris Fashion Week last September, including Dior, Rodarte, Lanvin, Eli Saab and Donna Karan. She was also recently profiled in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show which aired last week (click to see more photos of her below).
Did Vogue Italia do the right thing by pulling the image? Tell toofab in the comments below!
