clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Are Victoria Beckham's Models Too Thin?

Photo: Victor Virgile/Getty Images
Photo: Victor Virgile/Getty Images

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Victoria Beckham's in hot water with the UK press over her choice of models. The designer's been called out by several organizations and British TV personality Piers Morgan for casting what's being described as 'painfully thin' women for her runway show.

According to the organization B-eat, Beckham's Spring 2016 collection presentation featured models that could promote an unhealthy body image and eating disorders — problems exacerbated by the fact that some looked particularly young. "We know that some young women suffering from eating disorders take these types of photos and put them inside their wardrobe doors, using them as a goal to work towards," the organization's COO Lorna Garner told The Guardian.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Morgan chimes in with a similar sentiment. "Stop with the miserable skinny models, Victoria - this is NOT how we want the world's young women to look."

While it was reported that Beckham took a stand against very thin models for her 2010 show, she told The Guardian that that wasn't actually true. "It may surprise you to hear, I never actually said that," she reveals. "Models are thin." However, that doesn't mean she doesn't care about the issue. "I do take my position seriously," she added. "And I wouldn't want to use very skinny girls."

Beckham's comments have done nothing to stop other women's groups from criticizing her. "The models she has used look uniformly painfully thin and the image that gives to young women in particular is quite damaging," Sam Smethers, the CEO of the Fawcett Society, said. The organizer behind Britain's Be Real campaign, which aims to promote a positive body image, said that Beckham's show was a "prime example" of only using models with "an idealized view of the female body."