NICOLE CHIN | layout & design editor
courtesy | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Isabelle Caro reveals the naked truth about anorexia in a nation-wide campaign by designer Flash&Partners.


The fashion world attempts to fight anorexia, but society prevents any progress.

I thought the world was finally making sense. It seemed maybe something was being done about this obsession with being thin—this constant condoning of fatal eating disorders.

We often accuse the fashion world of being the antagonist and finally, it seemed, the fashion world was fighting back.

Italian designer Flash&Partners’ clothing brand Nolita partnered with photographer Oliver Toscani and launched an anti-anorexia image campaign during Milan’s fashion week.

Two graphic images featured 5-foot-5 Isabelle Caro, who barely weighs 70 pounds, lying stark naked on a white floor with protruding bones, sagging mammary glands, blue feet and large scab marks on the buttocks and elbows. The words “No Anorexia” surround the 26-year-old’s head.

The images are disturbing, disgusting and undignified—uncomfortable images for an uncomfortable epidemic. One that 70 million people worldwide struggle with and 70 million more people nonchalantly accept.

On Friday, Oct. 19, Italy’s advertising watchdog cited Nolita for infringing on advertising code of conduct and exploiting an illness for publicity purposes. They shut down the campaign completely.

And by shutting down a blatant campaign, they continue to ignore a blatant disease.

Anorexia is a deadly reality. We blame the media and the fashion world for their advertisements, commercials, television shows and motion pictures.

But the fashion industry doesn’t have as much power as we think. Women also have the influence of parents who ignored her, siblings who called her fat or boyfriends who rejected her.

The United States, especially, has done a fabulous job ignoring the fashion world’s struggle with anorexic models. Last year, 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston passed away with an anorexia-related infection and Europe began to ban models with a low body mass index.

This year, Milan has required models to carry their medical records. Milan has made large steps to decrease fashion’s thirst for thinness but the U.S. has yet to even comment on the anorexic models who clamor around Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive.

This year, the U.S. has stayed out of any controversial debate stirred by the Nolita campaign. Many message boards on sites like Reuters and YouTube claimed the U.S. wouldn’t allow the billboard images because of their glorification of super thin models and their acceptance—even love—of these double zero cat walkers.

This is no coincidence. This is the same society who cheers for a pregnant Nicole Richie but months ago embarrassed her for her skeletal bikini-clad figure. The same society who watched Hilary Duff as Lizzie McGuire and demanded she be thinner, but when her shockingly bony face first appeared in “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” were disgusted. The same society who idolizes Tyra Banks for being a plus size model supporter but called Kirstie Alley the “fat actress” until she became the spokeswoman for Jenny Craig.

America believes less is more and more is less.

Europe has been trying to combat this deadly disorder, while the United States has remained star-studded and egocentric. This may be smaller than genocide in Africa or global warming, but it is just as significant—and just as detrimental. We have normalized eating disorders making it seem like everyone is on some sort of diet. But what we don’t realize is how often it kills its victims.

“I’ve hidden myself and covered myself for too long,” Caro told Vanity Fair of her 15-year struggle with anorexia. “Now I want to show myself fearlessly, even though I know my body arouses repugnance. I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is.”

This is a reality we refuse to acknowledge and the longer it remains an untouchable topic—the worse it will get. Nolita knew this was the only way to raise awareness of an issue that should have been raised years ago. But by the time Fashion Week graced Los Angeles, much of the controversy had been stomached.

Walk down Via Milano or Fifth Avenue or even, Beach Boulevard, and see the gangly tight t-shirt clad women and realize this unmentionable disorder impacts everyone.

But we ignore that. We look past the jutting bones and call it beautiful and we take fat, even muscle, and call it ugly. And by ignoring this campaign, we are ignoring the illness and the part we have played in making 70 million people struggle with an eating disorder.

We are the enemy. Not the fashion world. And when they try to help us, we just throw them back on their catwalks and tell them that is where they belong, not trying to change the world.