Are you aware of how big the fashion industry really is? It’s huge. Its global value sums up to about 3,000 billion dollars, and the number of people employed in it has nearly doubled since 1990. The business is booming, so it’s no surprise that the competition is fierce and everybody’s coming up with new ways to stay afloat and on top all the time. However, if you take a couple of steps back, you’ll see that the whole industry comes down to people. It revolves around the models that represent it and the consumer – you. And don’t be fooled by the fact that you’re spending next to nothing on clothes, since consumers are who the industry is targeting.
Due to the way models are presented to the public, it’s sometimes hard to remember that they are human, too. After all, they look perfect, and we know that people are everything but. Well, they are real people with real problems and insecurities and their perfect appearance doesn’t come for free. For many of them, it took blood, sweat and tears to look like that and the stress of it can sometimes be unbearable. It’s no wonder then that a large number of models has one form of addiction or another.
Here are the most common ones and what to do about them.
Drugs and alcohol
These two go hand in hand, usually because they belong to the same lifestyle. Models get recruited at a very early age, as young as 13 or 14, and thrown into the whole fashion machine. They are expected to look their best every day, but also, if possible, to be interesting to the media. They are encouraged to party hard and to be seen at various events, where they should always smile and look as if they’re having the time of their lives. And when you give a teenager a lot of money simply for being beautiful, they will do two things. They will spend that money on whatever it is that interests them at the moment and they will do whatever it takes to keep their good looks for as long as possible.
If, at that point, they reach for drugs and alcohol to escape stress and feel good about themselves and the world around them, forming an addiction is simply the next logical step. The problem is, it doesn’t take much time for alcohol and drug abuse to start taking their toll on their bodies and health. And when it does, it’s time to seek help.
Addiction treatment
Addiction has been recognized as a health problem for several centuries now and there are many hospitals that specialize in treating various types of addictions. The first hospital that was opened to treat alcohol as an addiction exclusively was in New York and it started admitting patients in 1864. Understanding genetics and addiction fully is also a good starting point for dealing with this problem. When it comes to the role of genetics in treating patients with alcohol and drug addiction, there are two different areas of research to consider, both of which can be very helpful.
After the initial treatment, and the patients’ return to their everyday fashion-related tasks and all the temptation those can bring, it’s important to find a way to stay clean and sober. There are many support groups, mostly anonymous, where people can share their experiences and advice, making the whole rehabilitation process easier. Also, it helps to have some structure and stay focused on something, so diet adjustment combined with regular physical activity is also a great way for a troubled model to stay on the right track.
Other problems
Beside being susceptible to the already mentioned harmful substances, models often find themselves under tremendous amounts of pressure to stay very thin and maintain a certain body shape. Unfortunately, a lot of them crack under this pressure and develop one of the most common two types of eating disorders – bulimia and anorexia. And as if these aren’t enough, models often reach for miracle diet pills to prevent gaining weight before an important fashion show.
All this can lead to chronic exhaustion, a wide range of health issues, mental instability and a loss of immune function. And it doesn’t even stop there. The fashion industry and the way they shape the beauty standards can make an average teenager want to look exactly like the photoshopped image on their favorite magazine cover. The issue is present among boys, as well as girls, who would give up whatever it takes to achieve that perfect look, including their health.
Before sighing at the sight of perfect-looking models on the billboards around you, consider if that sort of appearance is worth your wellness, or if it’s even real to begin with.
