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In an effort to promote a "healthy" body image in the pages of Vogue, its eighteen editors worldwide are making a concerted effort—by signing an agreement and everything—to work only with "healthy" models who are 16-years and older, among other initiatives. The agreement extends to the magazine's relationship with designers, who'll be encouraged to “consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes” as well as advocate for "healthy backstage working environments for models."
The reform effort comes at the height of the body image shakeup at several other Condé Nast publications, namely Glamour and, most recently, Seventeen. Glamour pledged in March to no longer alter body size in photos they commission, and this week, Julia Bluhm, a fourteen year old ballerina from Maine, staged a protest outside of Seventeen's headquarters. She asked that the magazine contain at least one photo spread that's been entirely un-Photoshopped per issue.
No response yet from Seventeen on that one, but we only have to wait until June—July for Vogue Japan—to check out the full impact of the Vogue agreement. Besides the actual changes that will go down, we're looking forward to seeing how each editor's interpretation of the reform manifests from country to Vogue country. Cultural experiments are the coolest.
· Vogue To Promote 'Healthier' Body Image [WWD]
· Behold: Cate Blanchetts Totally UnPhotoshopped Magazine Cover [Racked]