NSFW: Italian designer Nolita is celebrating Milan Fashion Week with a number of billboard and newspaper advertisements featuring a naked anorexia woman in an effort to warn the public of the effects of the disease.
The ad features twenty-seven year old French woman Isabelle Caro, an anorexic who weighs just 68 lbs. Isbelle blames a “difficult childhood” for her bout with the deadly disorders: “I’ve hidden myself and covered myself for too long. 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.”
According to Reuters:
“The picture was shot by the controversial Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani, who in 1992 photographed a man dying of AIDS for a campaign for clothing group Benetton. Toscani’s aim was ‘to use that naked body to show everyone the reality of this illness, caused in most cases by the stereotypes imposed by the world of fashion’, Flash&Partners said in a statement.
“‘Everyone says it’s ugly but I don’t think it is, it really brings the message home,’ said passer-by Giuseppina Ravelli after seeing the billboard in Milan. ‘The people who reach these kind of levels have such great problems it is good that they use their illness to teach others about it.’
“But the president of Italy’s Association for the Study of Anorexia, Fabiola De Clercq, said the woman used for the photo should be in hospital and the image was ‘too crude’. Far from helping women suffering from anorexia, the photo may make many of them feel envious of the model and determined to become even thinner than her, she said.”
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5 responses so far ↓
Canadian women // Sep 28, 2007 at 10:35 am
Does anyone else think it is ironic that below the article on the dangers of anorexia there is an ad that says “lose 9lbs every 11 days”??? Maybe we are taking the wrong approach and should be working harder at removing the things that cause this illness before exploiting those who have it.
Ike // Sep 30, 2007 at 2:52 pm
What is that white stuff by her ass?, it looks like a fungus.
Tonya // Nov 1, 2007 at 3:39 pm
This is an eye opener to the rest of the world and I wish that more people would be subjected to viewing this ad. The world needs to know how the pressures of fashion are affecting everyday people. What happened to Marilyn Monroe’s ideal figure? The models nowadays are putting her to shame…
Nathan // Nov 8, 2007 at 11:35 pm
the white stuff over her body is psoriasis which is a huge side effect of anorexia.
Jo // Nov 29, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Yes, psoriasis is a self-inmunologic disease. That is, it isn´t caused by any fungus or bacteria or virus of any kind, but by our own body that reacts against itself, usually because of a high level of stress or tension. The most common kind of psoriasis is the one that appears on elbows. It also appears commonly on the head and nails.
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