Nikolett Bogár (Békéscsaba, Hungary, 30 years old) looked brilliant on the outside and was broken on the inside. He was 20 years old when he decided to leave fashion. He walked for the best in the industry: Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Dior. He was shining. But he was unhappy. “Miserable,” he says. He hated his body despite receiving applause from the catwalk. He had anorexia since before he was 15, when he entered the sector. He didn't eat, he did too much sport, he compared himself to his classmates. “A shitty life, although from the outside it seems otherwise.” After publishing the book The Fashion Industry and Eating Disorders, is now embarking on research at Semmelweis University (Budapest) on the links between fashion and eating disorders. “There is a much higher prevalence of suffering from pathologies among models. The data must help rethink the sector,” she claims in a conference at the Bellvitge hospital, before addressing EL PAÍS.
Ask. Why did you leave the industry?
Answer. He had a very unhealthy way of living. I was unhappy, I felt miserable. I felt that I was only paying attention to eating very little, doing a lot of sports, being aware of my image and staying thin. I had no other objectives. Even when he was successful it was not satisfactory. I was frustrated with my life, even though from the outside it might seem otherwise.
Q. Is this feeling common in the profession?
R. Yes. I don't know if it is very common, but I know colleagues who went through the same thing. Models are valuable because of our appearance. Nothing else. The other areas of our personality have no importance and no one cares what you are like, what you like and what you don't. It only counts as lights and at some point it is degrading.
Q. How did you get into fashion?
R. When I was 15 I went to a modeling competition. I didn't want to be, but to be thin enough to be considered good. I ended up winning and accepted the opportunity to start a career, but after three years I realized that I didn't like it. So I already had an eating disorder. [duró entre cinco y seis años], which I recovered from two years after leaving the industry. Working as a model clearly limited my recovery.
Q. Now you study the relationship between fashion and eating disorders. Does the industry promote eating disorders?
R. It makes you very, very thin. My research detects that 14.6% of models have symptoms of subclinical anorexia, while in the control group it is 2.7%. It is a significantly higher prevalence.
“I suffered from anorexia and my agent used me as an example. 'You have to be like her,' she said.”
Q. Whose responsibility is it?
R. Everyone blames someone else. We could say that the agents put pressure on the models, but they defend that they represent the needs of other clients: magazines, photographers, designers; who in turn will tell you that customers buy the clothes they market with current beauty parameters and that it is a consequence of this. It's a vicious cycle that can only be broken with a change in the industry.
Q. What is the pressure from the industry and agents like?
R. I suffered from anorexia and my agent used me as an example. She was super thin, she didn't eat and he said: 'You have to be like her. If she can do it, so can you.' He put pressure on the others like that, and I put even more pressure on myself to be thinner.
Q. Is it easy to feel guilty and feel like you're not doing enough?
R. It happened to me all the time. I felt like I had to lose more weight, I compared myself to the others, I looked at their legs or if her stomach was flatter than mine. It was like that all the time. I spent many months without eating almost anything, I played sports every day, I walked everywhere to lose more weight…
Q. Wage pressure also limits detection and recovery from disorders.
R. Models can have thousands of euros in debt with their agencies. It is a serious problem. At first they pay for your trips and your stay, and then you have to pay the money back. If you want to work internationally you have to be in Paris or Milan, live there, go to castings. They don't hire you while in Hungary. You have to be there a long time to make yourself known. Sometimes they hire you and pay you 10,000 euros for a session, but maybe you don't work again for a year. It is a problem, because you run out of funds and cannot pay your debts. It is common.
Q. Governments try to regulate the industry with minimum weights. They are useful?
R. No. Brands and agents have strategies to avoid any regulation. I once worked in Madrid, where we had to guarantee a minimum body mass index (BMI). We went to do the mandatory verification with heavy objects located under the clothes to falsify the certificate. The agents told us that we had to do it like this, with loose clothing, because if not, we wouldn't be able to participate. They are not isolated cases. A girl who participates in my research explained her case to me: she got a medical certificate for six months, and after a month she had already lost all the weight again. She certified that she had a BMI that she really did not have.
“They put weights under our clothes to falsify our body mass index”
Q. What measures does the industry require?
R. They ask for less than the traditional 90-60-90. Now in the haute couture (haute couture) they look for two centimeters less on the hips, which is very little for tall models. The same with the waist or chest.
Q. Is it possible to meet these requirements without suffering?
R. For some yes. Not everyone suffers, but for most it is hard. They have to follow a strict diet, exercise… It is necessary to rethink the industry through data, studies and statistics because otherwise it is extremely difficult to change something. We have to carry out longitudinal studies to see the relationship between years linked to fashion and the impact on disorders. I was proud of being thinner than the rest. I judged them because I felt they were fatter than me.
Q. What is the process to recover?
R. It was very difficult. I realized that I didn't want to live the way I did and have a shitty life, always sick. When I realized it, I started hanging out with friends, mimicking what they did: I knew what a normal portion of food was, normal sizes… I started eating more and living longer. My life began to have more color and I began to be happier. It was a positive cycle.
Q. How does the industry act with disorders?
R. Close your eyes. There is no help because they are not interested in her either. If you want to recover from a disorder you need to gain weight. And if this happens, you're out.
Q. Society has evolved in terms of feminism. Has the fashion industry been left behind?
R. There are more models with curves than before, but the vast majority are still very thin. Of every 100 professionals, four have curves and the rest are super slim.
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