Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton was digitally retouched for an ad, despite the fact that she is actually underweight. She was then fired for being too “fat”.
Filippa Hamilton, a 23-year old Ralph Lauren model, had been working for the company since she was 15. But in April, she was fired “as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract” according to a statements from the company.
But, Hamilton says she was fired for being a size eight. “They said I couldn’t fit in their clothes any more, because I was too large,” Hamilton told UK paper The Daily Mail. The model is five feet, ten inches tall and weighs less than the recommended 130 to 160 pounds considered a healthy weight at that height, according to WebMD.com.
In 2007, Spain banned models who weighed less than 120 pounds from walking in Madrid Fashion Week out of concern for women trying too hard to lose weight for the shows.
Hamilton said she was “extremely hurt” about the firing, but even more so after digitally retouched images of one of her shoots appeared in a Japanese ad for Lauren’s Blue Label.
In the image, she had been retouched so drastically that her head appeared larger than her waist. “I saw my face in this extremely skinny girl – which is not me,” Hamilton told the paper.
With her measurements the leggy model definitely doesn’t need liposuction or body sculpting to be thin. Most models rely on extreme dieting or just good genes to stay thin for the cameras, rather than having the fat sucked out. However, breast implants are common in the modeling world. Breasts are mostly fat, and because of the extremely low body fat most models are required to have, there is hardly anything left to give their chest definition. Implants can give a model the feminine curves she lacks.
When asked if she would sue Ralph Lauren over the photo or the firing, Hamilton said, “I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. I don’t know — we’ll see.” Fans, meanwhile, are rallying behind Filippa, and praising her for putting her health before fashion.
October 15th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I think that a jury might see this woman’s side of the issue. No contract should force a person to harm herself. It is not healthy for people to be so thin. If she had one major illness she might not survive. Weight loss is not selective. Vital heart muscle is also loss with drastic caloric restriction. Let a jury decide.
October 15th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
OMG…she is super beautiful and thin already. She looks stupid in the retouched picture and deserves an apology…….as a Ralph Lauren “bigger girl” I will not purchase any more of their line until I hear an apology was issued and Flippa has been re hired.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:24 am
are the “strong” independent women whining about models again? What did i miss?
October 16th, 2009 at 1:33 am
the modified picture looks horrible, she looks disfigured and gross. ralph lauren has seriously ridiculous body image ideas. she looks great already, beautiful and healthy. gosh, what is this stupid world coming too?
October 16th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Why did they make her into an alien lollipop? Not hot.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Wow. I’m not a picky guy about women’s bodies at all, I like a very broad range of body types, but that retouched photo is inhuman, nasty and gross. What is wrong with these people?
October 31st, 2009 at 12:11 am
Wow, it just shows how warped the kids at RL are. I mean, did they NOT notice how badly proportioned that ad was before they sent it out??
November 11th, 2009 at 8:12 am
As a photographer who works with all proportion models. The retouched photo looks like just that-retouched. And wayyy out of any normal proportions, I am beyond disappointed in RL.