After news broke that Balenciaga was allegedly locking models in a stairway back in March and Casting Director James Scully accused the brand of “traumatizing” its models on Instagram, another model scandal is now coming through and addressing the still inhumane behaviour of the fashion industry when it comes to models: 20-year-old Ulrikke Hoyer just took to Instagram and Facebook to shine light on how Louis Vuitton casting director Alexia Cheval had told her she “needs to drink only water for the next 24 hours” and ultimately dismissed her from walking in the brand’s 2018 Cruise show because of her “bloated stomach” and “bloated face”.
This happened after the Danish model, who is a regular on fashion’s runways and even was a worldwide exclusive for Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2016 show, already had her fitting and been confirmed for the brand’s show held in Kyoto on May 14th and had flown to Japan. Ulrikke reports that she starved herself because of the Casting Director’s comment yet still didn’t fit Louis Vuitton’s demands and was sent home without a proper explanation a mere hours later.
Despite the humiliating experience, as Ulrikke states on Facebook, what bothers her the most is the immense pressure, both physically and mental, that is still being put on models, especially affecting and damaging younger girl’s perception of their body and general beauty. “I cannot accept the ‘normality’ in the behavior of people like this. They find pleasure in power over young girls and will go to the extreme to force an eating disorder on you,” Ulrikke writes, “I am glad I am a 20 and not a 15 years old girl, who is new to this and unsure about herself, because I have no doubt that I would then have ended up very sick and scarred long into my adult life.”
Also taking a stand against these excessive body expectations, France just banned ultra thin models from working in the industry as well as making magazines point out which pictures have been photoshopped or retouched last week. Following this important but still rather late step considering how long these stereotypes have been shown in fashion, industry insiders like Hari Nef and Pandora Sykes also immediately supported Ulrikke Hoyer’s coming forward and talking about a part of the industry that has too long been kept quiet. Still, a statement from Louis Vuitton is yet to be released.
Header Image via Ulrikke Hoyer Official Instagram taken by Quentin De Briey
