Barbara Palvin Sprouse on the modeling industry: “By 17, every single time I would go into the agency, they would tell me I have to lose weight. My hips were ‘too big.’ I didn’t even have hips yet.“
Posted by Relevant-Peach3997
Barbara Palvin Sprouse on the modeling industry: “By 17, every single time I would go into the agency, they would tell me I have to lose weight. My hips were ‘too big.’ I didn’t even have hips yet.“
Posted by Relevant-Peach3997
23 Comments
Pouring one out to all my ladies who grew up with vs models as the beauty standard
I always thought Barbara during her Victoria secret photo shoots was such a stunning model, i couldn’t imagine how draining that industry is though especially on young girls telling them to constantly lose weight that’s how eating disorders start with so many of these models it’s beyond sad!
That’s what it’s like. I was a teenage model in the 90s. I was simultaneously teased in school for how skinny I was while my agency in Paris told me I was fat and had to lose weight. Once I got severely sick with the flu and couldn’t eat for like two weeks. I lost so much weight. My booker gleefully told me they could now finally introduce me to Steven Meisel.
It took me a long time to understand that the beauty standard of our time is *dainty*. Not just slim. Dainty.
I was always rather slim, but I was never dainty. Delicate. I had broad shoulders, hips, and from the age if 14/15, I also definitely had boobs. Not a “breath of boobs”. But boobs.
No amount of weightloss would have made me dainty. Delicate. The kind of barely there physique that our time glorifies so much.
I’m still not entirely over it, and it always comes up when women like her tell these stories from their early professional lives.
the first plus-sized model? why would anyone refer to her as plus-sized? i get in comparison to the industry she was in, she had bigger measurements, but she’s objectively not plus-sized. it’s ridiculous that anyone was calling her that.
Weren’t there several plus size models before her? Like first plus size VS model?
First plus-sized model? Uh, that’s a no. Not just because she wasn’t plus-sized, but because there were actual plus-sized models well before her. Seriously, why does this industry suck so much? Hence why the song “Victoria’s Secret” was written.
She literally just has an hourglass shape, like the more trendy body type (I can’t believe we have body type trends) in 2026
It’s really fucked up to say on a post about body positivity, but she really looks like she could be the third Sprouse sibling in this picture.
The dimensions are incredibly specific bc you have to fit in the size the clothes are made in. I’m not saying it’s great but it’s super specific. When I modeled they wanted “two inches off your breasts and add those inches to your waistline “. I don’t think they’re trying to be awful it’s just an exact measurement
People don’t want to hear it because they want to think that their child is special and that their parenting technique can overcome the industry, but you can’t. I have friends that are former child actors and models and even the ones with money and success are messed up. Child performers are still expected to maintain adult work ethics. I had a classmate who broke down and wept like crazy when their parent came to school to announce that they had to pull them out again to do reshoots.
Damn no hope for me then
I am from the same town as a former VS model that got recruited for modeling right out of high school. She was very smart and athletic, and incredibly beautiful. Her body was like 12/10. VS made her lose SO much weight that it appeared her hair got thinner. I think she ended up in a lot of financial trouble too and with some mental health issues, she always seemed pretty faded after her she got big. Really weird and sad because I’m certain she’d have ended up a stable, normal person like most smart people from our town had she not been tall and weirdly gorgeous.
My boyfriend was a major male high fashion model in the early aughts and has noting but bad things to say (he’s 50 now). And he was a man and didn’t start until his 20s. He was 6’3” 130 and Hedi Slimane said he wasn’t thin enough. He DID walk some iconic shows tho lol
Can someone link a photo of her looking “plus-size?” Because, the fuck?!
How is this industry even legal? Seriously how has it not been stopped or changed by now. Its so wrong the way they want women to be walking hangers. There is something so cruel about this industry
My mom saw that this would be an issue with the agency I was at and told me I can’t pursue modeling anymore. I was upset at the time (I was 12-13ish) but now I’m glad she did cut me off.
Heroine chic decade of the 90s. Looks like it’s swinging back around
I think they like models starved not just as an aesthetic choice, but because being underweight puts you into a nervous system state where it’s easier to push you around.
Yes, many of these companies eg VS were run by pedos who delighted in getting women to compete to lose their periods.
I think it’s gross to see girls with “PINK” stamped across their asses in this day and age.
Those dudes were straight up predatory shaping the culture.
Sorry but she’s not exactly saying anything new?
I went to high school with a model in the early 00s and I remember some teachers were concerned about her because she was told she needed to lose a few inches off her hips at only 15 or 16. We had gym class together and she definitely put in the work instead of slacking like the rest of us.
All heads in the modeling industry are fucked in the head if she is plus-sized