16-year-old fashion model has prosthetic arm.

[marydell]

Images here and here, good article here.

This article over here has a nice video accompanying it, but it also contains the ridiculous statement "Some people say that Ruthie is challeng[ing] the idea of perfection and opens people’s eyes to the true nature of beauty, which doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you can fit into size 0 jeans" Ridiculous because she looks exactly like a regular fashion model, except for her arm--particularly if you watch the video, you can see that she's skinny.  It's very cool that she's succeeding with a visible flaw in an industry built on appearances, and I do think that's a positive sign, but it's not like fashion has become about celebrating the totality of humanity all of a sudden. 

Comments

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree that it's great that a model with a prosthetic arm is getting attention, but that doesn't equate to models of a more normal weight getting more popular. In fact, the message I got from those articles is that it's easier to be a model with one arm than it is to be a model if you're anything other than skinny! I wonder how good a career she'll have? I suspect that it'll be limited because of her prosthetic arm, and that she'll be the token disabled woman, but it's still an improvement on the current situation. She's a lovely-looking kid with a classic style of beauty, which will help.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

She's a gorgeous girl with poise, but yeah, this is not quite the new millennium of inclusive beauty.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm happy whenever I see someone with a prosthesis in a job, but I did have a moment of thinking about The Handmaid's Tale. OTOH, she also was a competitive equestrienne, which definitely requires hands, so yay!

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

You mean the "they reckon we don't need hands and feet for the job we do" bit? Eep. Good point.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I like her smile a lot!

It's also impatient-making for me that even someone who presumably has $$$, and who works in an appearance-focused field, and who has a skin tone shared by many folks in the largest and richest racial/ethnic demographic in her country, STILL can't get a prosthetic that is anywhere near the same color as her actual skin. I don't understand why this has to be so difficult; I would think that when one is special-ordering a prosthetic, as one presumes she did, they could take that one extra bit of trouble to make it match the client's skin. But either I am missing something or the prosthesis-makers just can't be bothered.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

They actually are doing amazing things (http://www.prostheticskin.org/handprostheses1.htm) with cosmetic prostheses nowadays, but hers looks like a very basic one (one of the links shows it more in a closeup). Chances are, since she's very active, rides horses etc, that her main prosthesis is a functional one, and the cosmetic one is more of an afterthought.

Also, maybe she tans :)

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Chances are, since she's very active, rides horses etc, that her main prosthesis is a functional one, and the cosmetic one is more of an afterthought.

Ah! So that's what I was missing! Good to know about the advances in prosthetic skin.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Good to know about the advances in prosthetic skin.

Probably brought to us by the makers of Real Doll.

Don't google that :0

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

I noticed that too, and was wondering whether it showed up differently under catwalk lighting?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

That statement indeed is a bit of an exageration.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I like how it starts with "some people say..." because the person writing the article KNOWS it's bullshit.

prosthetic arm

[(Anonymous)]

As a woman with only half an arm myself I find the comments on this website misleading and ignorant anyone born with a physical deformity knows how difficult it is to even maintain equal status with other women just because of an abnormality in your appearance to break into the fashion industry is nothing short of a miracle for someone with a physical deformity