Supermodel Coco Rocha is not anorexic, okay? She’s allegedly healthy—and beautiful

Supermodel Coco Rocha is not anorexic, okay? She’s allegedly healthy—and beautiful

Coco Rocha (Image: Jason Hudson)

On Tuesday night, at the Bank of America Tower in New York City, supermodel Coco Rocha was a guest speaker at David B. Herzog’s event promoting the idea that “health is beauty.” Rocha and Doutzen Kroes got involved to illustrate the expectations of the fashion industry, which are notoriously unhealthy. Rocha says she felt pressure early in her career, claiming a modelling agent once said, “The look this year is anorexic. We don’t want you to be anorexic, just look it.” She was only 15. Kroes and Rocha are taking part in a Council of Fashion Designers of America-sponsored mentorship program in which seasoned models team up with younger models to help them along the way. We’re just wondering what world these people are living in, because industry standards haven’t changed that much at all (being skinny is still a model’s ticket to being a model—plus-size models, while championed by some, are still handpicked as novelties by international designers). Even the “designers, nutritionists and trainers” that Rocha alleges are around to “support the industry” are just a means to a skinny, preferably well-toned end. To think Coco Rocha used to be “fat.”

Spreading the Word: Health is Beauty [Vogue]