It's this: the drape, the silhouette, the angles, the cuts. All are displayed more fully on women--and men as well (hello, NBA peacocks). To the eye and pocketbook, to which the clothing must appeal, and appeal with impact, the effects are more immediate when shown on someone with length. And thin, too. Living clothes hangers, usually with angular facial features, another attention grabber. The designers want you look, even stare in awe. And mostly they want you--well, maybe not you, but someone--to buy.
Why do actresses and fashion models have to be tall?
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I believe in the premise that the average person is not very smart. Your analysis plays right into that.
Well done.
The other side of this is sometimes the public will latch onto things at street level and it speaks upward, hence as well "fast fashion"
The torn sweatshirt from Flashdance was a perfect example of this. Pants below underwear on men is actually a prison thing where bad sizing was handed out. Another classic is Crocs. They were a small start up until a movie added them, the reason being they looked so ridiculous the movie makers chose them.
That movie was Idiocracy.
Correct. Fashion models are basically human mannequins. The clothes display better on height. Men in fashion go through the same standard too.
But over the last 2-3 decades, more opportunity in different lanes have opened up for different body types.
Not sure about actresses. I actually heard they prefer slightly below average height women to make the men look bigger on camera.
I agree with everything that Josephine has written in this thread. To quote her:
"Because most fashion designers are gay and they like to see their clothes on women almost shaped like men.”
She’s talking about the fashion industry, not Hollywood, but there are a lot of gay guys in Hollywood too, so that might partially explain which women get hired there.
And on the subject of Hollywood, Butler1000 disagrees with me and gives us this list of supposedly under-height leading ladies:
Jenna Ortega
Ariana Grande
Winona Ryder
Emma Stone
Natalie Portman
Ryder and Portman are solid examples. The rest of the list isn’t quite as strong.
Ortega has had a few lead roles in some less-than-successful films. Her highest-profile lead was in Death Of A Unicorn. Will that take her to the next level of high-profile roles and a career of the sort that Portman and Ryder have had? Maybe, but it’s a bit early to declare her a star at this point. I wish her the best — she’s certainly hot.
Ariana Grande is mostly known as a pop-singer. She’s had one lead role (as Glinda) in the two-part Wicked films. Will that lead to more high-profile leading-lady roles? Is that what Grande even wants? And, at 32, would it be possible for her to transition into being a Hollywood leading lady? (I’m not saying that I consider 32 to be old — the beautiful SP who I see regularly is well over 40. But Hollywood tends to see 32 as old.) We’ll see where her career goes from here.
And then there’s Emma Stone, who is 5’6”. The average woman in America/Canada is 5’4”. Height-wise, Stone is mid-range, not petite. I realize that, from Hollywood’s perspective, she’s short, but that’s sorta my point.
So, Butler1000, you came up with two solid names, two questionable ones, and then you ran out of names, so you added Stone to the list and hoped that no one would look up her height.
I think my point still stands. Hollywood and the fashion industry have a bias against petite women, even though there are exceptions to the rule like Ryder and Portman. I’d like to think that I’m open-minded enough to admit when I’m wrong, but you’ve got to come up with a better list than that to get me to cave.
As for the point that clothes “hang better” on tall women (as stated by Saxon, with agreement from others), that’s an entirely subjective opinion. In my subjective view, clothes look as great on a beautiful, petite woman as they do on a tall woman.
Integra69 says that “Long legs are appealing”. I don’t disagree. But so are the legs of many petite women.
"Because most fashion designers are gay and they like to see their clothes on women almost shaped like men.”
She’s talking about the fashion industry, not Hollywood, but there are a lot of gay guys in Hollywood too, so that might partially explain which women get hired there.
And on the subject of Hollywood, Butler1000 disagrees with me and gives us this list of supposedly under-height leading ladies:
Jenna Ortega
Ariana Grande
Winona Ryder
Emma Stone
Natalie Portman
Ryder and Portman are solid examples. The rest of the list isn’t quite as strong.
Ortega has had a few lead roles in some less-than-successful films. Her highest-profile lead was in Death Of A Unicorn. Will that take her to the next level of high-profile roles and a career of the sort that Portman and Ryder have had? Maybe, but it’s a bit early to declare her a star at this point. I wish her the best — she’s certainly hot.
Ariana Grande is mostly known as a pop-singer. She’s had one lead role (as Glinda) in the two-part Wicked films. Will that lead to more high-profile leading-lady roles? Is that what Grande even wants? And, at 32, would it be possible for her to transition into being a Hollywood leading lady? (I’m not saying that I consider 32 to be old — the beautiful SP who I see regularly is well over 40. But Hollywood tends to see 32 as old.) We’ll see where her career goes from here.
And then there’s Emma Stone, who is 5’6”. The average woman in America/Canada is 5’4”. Height-wise, Stone is mid-range, not petite. I realize that, from Hollywood’s perspective, she’s short, but that’s sorta my point.
So, Butler1000, you came up with two solid names, two questionable ones, and then you ran out of names, so you added Stone to the list and hoped that no one would look up her height.
I think my point still stands. Hollywood and the fashion industry have a bias against petite women, even though there are exceptions to the rule like Ryder and Portman. I’d like to think that I’m open-minded enough to admit when I’m wrong, but you’ve got to come up with a better list than that to get me to cave.
As for the point that clothes “hang better” on tall women (as stated by Saxon, with agreement from others), that’s an entirely subjective opinion. In my subjective view, clothes look as great on a beautiful, petite woman as they do on a tall woman.
Integra69 says that “Long legs are appealing”. I don’t disagree. But so are the legs of many petite women.
Great thread, thought provoking.
was attracted to Josephine before, now more so. Intelligence and competence are fucking hot
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Seems to me lots of shorties got roles, became iconic, got Oscars.........
And that is the point.
High fashion in not about beauty, it's about showing/displaying clothes. A long dress displays better on a taller woman, nothing sexual.
Butler1000, I asked for a better list, and you delivered. Never let it be said that I can’t admit when I was wrong. Thank you for taking the time to set me right.
I was mostly reacting to Insidious Von’s comment about a 6’4” male actor looking “odd” with a 5’2” actress, and vented without doing proper research. To me, a tall guy with a petite woman isn’t odd, it’s perfectly natural.
That’ll teach me to shoot my mouth about something off without really looking into the subject. Well, it probably won’t teach me.
I still think Josephine's right about the fashion industry side of things.
I was mostly reacting to Insidious Von’s comment about a 6’4” male actor looking “odd” with a 5’2” actress, and vented without doing proper research. To me, a tall guy with a petite woman isn’t odd, it’s perfectly natural.
That’ll teach me to shoot my mouth about something off without really looking into the subject. Well, it probably won’t teach me.
I still think Josephine's right about the fashion industry side of things.
I don't believe that. If you look at history of Art there was not a single anorexic wonen in any painting, sculpting or drawing. Nobody ever said the Venus de Milo would look better skinny. The slimming cult came with fashion and the first corset. In all human history before, curvier woman were sought after and celebrated for their beauty, child bearing hips and it was a sign of health. The skinny cult is a men thing in fashion and an ideology that was pushed in our brain. Clothes looks great on women of all sizes if you actually like women and know how to make them. Its all a big brainwash.
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And all sizes of women are welcome to buy and customize the clothing tailored to fit. But this has nothing to do with biological drive, preference or history.
Look at the dress below. Just the dress. Forget about the model.
You can see why height is sought after in fashion. It displays the designers dress in a certain way. Has nothing to do with beauty standards.
I wish I had time to make a comparative study of fashion marketing over the year but I am not paid for that. It come all back to the if you create clothes for tall and slim women without caring about other thing you will indeed need the model to model it. So because gay designer create for themselves with no regards to others, you get dress like this. Even at 5.9 I would not wear it. I would look like a cupcake.And all sizes of women are welcome to buy and customize the clothing tailored to fit. But this has nothing to do with biological drive, preference or history.
Look at the dress below. Just the dress. Forget about the model.
You can see why height is sought after in fashion. It displays the designers dress in a certain way. Has nothing to do with beauty standards.
Have you ever noticed how little women there is in the high fashion world? Try to name the biggest fashion brand and see if a women is head designer. There are more and more women designers who makes it thankfully. Women also have more inclusive design. You wont only see silhouette like this.
But we are digressing now. I gave my point.
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Just the USA? The preference for height is global. Show me one society that gives preferential treatment to shorter men. Anywhere?
I never said preference, I said Heightism. Go to Asia and Europe. People are not obsessed with being tall. You can find clothes for men below 5'9". While in Canada and the USA clothes keep on getting longer.
Its a highly misogynistic field. My friend who is a cheffe actually made a podcast about it but it is in French. Sorry.
