‘Shame on you’: Victoria Beckham slammed for using ‘emaciated’ model in glasses campaign

The fashion designer was accused of setting a bad example for young girls
Under fire: Fashion designer Victoria Beckham
AFP/Getty Images
Emma Powell15 January 2018
The Weekender

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Victoria Beckham has come under fire from outraged fans who have accused her of using an “emaciated” model in her latest fashion campaign.

The star's followers were quick to call her out after she posted pictures of 29-year-old Lithuanian model Giedre Dukauskaite posing in her eyewear collection on Instagram.

She captioned the shot: “Back to work! Start the year with new frames from the Spring Summer 2018 #VBEyewear collection inspired by 1970s retro classics and updated for a feathery-light, fresh and modern look.”

But she quickly faced a backlash from followers who accused her of promoting an unhealthy body image to young girls, while others vowed to boycott her fashion line altogether.

One user commented: “This is supposed to promote eyewear! You’ve lost me.. all this is promoting is a malnourished model with oversized clothes hanging off her. This a disgraceful image to demonstrate to young women what is fashion and how girls/women should look #neverbuyingvictoriabeckhamagain.”

Another wrote: “This is not a good image for young girls show us some real women please !!!”

A third posted: “Be a part of the positive change towards promoting a healthy body image for all the young girls out there who are inundated with unrealistic and unhealthy body images day in and day out!!”

Victoria Beckham SS18 at New York Fashion Week

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Others begged her to “make the change to healthy looking models” saying she should be “ashamed” for the “absolutely shocking” campaign images.

Piers Morgan also took aim at the fashion designer, saying he was “rendered dumbstruck in horror at the sight of the shockingly underweight model”.

In his Mail Online column, the Good Morning Britain presenter – who said he felt “physically sick” by the images – wrote: “As someone who makes millions of dollars selling merchandise to predominantly young women, she has a very serious duty of care with regard to the imagery she deploys.

“As the father of a six-year-old daughter, the same age as Victoria’s own little girl Harper, I don’t want her growing up thinking this is the body image she should aspire to, or comparing her own body to this size zero human stick insect and hating herself for not being that thin.”

The latest furore comes nearly three years after the mother-of-four defended her use of thin models at her SS16 New York Fashion Week catwalk show.

Speaking to the Telegraph she said: “They’re young, they’re thin, but that doesn’t mean they’re ill.

“Our casting director spoke to all the agencies, and we know that all our girls are healthy.”

In 2012 she told the Guardian she “wouldn’t want to use very skinny girls” as she takes “[her] position seriously”.

Evening Standard Online has contacted Victoria Beckham's representative for comment.

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