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Size Zero: My Life as a Disappearing Model
A memoir of a brief career as a top model—and the brutally honest account of what goes on behind the scenes in a fascinating, closed industry.
Scouted in the street when she is 17, Victoire Dauxerre’s story started like a teenager’s dream: within months she was on the catwalks of New York’s major fashion shows, and part of the most select circle of in-demand supermodels in the world.
But when fashion executives and photographers began to pressure her about her weight, forcing her to become ever thinner, Victoire’s fantasy came at a cost. Food was now her enemy, and soon, living on only three apples a day and Diet Coke galore, Victoire became anorexic.
An unflinching, painful expose of the uglier face of fashion, her testimony is a shocking example of how our culture’s mechanisms of anorexia and bulimia can push a young woman to the point of suicide. It is the story of a survivor whose fight against poisonous illness and body image shows us how to take courage and embrace life.
Written with Valérie Péronnet.
Scouted in the street when she is 17, Victoire Dauxerre’s story started like a teenager’s dream: within months she was on the catwalks of New York’s major fashion shows, and part of the most select circle of in-demand supermodels in the world.
But when fashion executives and photographers began to pressure her about her weight, forcing her to become ever thinner, Victoire’s fantasy came at a cost. Food was now her enemy, and soon, living on only three apples a day and Diet Coke galore, Victoire became anorexic.
An unflinching, painful expose of the uglier face of fashion, her testimony is a shocking example of how our culture’s mechanisms of anorexia and bulimia can push a young woman to the point of suicide. It is the story of a survivor whose fight against poisonous illness and body image shows us how to take courage and embrace life.
Written with Valérie Péronnet.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 6, 2016
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702 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
November 27, 2017
Finished the book, so this is a review, rather than thoughts when reading it. I read two model books at the same time, one about an unsuccessful model Stupid Model by Barbara de Vries, and this one, by a briefly very successful one. It's an interesting contrast.
Victoire really tells it how it is. At 48 Kg and 5'10" tall she is rejected by Karl Lagerfield as her breasts, 32a, are too big and he 'hates breasts'. Miuccia Prada is so up her own arse that she pokes models to make them walk rather than speak to them. Her aide defends her saying she is a top designer and can't be seen to be too familiar! Prada isn't the only one with this attitude. But there is the other side of the coin.
When getting her clothes put on at a show, Victoire, a friendly 17 year old chats to the dresser who is shocked. She says the models don't speak to the dressers they only speak to each other. What, you don't say thank you for someone kneeling down to put your shoes on you?
She starves herself and uses laxatives and enemas to make sure she is as thin as possible, which her agency praises and the designers adore. They don't adore the downy hair on her arms and legs that grow as a result of starvation though. And the same agencies rip her off. 8 months modelling and $100,000 and her share is $10,000 and compliments on her great skeletal body and her lovely face with her half-starved sunken cheekbones.
She leaves modelling, her parents get her into a top notch facility for anorexics and she recovers. There are two kinds of anorexia, those with body dysmorphia who are obviously mentally ill as they can't see in the mirror what the mirror reflects. These poor girls, it is usually girls, have a hard row to hoe. The other kind is girls who see themselves very clearly and starve themselves for a purpose.
The models who become anorexic see what others see and know that the top designers who will advance their career want only the thinnest of girls. Karl Lagerfeld says that only "fat mummies" object to the ultra-thin girls. Hedi Slimane, Yves St Laurent's creative director once did an advert of a girl crumpled on the floor showing her rib cage and legs that had no calves, just bone. The ad was banned in the UK. The author had a nickname with the other runway models, “the catwalk Yeti" because of the fine hair that replaced the natural padding of fat in anorexia. But these girls are only temporarily mentally ill, and once they give up the idea of modelling, or change it to other forms of modelling, they do recover as did the author.
The media builds up Victoria's Secret models as the most beautiful and desirable in the world. They don't really wear Victoria's Secret lingerie, everything is specially made for them which is why it looks so much better (it has to feel better too, VS bras are the most uncomfortable in the world). But the VS models have to have very specific physical attributes. They have to be extremely tall, with long legs rather than a long torso. They need to have tiny waists and hips, as if they were anorexic, but natural busts, no implants allowed (or so they say). How to be thin and still have shapely legs and full breasts? The girls work out for weeks before the shows and in the couple of days before them they starve themselves, become dehydrated and some even eat cotton wool balls to feel full. These are the girls held up as the essence of sexy femininity.
It's not a great book, but fairly interesting and well written. I like books about models, if you do too, then you would enjoy this one. 3.5 stars rounded up because I like how the author exposed the French haute couture catwalks as the awful, exploitative, rip-off workplaces they are.
Victoire really tells it how it is. At 48 Kg and 5'10" tall she is rejected by Karl Lagerfield as her breasts, 32a, are too big and he 'hates breasts'. Miuccia Prada is so up her own arse that she pokes models to make them walk rather than speak to them. Her aide defends her saying she is a top designer and can't be seen to be too familiar! Prada isn't the only one with this attitude. But there is the other side of the coin.
When getting her clothes put on at a show, Victoire, a friendly 17 year old chats to the dresser who is shocked. She says the models don't speak to the dressers they only speak to each other. What, you don't say thank you for someone kneeling down to put your shoes on you?
She starves herself and uses laxatives and enemas to make sure she is as thin as possible, which her agency praises and the designers adore. They don't adore the downy hair on her arms and legs that grow as a result of starvation though. And the same agencies rip her off. 8 months modelling and $100,000 and her share is $10,000 and compliments on her great skeletal body and her lovely face with her half-starved sunken cheekbones.
She leaves modelling, her parents get her into a top notch facility for anorexics and she recovers. There are two kinds of anorexia, those with body dysmorphia who are obviously mentally ill as they can't see in the mirror what the mirror reflects. These poor girls, it is usually girls, have a hard row to hoe. The other kind is girls who see themselves very clearly and starve themselves for a purpose.
The models who become anorexic see what others see and know that the top designers who will advance their career want only the thinnest of girls. Karl Lagerfeld says that only "fat mummies" object to the ultra-thin girls. Hedi Slimane, Yves St Laurent's creative director once did an advert of a girl crumpled on the floor showing her rib cage and legs that had no calves, just bone. The ad was banned in the UK. The author had a nickname with the other runway models, “the catwalk Yeti" because of the fine hair that replaced the natural padding of fat in anorexia. But these girls are only temporarily mentally ill, and once they give up the idea of modelling, or change it to other forms of modelling, they do recover as did the author.
The media builds up Victoria's Secret models as the most beautiful and desirable in the world. They don't really wear Victoria's Secret lingerie, everything is specially made for them which is why it looks so much better (it has to feel better too, VS bras are the most uncomfortable in the world). But the VS models have to have very specific physical attributes. They have to be extremely tall, with long legs rather than a long torso. They need to have tiny waists and hips, as if they were anorexic, but natural busts, no implants allowed (or so they say). How to be thin and still have shapely legs and full breasts? The girls work out for weeks before the shows and in the couple of days before them they starve themselves, become dehydrated and some even eat cotton wool balls to feel full. These are the girls held up as the essence of sexy femininity.
It's not a great book, but fairly interesting and well written. I like books about models, if you do too, then you would enjoy this one. 3.5 stars rounded up because I like how the author exposed the French haute couture catwalks as the awful, exploitative, rip-off workplaces they are.
July 26, 2019
Мне нравится, когда книжки оправдывают ожидания. Эту мне посоветовали студентки — как иллюстрацию к жестокому миру моды и хрупкой психики начинающих моделей.
О том и книга. Это история девушки, которая готовилась к экзаменам в институт, а потом случайно познакомилась с рекрутером в модельное агентство. Рекрутер расточал комплименты и очаровал в первую очередь маму девушки. Решили попробовать. Кастинги, первая фотосессия, выбор одежды на просмотры... Сотрудники агентства встретили Виктуар доброжелательно, почти с восторгом, но сказали, что перед показами в Нью-Йорке ей надо на пару килограммов похудеть, но у неё ещё два месяца, время есть. И вроде бы неглупая барышня из приличной парижской семьи (а не голодранка-русская, у которой подиум — единственный шанс сбежать от бедности и эксплуатации) стала есть по три яблока в день, лишь изредка уступая обеспокоенным родителям и позволяя себе овощи на пару, но без масла.
Меня немного испортили знакомые, так что теперь в каждой такой биографии я подозреваю гострайтера, но в данном случае это, наверное, не имеет значения. Книга написана ровно, выдержана в хорошем темпе, без сюсюканья, лишнего драматизма и причитаний. Есть несколько обиженных кивков в сторону больших имён индустрии, есть обязательные благодарности добрым и отзывчивым. Хорошо передана идея, что прилежные домашние восемнадцатилетние девочки — ещё совершенные дети: скучают по маме и семейным обедам, играют в игрушки, мечтают заручиться поддержкой агента Роберта Паттисона, — а модный бизнес их перемалывает, как коров на скотобойне, и выживают только самые стойкие, самые цепкие, самые отчаянные. Такой большой лонгрид в Антиглянец.
О том и книга. Это история девушки, которая готовилась к экзаменам в институт, а потом случайно познакомилась с рекрутером в модельное агентство. Рекрутер расточал комплименты и очаровал в первую очередь маму девушки. Решили попробовать. Кастинги, первая фотосессия, выбор одежды на просмотры... Сотрудники агентства встретили Виктуар доброжелательно, почти с восторгом, но сказали, что перед показами в Нью-Йорке ей надо на пару килограммов похудеть, но у неё ещё два месяца, время есть. И вроде бы неглупая барышня из приличной парижской семьи (а не голодранка-русская, у которой подиум — единственный шанс сбежать от бедности и эксплуатации) стала есть по три яблока в день, лишь изредка уступая обеспокоенным родителям и позволяя себе овощи на пару, но без масла.
Меня немного испортили знакомые, так что теперь в каждой такой биографии я подозреваю гострайтера, но в данном случае это, наверное, не имеет значения. Книга написана ровно, выдержана в хорошем темпе, без сюсюканья, лишнего драматизма и причитаний. Есть несколько обиженных кивков в сторону больших имён индустрии, есть обязательные благодарности добрым и отзывчивым. Хорошо передана идея, что прилежные домашние восемнадцатилетние девочки — ещё совершенные дети: скучают по маме и семейным обедам, играют в игрушки, мечтают заручиться поддержкой агента Роберта Паттисона, — а модный бизнес их перемалывает, как коров на скотобойне, и выживают только самые стойкие, самые цепкие, самые отчаянные. Такой большой лонгрид в Антиглянец.
April 15, 2017
I like to read books of this (depressing) nature every once in awhile to help remind me that my hard fought body confidence (that sometimes still falters) is way more satisfying than the obsessive life lived with disordered eating.
It is a well told story of a glamorous industry that is not really that glamorous. It makes sense, but it's nice to be reminded of the reality:
--most (all?) models have to put themselves in inhuman states to be as thin as the industry requires.
--most models do not make any or a lot of money, or get famous.
--everybody is using everybody else, and the "creatives" are nearer the top but the real directors are the magazines and ad agencies. Models and their ilk are bottom tier.
I appreciate Victoire not sugar coating her experience: narrating the things that were fun and ethereal, the times she was nasty to others while under the pressure, and the horrible conditions and hunger she went through. You get a good sense of where she was, and why it was difficult to do anything about it.
It is a well told story of a glamorous industry that is not really that glamorous. It makes sense, but it's nice to be reminded of the reality:
--most (all?) models have to put themselves in inhuman states to be as thin as the industry requires.
--most models do not make any or a lot of money, or get famous.
--everybody is using everybody else, and the "creatives" are nearer the top but the real directors are the magazines and ad agencies. Models and their ilk are bottom tier.
I appreciate Victoire not sugar coating her experience: narrating the things that were fun and ethereal, the times she was nasty to others while under the pressure, and the horrible conditions and hunger she went through. You get a good sense of where she was, and why it was difficult to do anything about it.
September 21, 2017
Books, movies, reality shows etc. about fashion insdustry are my guilty pleasure. I've never wanted to become a model but I this theme always interested me - its sunny side, negative side, what's happening in a backstage, if the models are really so bitchy and how they behave to other models etc.
Size Zero describes fashion industry just like I think it is - models are for people just walking clothes hangers, no-one asks their opinion, agencies and designers place enormous demands on models when it comes to their body, who obeys them.
The parts about not eating were painful to read since I know a thing or two about not having a good relationship with food. I am just glad that Victoire realized at the end that this is not healthy.
I liked how Victoire described the slow transition from excitement of being a model to the unbearableness of it. There is no sugar coating in her descriptions. If you are interested in this theme, I recommend to read this book.
Size Zero describes fashion industry just like I think it is - models are for people just walking clothes hangers, no-one asks their opinion, agencies and designers place enormous demands on models when it comes to their body, who obeys them.
The parts about not eating were painful to read since I know a thing or two about not having a good relationship with food. I am just glad that Victoire realized at the end that this is not healthy.
I liked how Victoire described the slow transition from excitement of being a model to the unbearableness of it. There is no sugar coating in her descriptions. If you are interested in this theme, I recommend to read this book.
January 18, 2024
This was not as engaging as I hoped.. Tragic, and an okay read, but not fantastic. Reading books about models who try to fit into the general idea of what the industry wants them to look is quite rough, of course. I am glad it is now changing a bit. It is also interesting to read along with the author's realisation that this is not a sustainable life style, and not worth it. In the end, she seems to recover. Other reviewers have noted the author's negative tone towards others and "bratty behaviour", but if you really think about it, it makes sense to put up a wall around yourself when you are in a situation like this. It might make her seem unlikeable, but it's also a realistic reaction.
August 16, 2019
This book was advertised to me as something entirely about the fashion and modeling industry and how shitty it is - unfortunately, it's maybe just 10% of that?
The rest is basically a personal diary about anorexia (not saying that's a bad thing), written poorly (maybe it's just the translation?) and filled with many many many - far too many if I'm honest - descriptions of beautiful things.
Maybe it's the magazine's, that recommended this book to me, fault, but that's not the only problem I have with it.
Along with the high-school level writing (again, maybe it's the translation) and its repetitiveness, the author seems like a really nasty and judgemental person - I'm so so happy she got out of a really bad situation, but if you're a bitch, you're just a bitch.
And honestly, I don't want to be patronized by someone who doesn't seem that wise.
The rest is basically a personal diary about anorexia (not saying that's a bad thing), written poorly (maybe it's just the translation?) and filled with many many many - far too many if I'm honest - descriptions of beautiful things.
Maybe it's the magazine's, that recommended this book to me, fault, but that's not the only problem I have with it.
Along with the high-school level writing (again, maybe it's the translation) and its repetitiveness, the author seems like a really nasty and judgemental person - I'm so so happy she got out of a really bad situation, but if you're a bitch, you're just a bitch.
And honestly, I don't want to be patronized by someone who doesn't seem that wise.
August 7, 2019
Iiiiii really don’t care
Yeah everyone in the fashion industry seems to be a complete arsehole, but Dauxerre is judgemental and nasty about everyone else so she fit right in.
Skimmed the last 20% because if I had to read one more whinge about steamed chicken or fucking Sciences Po or "that bastard little voice" I was going to scream.
I just noticed there is a "written with" credit (Valérie Péronnet) so safe to say this is actually ghost-written. Boo, down to one star.
Blah blah blah obligatory pointing towards Wasted as a much better anorexia memoir.
Yeah everyone in the fashion industry seems to be a complete arsehole, but Dauxerre is judgemental and nasty about everyone else so she fit right in.
Skimmed the last 20% because if I had to read one more whinge about steamed chicken or fucking Sciences Po or "that bastard little voice" I was going to scream.
I just noticed there is a "written with" credit (Valérie Péronnet) so safe to say this is actually ghost-written. Boo, down to one star.
Blah blah blah obligatory pointing towards Wasted as a much better anorexia memoir.
May 18, 2017
Heartbreaking - I have to admit I made sure I had a snack of some kind every time I sat down to read this. I've worked with some beginner models (as a beginner photog) and knew there were issues with the industry. At the time, I didn't realize quite how baldly the fashion industry supported the destruction of the bodies they supposedly revered. This memoir makes it clear, beyond a doubt, how wrong the fashion world can be. And this girl modelled for only one season.
December 17, 2017
4.5* I really enjoyed this memoir, it is a really powerful look at the dark side of the "glamorous" fashion industry. As memoirs go, I dound this one well written (especially having been translated) and well paced, and I liked that it followed a chronological timeline rather than jumping around a lot like some memoirs, as it made it easier to follow.
August 30, 2019
Awfully written. Her mother was very superficial super slim and didn't like eating. She also always kept laxatives and sleeping pills handy, just in case. She gave them to her daughter. The father, appears somewhat deluded and pushed her to fulfill the "one year contract" despite a sleazy agent ripping her off. They wouldn't win the parent of the year award.
November 22, 2020
Such a shame. I was really looking forward to this book--I love these kinds of exposès, and I'd seen Victoire interviewed and she seemed so nice and down to earth.
I'm hoping something got lost in translation because, to put it lightly, in this memoir she comes across as an unbearable brat.
Most everyone knows the fashion industry is unhealthy AF, and holds people to an impossible standard, which no actual person can live up to without starving themselves, or bingeing and purging, laxatives, etc. Still, when Victoire is told she'll need to "lose a few kilos" off her slender figure in order to "fit the clothes," she is the one who decides to give herself a goal weight even lighter than what was asked for. This quickly becomes an obsession, and soon she's thinking of herself as a "fat pig" because she ate some honeydew melon.
Anorexia is a mental disorder, so I tried my best to remember this distorted thinking wasn't her fault, but it was hard not to find it frustrating. Meanwhile, she's skewering the fashion industry for all manner of "horrible" faults--making her wait to have her photo taken; not shaking her hand or greeting her; being rough during hair-and-makeup sessions; and wanting her to have an opinion of her own instead of running back to her parents all the time. I'm not saying modelling is a good career, or fair, but if you don't want to obsess about your weight or have people treat you like an object or a clothes hanger, maybe don't become a model?
Some of things she describes are definitely questionable. Why expect models to be unnaturally thin, but then only serve them fattening food, giving them the choice to either gain weight or eat nothing at all? Why expect them to walk the runway in shoes that are two sizes or more too small?
Her family comes across as quite bizarre. One minute, her parents are worried about her wasting away, and want her to quit, but then they're mad at her for quitting. They also watched her eat only three apples a day for months and didn't seem to have an issue with it. Meanwhile, at eighteen, Victoire is cuddling with her teenage brothers in bed and hearing them tell her she's the "most beautiful girl in the world." She lapses into a depression if she's away from her mother, and throws a fit if her mother can't accompany her to shoots.
The trashing of other women's appearances and personalities was hard to stomach as well, only to read her brag about how different she was from the "other girls," how non-competitive and polite. Then why all the nasty comments about how other models looked and what they weighed?
By the end, when she was throwing tantrums and hanging up on people constantly, she was completely insufferable. There are certainly young women who were ruined by the fashion industry, but in Victoire's case, it appears she was her own worst enemy.
I'm hoping something got lost in translation because, to put it lightly, in this memoir she comes across as an unbearable brat.
Most everyone knows the fashion industry is unhealthy AF, and holds people to an impossible standard, which no actual person can live up to without starving themselves, or bingeing and purging, laxatives, etc. Still, when Victoire is told she'll need to "lose a few kilos" off her slender figure in order to "fit the clothes," she is the one who decides to give herself a goal weight even lighter than what was asked for. This quickly becomes an obsession, and soon she's thinking of herself as a "fat pig" because she ate some honeydew melon.
Anorexia is a mental disorder, so I tried my best to remember this distorted thinking wasn't her fault, but it was hard not to find it frustrating. Meanwhile, she's skewering the fashion industry for all manner of "horrible" faults--making her wait to have her photo taken; not shaking her hand or greeting her; being rough during hair-and-makeup sessions; and wanting her to have an opinion of her own instead of running back to her parents all the time. I'm not saying modelling is a good career, or fair, but if you don't want to obsess about your weight or have people treat you like an object or a clothes hanger, maybe don't become a model?
Some of things she describes are definitely questionable. Why expect models to be unnaturally thin, but then only serve them fattening food, giving them the choice to either gain weight or eat nothing at all? Why expect them to walk the runway in shoes that are two sizes or more too small?
Her family comes across as quite bizarre. One minute, her parents are worried about her wasting away, and want her to quit, but then they're mad at her for quitting. They also watched her eat only three apples a day for months and didn't seem to have an issue with it. Meanwhile, at eighteen, Victoire is cuddling with her teenage brothers in bed and hearing them tell her she's the "most beautiful girl in the world." She lapses into a depression if she's away from her mother, and throws a fit if her mother can't accompany her to shoots.
The trashing of other women's appearances and personalities was hard to stomach as well, only to read her brag about how different she was from the "other girls," how non-competitive and polite. Then why all the nasty comments about how other models looked and what they weighed?
By the end, when she was throwing tantrums and hanging up on people constantly, she was completely insufferable. There are certainly young women who were ruined by the fashion industry, but in Victoire's case, it appears she was her own worst enemy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2022
A travers ce livre l'autrice nous livre un véritable témoignage sur le monde de la mode et du mannequinat. Nous suivons sa vie de mannequin du début à la fin de sa carrière. De plus, il nous montre les habitudes alimentaires que sont obligée de prendre les jeunes filles pour réussir dans ce milieu impitoyable. On voit qu'elles sont totalement obsédées par leur alimentation et qu'elles se privent de tout pour atteindre la taille parfaite, un 32. On voit également que les mannequins sont traités comme des objets, on s'intéresse seulement à leurs corps sans même imaginer une seule seconde ce qu'elles peuvent ressentir, d'ailleurs ce récit dénonce certaines marques qui n'hésite pas à maltraiter les mannequins aux points de détruire leurs cheveux et les faire souffrir physiquement.
C'est un témoignage qui permet également de faire de la prévention en montrant la souffrance mentale et physique provoqué par ce métiers mais également les difficultés à le quitter.
C'est un livre qui m'a énormément touché et je pense qu'il devrait être lu par tous afin dans un premier temps de comprendre que ce n'est pas un métier si idyllique qu'il n'y parait mais également pour permettre aux parents de protéger leur enfants de ce milieu dangereux qui peut pousser à la mort et détruire leurs enfants.
C'est un témoignage qui permet également de faire de la prévention en montrant la souffrance mentale et physique provoqué par ce métiers mais également les difficultés à le quitter.
C'est un livre qui m'a énormément touché et je pense qu'il devrait être lu par tous afin dans un premier temps de comprendre que ce n'est pas un métier si idyllique qu'il n'y parait mais également pour permettre aux parents de protéger leur enfants de ce milieu dangereux qui peut pousser à la mort et détruire leurs enfants.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2020
3.5 Stars
July 19, 2022
4,5
Un témoignage très poignant de la part d’un ex-mannequin qui révèle la face cachée d’une industrie où les mannequin sont réduits à de simples objets qui exposent les créations des maisons de haute couture.
Un témoignage très poignant de la part d’un ex-mannequin qui révèle la face cachée d’une industrie où les mannequin sont réduits à de simples objets qui exposent les créations des maisons de haute couture.
September 19, 2021
I got a copy at the last New York Book Expo and it took me some time to get inspired to read it. Once I did, I found the story interesting. It shows the total brutality of the fashion business. A whole industry from model scouts over photographers and casting agents live off the damage inflicted on the bodies of young women and girls.
The authors struggle to turn herself into an anorexic was especially insightful.
I agree with the previous reviewer, its not brilliantly written but it must have taken some courage to do so and that deserves 4 stars.
The authors struggle to turn herself into an anorexic was especially insightful.
I agree with the previous reviewer, its not brilliantly written but it must have taken some courage to do so and that deserves 4 stars.
October 23, 2017
A priori, ce n'est pas un livre que j'aurais cherché activement à lire : la mode, ce n'est pas franchement ma tasse de thé, et puis, les mannequins, elles sont un peu coconnes non ? Elles ne doivent pas avoir grand chose d'intéressant à dire. Mais bon, ce livre traînait abandonné dans un coin du bureau, alors pourquoi ne pas y jeter un œil ? (Et pour le plaisir du troll, je l'ai lu systématiquement en mangeant, pendant mes pauses déjeuner.)
Je savais, plus ou moins précisément, que le monde de la mode était impitoyable, mais à ce point, c'est dur à imaginer. La jeune autrice nous révèle tout, le beau comme le laid - surtout le laid. J'étais estomaquée de voir à quel point cette industrie est déshumanisante et force de toutes jeunes femmes à transformer leur corps pour qu'ils correspondent aux lubies des créateurs (la palme revenant à celui qui n'aime pas les seins et juge qu'un 85A, c'est déjà trop). Tout cela est d'une absurdité sans nom. Je n'ai que de la compassion pour les jeunes filles qui se jettent à corps perdu, c'est le cas de le dire, dans un métier aussi ingrat (le cas de le dire aussi...), et du mépris pour ceux qui exploitent leur vulnérabilité comme des vautours. Je veux bien apprécier la beauté d'une tenue de haute couture comme une œuvre d'art, mais seulement si cette création ne met pas en danger la santé de la personne qui la porte.
Par contraste avec tout cela, Victoire Dauxerre semble très vraie et sincère, et je me suis attachée à elle, ou du moins à l'image qu'elle projette dans ce livre - je me suis notamment retrouvée pas mal dans sa relation avec son petit frère. J'espère qu'elle s'épanouira dans sa carrière de comédienne, mais aussi et surtout dans sa vie personnelle.
Je savais, plus ou moins précisément, que le monde de la mode était impitoyable, mais à ce point, c'est dur à imaginer. La jeune autrice nous révèle tout, le beau comme le laid - surtout le laid. J'étais estomaquée de voir à quel point cette industrie est déshumanisante et force de toutes jeunes femmes à transformer leur corps pour qu'ils correspondent aux lubies des créateurs (la palme revenant à celui qui n'aime pas les seins et juge qu'un 85A, c'est déjà trop). Tout cela est d'une absurdité sans nom. Je n'ai que de la compassion pour les jeunes filles qui se jettent à corps perdu, c'est le cas de le dire, dans un métier aussi ingrat (le cas de le dire aussi...), et du mépris pour ceux qui exploitent leur vulnérabilité comme des vautours. Je veux bien apprécier la beauté d'une tenue de haute couture comme une œuvre d'art, mais seulement si cette création ne met pas en danger la santé de la personne qui la porte.
Par contraste avec tout cela, Victoire Dauxerre semble très vraie et sincère, et je me suis attachée à elle, ou du moins à l'image qu'elle projette dans ce livre - je me suis notamment retrouvée pas mal dans sa relation avec son petit frère. J'espère qu'elle s'épanouira dans sa carrière de comédienne, mais aussi et surtout dans sa vie personnelle.
August 23, 2018
This is a 3.5 stars book for me. Although I appreciated Victoire's honesty & the courageous stand she took to name names of those who were horrendous, as well as those who were kind & thoughtful in the industry, I felt that the translation could have been handled more perceptively. It was debilitating & unnerving for the majority of the book to read from the viewpoint of someone suffering from body dysmorphia with the inherent anorexic life choices. Based on the fact that this was happening around 2012, I found it atrocious & shocking that her parents had no idea about the well-documented perils of the modeling industry and the well-known issues of anorexia! Her father was particularly delusional & misguided with his very male-centric idea that she had to finish what she started regardless of the cost to her physically, mentally & emotionally. I'm Grateful that she had the tenacity to leave the industry and that she chooses to share her hard-earned lessons with the World. It is time to end this vicious cycle of the hatred of Women's Bodies!
August 9, 2020
2.5
Biographies are tricky to review because you can't really judge the prose nor the events as she ain't a professional writer and what she talks about is her actual real life. This book is just like reading her personal journal of 2011 when she was only 18 years old.
The modelling industry is completely brutal to both female and male models but I was also troubled by her parents' role and how they seemed to encourage her to keep working while looking the other way at her weight loss.
I'd suggest to check out her page at theFashionSpot while reading it: her words are powerful but reading them and seeing the images she's talking about at the same time makes her story a lot more tragic. I appreciated the fact she name-dropped the ones that made her experience miserable - now we get the confirmation that Miuccia Prada is the devil herself!
Biographies are tricky to review because you can't really judge the prose nor the events as she ain't a professional writer and what she talks about is her actual real life. This book is just like reading her personal journal of 2011 when she was only 18 years old.
The modelling industry is completely brutal to both female and male models but I was also troubled by her parents' role and how they seemed to encourage her to keep working while looking the other way at her weight loss.
I'd suggest to check out her page at theFashionSpot while reading it: her words are powerful but reading them and seeing the images she's talking about at the same time makes her story a lot more tragic. I appreciated the fact she name-dropped the ones that made her experience miserable - now we get the confirmation that Miuccia Prada is the devil herself!
June 7, 2019
4 stars.
Ohh so good. It really gives you such an honest look into the world of modelling. The hell of it. I think Victoire is an amazing person and I am SO glad that she is away from that life now and is now happier for it.
I absolutely love how loving her family is and how they are with each other. It's something to be so envious of.
Ohh so good. It really gives you such an honest look into the world of modelling. The hell of it. I think Victoire is an amazing person and I am SO glad that she is away from that life now and is now happier for it.
I absolutely love how loving her family is and how they are with each other. It's something to be so envious of.
July 27, 2017
A very sobering biography. It is well worth your time!
June 14, 2023
wow ! Cachetazo de realidad que no vemos, o evitamos ver.
La historia de Victoire revela el maltrato hacia las muejeres en la industria de la moda, contando de como fue "descubierta" a sus 16 años, hasta el dia que renuncio después de un año de maltrato, trastornos alimenticios y estafas por parte de la agencia y representantes.
Creo que es una lectura recomendada para sentir empatía por la mujer y su lugar en la sociedad. De todo lo que se le pide que sea, para una sociedad de hombres. El libro me dejo pensando sobre dos frases de la autora "solo somos una percha" y "tratadas como si fuéramos un objeto, o menos que eso", en referencia a como ella y otras chicas (si chicas, porque tenían entre 14 y 17 años) eran tratadas por la mayoría de los estilistas, fotógrafos y diseñadores. Diseñadores hombres (la mayoría gay) que piden que la mujer sea talle Cero. De no creer.
Muy buena biografia, valiente la autora.
La historia de Victoire revela el maltrato hacia las muejeres en la industria de la moda, contando de como fue "descubierta" a sus 16 años, hasta el dia que renuncio después de un año de maltrato, trastornos alimenticios y estafas por parte de la agencia y representantes.
Creo que es una lectura recomendada para sentir empatía por la mujer y su lugar en la sociedad. De todo lo que se le pide que sea, para una sociedad de hombres. El libro me dejo pensando sobre dos frases de la autora "solo somos una percha" y "tratadas como si fuéramos un objeto, o menos que eso", en referencia a como ella y otras chicas (si chicas, porque tenían entre 14 y 17 años) eran tratadas por la mayoría de los estilistas, fotógrafos y diseñadores. Diseñadores hombres (la mayoría gay) que piden que la mujer sea talle Cero. De no creer.
Muy buena biografia, valiente la autora.
October 23, 2017
3 étoiles et 1/2
J'ai déjà lu pas mal de témoignages similaires, celui-ci ne sort pas particulièrement du lot, même si je fus frappée par la vitesse à laquelle Victoire Dauxerre fut entraînée dans cette spirale infernale. Le milieu de la mode, comme toujours, n'en sort pas grandi.
J'ai déjà lu pas mal de témoignages similaires, celui-ci ne sort pas particulièrement du lot, même si je fus frappée par la vitesse à laquelle Victoire Dauxerre fut entraînée dans cette spirale infernale. Le milieu de la mode, comme toujours, n'en sort pas grandi.
September 3, 2020
Fascinant. Même si on a un peu l'impression de se pencher à la fenêtre de la voiture pour regarder un accident au bord de la route.
Read
November 4, 2021not gonna rate this one because its someones life
June 30, 2017
I have mixed opinions about this book, but ultimately I rated it a 4 stars because I enjoyed the read immensely. Victoire writes her memoir - her life as a model and focuses most of her book on the world of modelling -vs- food (or lack of it). This was a very honest book, with a direct correlation between what the world wants to see in women and what the reality truly is.
As much as Victoire wants (and becomes) a "it" model, she ends up reducing the amount of food she eats more and more, while the world of modelling never questions why she fits in a size 0, or rather why they don't care that she does.
Victoire does a good job of describing her anorexia like behavior, intertwined with periods of binge eating and then purging through laxatives. What she does not describe all that well are the feelings she experiences. Other than boredom and anger - there never seems to be anything in between.
Also, Victoire comes across as very immature in many instances, while being beyond her years in others. I wonder how her parents could let her go to NYC, with a man they barely know, so perhaps there are parts of the story that are missing.
Also, Victoire was in the business for a very short amount of time. I do like that she gives us a glimpse of the world of modelling, but it is very limited.
Some good and some not so good in this book. Still, very entertaining, if hard to read because of the subject matter.
As much as Victoire wants (and becomes) a "it" model, she ends up reducing the amount of food she eats more and more, while the world of modelling never questions why she fits in a size 0, or rather why they don't care that she does.
Victoire does a good job of describing her anorexia like behavior, intertwined with periods of binge eating and then purging through laxatives. What she does not describe all that well are the feelings she experiences. Other than boredom and anger - there never seems to be anything in between.
Also, Victoire comes across as very immature in many instances, while being beyond her years in others. I wonder how her parents could let her go to NYC, with a man they barely know, so perhaps there are parts of the story that are missing.
Also, Victoire was in the business for a very short amount of time. I do like that she gives us a glimpse of the world of modelling, but it is very limited.
Some good and some not so good in this book. Still, very entertaining, if hard to read because of the subject matter.
December 14, 2018
Age – 14+
When approached by a stranger in the street, 17 yr old Victoire couldn’t believe her ears. He told her she was beautiful and he worked with Elite, a fashion agency that could make her into a supermodel. After giving his business card and urging her to call him, Victoire and her mum burst out laughing. Was that for real?
Victoire was in the middle of exams and stressing whether she will pass, when she decides to call this stranger. After a meeting with a photographer, she was asked if she’d like to meet important people at Elite. “Yes”. And her short but intense time in the fashion world begins.
Size Zero tells the story of a young family-orientated girl showered with attention, glamourous clothes, shoes and makeup. But then there’s the waiting around at photo shoots, the hair products and makeup that burns, the arrogant photographers, hair stylists and designers who bark instructions. And worst of all, the constant pressure to be thinner than your competition.
This book shines a light on the behind the scenes cut throat fashion industry. Models are often seen as clothes racks and nothing more and are as disposable as plastic cutlery. The ‘new look’ can change in an instant, the fashion agencies screaming for new, fresh girls constantly, with no regard for their welfare. Illuminating.
When approached by a stranger in the street, 17 yr old Victoire couldn’t believe her ears. He told her she was beautiful and he worked with Elite, a fashion agency that could make her into a supermodel. After giving his business card and urging her to call him, Victoire and her mum burst out laughing. Was that for real?
Victoire was in the middle of exams and stressing whether she will pass, when she decides to call this stranger. After a meeting with a photographer, she was asked if she’d like to meet important people at Elite. “Yes”. And her short but intense time in the fashion world begins.
Size Zero tells the story of a young family-orientated girl showered with attention, glamourous clothes, shoes and makeup. But then there’s the waiting around at photo shoots, the hair products and makeup that burns, the arrogant photographers, hair stylists and designers who bark instructions. And worst of all, the constant pressure to be thinner than your competition.
This book shines a light on the behind the scenes cut throat fashion industry. Models are often seen as clothes racks and nothing more and are as disposable as plastic cutlery. The ‘new look’ can change in an instant, the fashion agencies screaming for new, fresh girls constantly, with no regard for their welfare. Illuminating.
June 5, 2018
This is a book every member of the fashion industry should have to read. I've never thought it was right, the size zero thing. I've never thought it was good. I've always thought it was an awful way to treat the human body and a terrible thing to aspire too. I blame the industry. I blame the designers. I blame the magazines. We are the only ones that can change this, but why are we so reluctant to? Parts of this book, I thought the author was a bit young to have been thrust into such an adult world. When I was her age I was already working in television and the fashion industry would have been a piece of cake in comparison. She didn't seem ready. And she did seem bratty sometimes, but then again, so did the big name models. I guess that's just the way that world is. I did enjoy her honesty though and so of her tantrums made me laugh. I enjoy a girl who gives it as good as she gets it.
October 8, 2020
I'm giving this a 3 star as the story wasn't very well written (probably due to the translation, but was also quite repetitive at times). However that being said, I still raced through it in just a few days as it was so fast paced.
It was really interesting to get an insight into this profession and see what goes on behind closed doors within the modelling/fashion world that we don't generally hear much about (although after reading this story, it's no wonder!) Its really amazing how for an industry that is ever so glamourized, it doesn't really seem glamorous in the slightest...
Credit to Victoire for telling her side of the story, and I'm glad she managed to get herself away from that horrible lifestyle.
It was really interesting to get an insight into this profession and see what goes on behind closed doors within the modelling/fashion world that we don't generally hear much about (although after reading this story, it's no wonder!) Its really amazing how for an industry that is ever so glamourized, it doesn't really seem glamorous in the slightest...
Credit to Victoire for telling her side of the story, and I'm glad she managed to get herself away from that horrible lifestyle.
April 3, 2018
Thank you Victoire so much for writing this honest and open account of what it's really like in a stressful environment that you're constantly made to feel ungrateful about for not falling over yourself to please people in. I'm so grateful to hear a true account of what life is really like in an "amazing on paper" industry. Good luck to the ones who think it's worth and and a high five to the people brave enough to recognise it's not right or healthy for them and have the courage to walk away and do what they love.
March 9, 2020
A very telling book that sheds some light on the horrors and pressures of the fashion industry - I read it in one setting. I gave it a three because Victoire really annoyed me as a person. I'm not talking about her behaviour as an anorexic (that is a mental disorder and can be forgiven) but at the beginning wherein she comes across as whiny, spoiled and self centered. Clearly from a very privileged background...
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