Models within the modeling industry often face body shaming. Sadly, it has become commonplace that models are either hired or fired based upon their weight.
Now, a 20-year-old Danish model Ulrikke Louise Lahn Høyer, who is size 2, alleges Louis Vuitton fired her for being “too big.”
In a long Facebook post, the model explains that she was initially flown to Paris to try on outfits and audition for the modeling job. She was allegedly confirmed to model the cruise collection before Stephen left the fitting.
“I was excited to go to Japan and happy to know that even though I wasn’t in my skinniest ‘show-shape’ Louis Vuitton would still have me in their show,” she wrote.
The day after she arrived in Kyoto, she had to attend another fitting.
“That day I ate a very small breakfast and had just water and tea before the fitting, because that’s how we do it … I tried my dress and the coat which I was confirmed fitted in Paris. I changed shoes and trousers a couple of times. Afterward, I tried on a puffy dress with a semi bareback and then I was done.”
However, that’s one problem started to happen.
“Later that night my French agent called me and told me that [the show’s casting agent] had said that there had been some problems during the fitting,” Høyer wrote.
“According to her, I had ‘a very bloated stomach,’ ‘bloated face,’ and urged me to starve myself with this statement: ‘Ulrikke needs to drink only water for the next 24 hours.’ I was shocked when I heard it.”
The next morning, Høyer said that the casting agent checked to see what she was eating for breakfast, something the casting agent did not do with the other models.
“She said good morning to me and the other girls and then looked at me, then down on my nonexistent plate and up at me again. She was checking if I had been eating food.”
Later that day, Høyer said she was fired from the show and would be sent home. Louis Vuitton had allegedly contacted her talent agent in Denmark, discussing that the decision was based on her “belly,” “face” and “back” areas because they were bloated.
Høyer explained that she wants to share her story not because she is seeking revenge over being fired from the show, but rather to tell the world about the cruel treatment she experienced.
“Such lack of respect and decency have let me to decide that I will never work under such conditions again,” she said. “I cannot accept the ‘normality’ in the behavior of people like this. They find pleasure in power over young girls and will go to the extreme to force an eating disorder on you … these sizes of the show pieces are made for women to have eating disorders. Go watch the show and see for yourself, even the smallest tightest pants are loose on the models they book.”
