# Fashion -vs- High Fashion Models
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 30, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176 "2008-12-30T05:06:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/1 "2008-12-30T05:06:19Z")
I was looking at a few sites and they had categories and the sites said
Swimwear Models
Child Models
Fashion Models
High Fashion Models
Underwear Models
Plus Size Models
Etc etc etc…
What is the difference between a “fashion model” and a “high fashion model”?
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/2 "2008-12-30T05:10:41Z")
> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> What is the difference between a “fashion model” and a “high fashion model”?
$500 worth of blow?
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### Author:  [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/3 "2008-12-30T05:43:12Z")
Just a guess, but I’d say that “fashion models” are in Macy’s commercials and “high fashion models” are on catwalks or in the really fancy commercials or something.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/4 "2008-12-30T06:29:36Z")
Fashion probably means, “Fashionable.”
High fashion means, “You’ll look like an abstract piece of art.”
If you ever see a fashion show, the majority of it isn’t stuff you would see real people wearing. Most of it, I think, isn’t even sown together and probably couldn’t last longer as clothing than it takes to walk down the catwalk. But some of it is actually translated into clothing that you can actually buy and wear.
But, you’ll look like a piece of modern art.
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/5 "2008-12-30T06:30:00Z")
I’m just guessing here (based on having seen a couple episodes of _America’s Next Top Model_), but the difference seems to be:[ul][li]High Fashion (“haute couture”) is made by high-end designers and is “made to measure” for a specific client, with more expensive materials, and the designs are “fashion forward” and more over the top. You can`t just walk into a store and buy a haute couture piece off the rack. [/li][li]Ready to wear ("pret a porter") clothing is often made by designers, but you can buy it off the rack in a store. Not quite as high end materials and quality of design and construction, but still somewhat expensive.[/li][*]Mass market fashion is more commercial and less expensive - ready to wear clothing made in large quantities and sold in many stores to average consumers. Least expensive materials and construction.[/ul]I`d guess that the models who are just “fashion” are mass market or ready to wear, and “high fashion” models do haute couture.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/6 "2008-12-30T07:06:14Z")
As I understand it, the haute couture shows are actually just advertising for the label and related merchandise, including purses and perfumes, and not the displayed clothing itself.
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/7 "2008-12-30T07:47:01Z")
“High fashion” clothes are not really meant to be worn. They are kind of a proof-of-concept thing designed to show off colors, textures and forms. These basic concepts are then distilled and filtered down and eventually make their way into regular stores.
The best analogy would be how different artistic movements play a role in interior decorating. Nobody puts a Jackson Pollock design on their sofa, but the colors and forms certainly did change the way people decorated their homes. In the fashion industry, this happens in a more purposeful and methodical way.
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### Author:  [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/8 "2008-12-30T09:02:52Z")
If they’re not in their own category, High Fashion probably also includes out-there editorial photoshoot models for the luxury-oriented magazines (Ex. naked on a cliff with a giant umbrella and “no” makeup, as opposed to cheery catalog).
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/9 "2008-12-30T14:29:07Z")
Generally speaking, high fashion models often look a little “weird” - they tend to be more interesting looking than conventionally beautiful, IMHO. Whereas the fashion models, say, in the Chico’s and Lands End catalogs are more traditionally attractive.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/10 "2008-12-30T16:33:43Z")
Three inches and minus 20 pounds.
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/11 "2008-12-30T17:54:35Z")
High Fashion Model = Catwalk
Fashion Model = JC Penney Catalog
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/12 "2008-12-30T18:24:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Three inches and minus 20 pounds.
Make that five inches and forty pounds and bingo, that’s exactly it.
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/13 "2008-12-30T20:07:24Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase]
Three inches and minus 20 pounds.
[/QUOTE]
Think even smaller…
> [@From "The Devil Wears Prada"](#):
>
> Andy Sachs: So none of the girls here eat anything?
> Nigel: Not since two became new four and zero became the new two.
> Andy Sachs: Well, I’m a six…
> Nigel: Which is the new fourteen.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fashion-vs-high-fashion-models/479176/14 "2008-12-30T22:00:13Z")
I get the jokes, but we’re already starting with fashion models. They have to be over 5’8" and are more likely to be 5’10". 120 lb would be a high weight for them.
So my numbers give 5’11" to 6’1" and around 100 pounds. That’s at the very limits where the Europeans are already banning models for been too skinny. Seriously, you can’t go 5 inches and 40 pounds from a model. From the average woman, sure. But not from someone who already meets the severe cut-offs for modelhood.