Posture criticisms - YouLookFab Forum

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Posture criticisms

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I see a lot of remarks here criticizing the posture of women in fashion blog photos, models, etc. I have to ask, is this necessary? Is this a little bit of body-snarking? How do you know the posture is not a result of how the person's body is made? I don't mean to be confrontational, but I guess I want to understand what you all see that I don't.

I say this because I'm a bit sensitive about my own posture. I will never look straight and perfect in my life because of scoliosis. One shoulder sits higher than the other, one leg is longer, one hip higher. If someone photographed me in a street candid, the photo ended up here, and you all didn't know me, I bet there would be comments about my awful posture. I struggle with keeping my shoulders down and back every day of my life. I hate to think people are judging me for a skeletal defect.

General

15 replies

Latest reply was from Jenava

Anonymous

I try not to comment on posture because I have some of the same problems as Janet. My one hip is about an inch higher than the other, and I have to consciously remember to stand with my shoulders back and down or else I do look off-kilter.

Diana

Veteran

Ditto here. I have a bit of scoliosis and am rather swaybacked (probably as a result of the scoliosis) and my posture is atrocious. I post very few profile shots of my body because my posture is so bad in all of them. I do try not to criticize posture too harshly too, because goodness knows I get enough of that from my mom. (I know she means well, but she's , ah, not very tactful to say the least.)

But on the other hand, in high school one of my friends - nicely - told me that I shouldn't stand in a particular way, with my hips sticking forward and my knees hyperextended, because my posture made me look AWFUL, and she was totally right. That bit of criticism worked very well, and I never stand like that anymore. So sometimes constructive criticism can be helpful. So long as it doesn't come from my mom. =P

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Janet, FWIW, I've met you a few times and have noticed nothing but stellar posture. Rock on Rocker Warrior Queen!

It's hard for people not to criticize the whole hog when they look at an outfit. After all it's a topic where aesthetics are important no matter how you slice and dice it. My hope is that fewer people criticize in mega judgmental ways. Weight springs to mind first. Posture is probably second. Be kind. Let the person be and focus on how inner and outer beauty mesh to become a package deal.

Great comment, Diana.

cinnamon fern

Veteran

I am sensitive about posture too - one of my legs is 3/4 of an inch longer than the other (functionally), and I wonder if this is noticeable to others.

On the other hand - it does bother me when models for stores are standing in a particularly unusual position - it makes me suspect that they're trying to hide some flaw in the way the garment hangs. Obviously this would never occur to me with a street style photo.

kellygirl

Veteran

I hope that I haven't criticized posture on anyone. I really don't think I notice it except on DD when she is slumped in her chair. I will echo what CF said about weird stances in clothing model photos. I'm always suspicious that there is a fatal error in the design when a model is standing weird.

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

I'm particularly suspicious of odd postures in sewing or knitting pattern photos. They are almost always to hide flaws in the pattern drafting.

Not for nothing, but I doubt many models have severe skeletal defects. Their sometimes convoluted postures are merely a contrivance to show off the lines of the particular garment.

MsMaven

Veteran

I often criticize my own posture caught in candid photos--I spend too much time slumping over my computer and I'm trying to break the habit.

I do comment when I see someone with excellent posture, which I do admire.

BTW, I have somewhat lopsided shoulders due to more than five decades of wearing a shoulder bag on my right shoulder. Another habit I'm trying to break.

Just a word of advice to you younger gals if you make it thus far.

Mander

(website)

Veteran

I generally only notice posture when models are striking really contorted poses.

Amy

(website)

Veteran

Good point, Janet. Thanks for bringing this up.

Anonymous

This makes me sad:(
I know, we can be so hard to one another.

Echo

Veteran

Rarely are people actually criticizing the posture of a blogger. More often, I see people calling it posture, but criticizing the staged, unusual and unnatural POSES of bloggers. There is a huge difference to me, but there seem to be so few natural looking photos on blogs that it just becomes comical. And it seems to go in one of two ways: either they have their shoulders scrunched up, head thrown back and legs crossed like they are desperate for a bathroom, or they are half bent over forward, like a rag doll with their arms hanging limp and their face not visible. Those obviously posed stances say nothing to me about a person's body, posture or skeletal system. It says they are trying desperately to be artsy and likely failing miserably.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Echo, I can't picture the blogger poses that you are referring to. But I can picture SexyFace. All blogger and model posing is posing though. It *is* unnatural, right? It's only when you are caught off guard in the street that your outfit is unposed - and natural.

Echo

Veteran

I suppose you are right that the vast majority of it is posing, which is by nature unnatural. I just think that many bloggers take things to an extreme and don't even attempt to look natural. Many people have a picture in their head when someone says, "Blogger pose". It isn't necessarily the same picture, but the fact that so many people picture somethigng demonstrates to me how memorable and ridiculous some of the poses can be.

This line of photos are typical of the leaning forward poses in my eyes:

And the other picture I've (hopefully?) attached shows the other pose I had in mind. I am not trying to call out any blogger in particular, so I mean no offense to those posted here. If I have violated a rule by posting these examples, please delete.

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Anonymous

I have commented on posture, but I certainly didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings and I won't comment on it anymore. Honestly, it's the first thing I notice -- whether or not a person is holding himself/herself with confidence. And I have scoliosis myself, so I don't see it simply as a matter of how "straight" someone's body is.

I'm not completely clear why it's okay to pick apart an outfit photographed on an unsuspecting person but it's unkind to mention posture. But I get that it's a sensitive topic, so I will refrain from now on.

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

Haha, echo, love the montage. But, I don't think this is "posture"? I have to be honest, I am not certain I have seen this particular criticism thrown about. Usually blog comments I read run more to the "love the outfit, here's MY blog" than any real criticism, but maybe I'm reading the wrong ones!

I have terrible posture, and no excuse, so I think I could we rightly criticized for my posture. (-: I'm working on it, but reminders are helpful, if annoying. In fact, I took posture classes - Alexander Technique lessons - a few years back!