One dress by BCBG has garnered lots of reader response, not for the dress but the woman wearing them. While a few comments are an attack on the model, most focus on Revolve’s decision to use Crandall in the first place. {Styleite}

“This model makes me question the entire company itself. she looks like she’s dying. and from a solely business (not to mention ethical) stand point – she makes the clothes look awful,” one commenter writes.

Naturally thin people exist – Ann Ward, winner of the most recent “high fashion!” America’s Next Top Model, for example is very tall, very thin and eats bacon sandwiches, fried Oreos and other things that you’re likely to see on This Is Why You’re Fat, but has a high metabolism and remains very thin. Her outward appearance isn’t a correlation to healthy or unhealthy eating, it’s just the way she’s built. Annamaria Mirdita, another contestant, was sent home by the judges because they felt her restricted calorie diet was too close to disordered eating to achieve a body type that was not natural for her.

That’s the call that Revolve should have made before booking Crandall in the first place. They responded in the comments with their own statement:

“REVOLVE Team, Los Angeles, CA (Straight/Short)
Hi everyone,Thank you for your concern. We are absolutely aware of the feedback and responses to our modelâ€s weight and it has concerned us as well. We are working closely with both the model and her agent to get her to a healthier size. She wonâ€t be appearing in any of our new product batches or in any of our fashion editorial photos moving forward until the issue is adequately addressed.We appreciate and respect input from our customers and visitors and hope that you find our responses satisfying. We have been attempting to respect the privacy of the model in question while dealing with the issue on our end. We hope you understand.Sincerely,The REVOLVE Team”

Come on – there are young women who are slim and lanky while still (possibly) healthy, but this obviously isn’t it. We find it hard to believe in the sincere concern since, oh, none of this came up until customers started commenting. In one photo where she appears in a gray dress, there are sunken hollows under her eyes (not just bags, which might be from a lack of sleep). In others, the muscles in her forearm appear to be separating from the tissue (muscle atrophy can be a symptom of anorexia), and beyond that, she’s so thin that she doesn’t fit the clothes in certain shots.

There are true medical conditions (other than anorexia/bulimia) where people can’t keep weight on. The Telegraph highlighted one woman who eats 5,000-8,000 calories a day to stay healthy, because of a condition that prevents her from gaining weight and keeps her gaunt. However the type of condition that would give someone the type of emaciated appearance Crandall has outside of an eating disorder, starvation or serious illness, are extremely rare.

Elle magazine has in the past voluntarily participated on the reality Project Runway and Stylista series, and now the mag’s hub in midtown Manhattan serves as the set for Whitney Port’s reality series, The City. Editor in Chief, Robbie Myers admits the company is calculated in its efforts to gain exposure.

Elle editors Joe Zee and 'the City' star Erin Kaplan

“I thought it was a good idea for us to do ‘Project Runway.†That was not necessarily the popular view around here. But my feeling was that we should be in as many mediums as we could be as a brand when appropriate. We want exposure. I think we are very aware what makes interesting television.” she said. {Racked}

We agree. The personalities of editors in the Elle offices clash repeatedly, but definitely make good TV. Not all agree, and bigwigs like Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazine, have been notoriously private about their operations.

The bottom line is, advertising is advertising and numbers matter. Television reaches a much wider demographic than most glossies can achieve on their own, and Elle has reaped the benefits seeing audience numbers rise 35% in the last year. {NY Times} While the audience numbers for each of the shows fluctuates between smash hit, and lukewarm reception, a 2 million viewer flop to TV execs can still be a publicity boon for a magazine with a circulation just under 1.5 million. While we love some shows more than others, if reality TV gets more people interested in fashion, we say keep it coming!