Designer Bradley Bayou Pushes for Changes After His Own Daughter Suffers from Bulimia

Top designer Bradley Bayou gained very personal insight into the downside of fashion's glorification of thinness when his own daughter Alexis developed bulimia.

"I never fit into any of his sample sizes," Alexis said. "As a teenager and as a young adult, I thought I should be able to fit into his certain size (the tiny sample sizes) … because I was his daughter. And I just — didn't. I wanted to be thin. I wanted to fit in. You know — I wanted to be beautiful. … I've always been so proud of him, and I always ... I always kind of wanted to fit into his world."

When Bayou realized that the pressures of his industry were contributing to his daughter's illness, he became an advocate for change. "Just because a small, elite group has told us that thin — skinny, forget thin — emaciated is in doesn't mean it's in," he says. Bayou spoke at Harvard on Tuesday night (along with Miss America Kirsten Haglund) for a panel "Redefining Perfection: Beauty, Fashion and Body Image." [CBS News] [Boston Globe]