Dole Comment on Models’ ‘Junkie Look’ Is Challenged

Was Bob Dole on target during a recent campaign appearance when he chastised the fashion industry for using models who’ve adopted what the Republican presidential nominee called “the junkie look?”

Trade newspaper Women’s Wear Daily surveyed several leading designers, including Mossimo Giannulli, founder and chairman of Irvine-based Mossimo Inc. And, not surprisingly, designers took issue with Dole’s viewpoint.

“A degree of what he said, I agree with,” Giannulli told WWD. “People with responsibility to youth should make sure they don’t promote a negative lifestyle.

“[But] we’re not sending out a drug-positive, heroin-addictive message,” Giannulli said. “My ads are reflective of a youth culture. This is the reality of the way kids dress--shiny, happy people don’t always exist in everyday life, and we have to be realistic.”