Crystal Bell: 'Revenge' Finale Recap: The Most Shocking Death Ever
BritChick Paris: I'm 38 and Want a Baby - Is it Too Late?
Glamour has been getting a lot of accolades for including a spread of genetically gifted plus-size models in their November issue, and we have to admit we find it amazingly refreshing to feast our eyes on women who have winking bellies, shapely thighs and even (gasp) back flab just like ours. But, as we've pointed out before, we'd rather see average-size ladies scattered through the magazine's regular fashion spreads then stripped down for a special section. Not to mention that copy like "Are these women gorgeous or what?" can ring a bit false after the past however many decades Glamour has spent making women feel bad about their bodies.
Much more quietly, November's Marie Claire rolled out a new column directed at plus-size women, written by Ashley Falcon, a 5-foot-2-inch, 220-lb. fashion stylist, and entitled "Big Girl in a Skinny World." Of her size 18 figure, Falcon says, "I'm relegated to the plus-size racks, where trendy usually translates into 'when's your due date' empire waists and cinch-sack drawstrings. It's not easy being chic, but it's an epic struggle when you're a big girl." She goes on to offer tips on the best jeans for plus-size bods.
The new column, while a bit scattered, was charming and seems more genuinely inclusive of different body types than Glamour's spread of nude size 8-12 models. Still, in her editor's letter, Glamour's Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive writes, "Glamour is committing to featuring a wider range of body types, including in fashion and beauty stories ... In the real world women of all body types ... have sex appeal, full, fabulous lives, and men drooling all over them. Our pages should tell the same spectacularly confident and diverse story."
We'll believe it when we see it, but if Leive delivers on half that sentiment, November's spread may be just the tip of the iceberg for how women's magazines will cover different body shapes in the future.
Seeing plus-size women's bodies in the pages of our magazines is awesome. Hearing their voices is even better. But best of all would be a magazine that features women of larger sizes without needing to identify their perspectives as "plus-size." Let's hope that someday soon features and fashion spreads portraying a diverse range of body types will be unremarkable enough that magazines won't feel the need to label them.
Comments:
Add a comment
Monday 26 October
By tammy
Thank you it is so nice to see real people who eat real food and dont have to throw up so they can be a fashion model I have to daughters one is tall thin and beautiful and my other daughter is short average size and beautiful. Im happy to be able to show them that size does not define who you are or what you can be.They both would like to model and with this they will see any shape can. Thanks so much!
Reply
Monday 26 October
By chudney
Well said ERICA...."""I am always amazed by the "my-clothing-looks-better-on-thin-bodies" excuse because it really marks them as designers with very limited talent. Someone who cannot seem to work with curves and dimension. I mean, the very human body for whom these designers make clothing befuddles them and they can't figure out why those damn hips get in the way of their "vision">>>>
Look at the misogynastic creeps like Karl Lagerfeld who design for stick thin women. and make stupid comments like: " People dont want to look at a round woman..." He is a weirdo. Dont buy clothes from men designers who have never seen a woman naked before. It makes no sense.
Reply
Monday 26 October
By Pinkys Wheel
Hello All, I am fabulously full figured and don't give a damn what anyone else says or thinks. Call me what you like cause thats what you do when I can't hear you. I know who I am and I'm a part of a new generation and concept. I speak life unto myself and my magnificent body.. Prepare to be Velvetized in 2010. Coming to a website near you.
Reply
Monday 26 October
By No_Aloha
Chudney....you just called one of the world's last surviving coutouriers, a man who can defy the properties of fabric, unskilled, because you do not share his aesthetic. He could make a garment to fit your body unlike anything you've ever worn. He does for his "real" non-model clients every year.
This whole notion that "real" women have curves is a hysterical, defensive response and calls into question the value of women who do not share your frame. It is an offense to ALL women, curvy or no.
I am a hipless wonder with a disproportionately large bust. Do I want to see *my* frame toddle down the runway when I watch Fashion Week? Do I want to see a 250 pound women with arms the size of my thighs chafe as she walks? Absolutely not. Neither of them is proportionate or ideal, and that is what fashion is about. Fashion is NOT just clothes. It's art (would you call Polykleitos a skill-less hack because he carved ideally proportionate men and did not "challenge" himself to carve "real" men? ). It's a fantasy that can take us away from the everyday--a fantasy that I can then take bits and pieces from to suit my form and give me a bit of fun in an otherwise dull, cookie-cutter existence.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Marie
It's about time they show plus size larger ladies in the clothes that they will be buying. There are a lot of large lovely ladies walking around. Why over look them just because they have a little extra? I'd rather look at an overweight woman any day than an underweight! Skeletal is so NON sexy it borders on disease ridden, fatal illness look.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By a wilson
Well not sure how this could be plus size, but I weighed 110 pounds and was wearing a size 7/8 jean. I was a skinny teenager but I have always had a booty and thighs (a pear shape). I don't think 5'2 and 110 pounds is plus size even wearing a 7/8 jean. Yet I felt FAT because so many of my friends were wearing size 2 or 4's. How sick is that that I felt like I was fat at age 15 because my girlfriends were like omg your jeans are that big. Gee I wish i was that "fat" again. As a true plus size woman now in my 30's I will never look at clothing size the same again.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Ellen
I'd actually like to see variety in all shapes and sizes. I'd like to see how the fashions look on differently shaped people (especially because alot of the outfits look absurd even on skinny models!).
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Shelly
I have always been chunkky. At the heaviest I wore an 18. When I lost down to an 8, everyone kept asking me if I was sick. They would tell my mom I looked tired and worn down. Even my husband would tell me I was too bony. Now, I am a size 12, and have NEVER had as many compliments as I do now. Some people look better with a little more on their bones. Im not racist or anything(Im a white chick) but in my opinion...all woman are beautiful, but black women, look better when they are bigger. Almost every black lady I have seen, that is "plus" or "real" whatever you want to call it, has this attitude of "yes, I am big and beautiful" and having that kind of attitude makes them even more beautiful. I wish I could have that attitude....even though I get compliments on my looks and my hair, I still see myself as fat. But, I am trying to do better, and have a new attitude. Maybe this article in Glamour will open everyones eyes, and give us all a new attitude! Thanks ;)
Reply
Wednesday 28 October
By Margo
Is a difference between plus sized and over weight? I am all for models that are bigger than Kate Moss, but I believe putting over weight models in magazines gives off the impression that being overweight is ok. I believe that we should put models in magazines that are bigger than most models but still w/in a healthy weight class. We should be celebrating healthy American women, not unhealthy ones.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Moroni Patane
Finally ... a plus size magazine that my wife would really enjoy. My wife stands 5 foot 4 inches tall and very much a plus size woman.
We have often wondered when/if the magazine/retail industry would ever come "clean" with a magazine and clothing line for full size, plus size, well-endowed women, and see those "ladies" gracing the pages ....
Well, you did the first. Ladies, congratulations. To those ladies who "did the full monty? .... looking beautiful.
Who will do the second step? Who is going to step up and create a clothing line that welcomes, accommodates and is tailored specifically for plus size gals?
This is America, land of the entrepeneurial spirit. Show the magazine and clothing industry "what the full gal industry is and has to offer."
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Dawn
I'm plus-size or whatever you want to call it, but I find it offensive to call women of my size "real" at the exclusion of smaller women. Seriously, is it your intention to make smaller women feel less human because they aren't the same size you are? How is that different from a plus-size woman being left out of fashion mags? ALL women are REAL women.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Lin Lin
In reference to all previous comments: The grass is always greener on the other side.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Judy
I remember when Twiggy first come out. All the skinny girls were happy. Meanwhile, I had and have a full figure body. It made me feel like something was wrong with me and that I would never find a boyfriend. Well, I found a boyfriend and married him. I've been married 36 years. He loves me just the way I am. I prefer to look like Marilyn Monroe than Twiggy.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Hiram B. Merklevinskyvitch III
Well, now let's get real here. The girl/model carrying the purse in the picture at the top is not a plus size model. She is a plus plus plus plus size. SHE is fat! Sorry if you don't like it, but COME ON!!! The models in the picture below have a little extra, and I have always thought a little extra, strategically placed can be nice. Those women ALL look VERY HOT!!!!! I have been married to the same women for 32 years. She is 5 feet, 7 inches. When I married her she weighed 115. She was beautiful. She now fluctuates between 140 and 150, but well placed, and evenly distributed; everything is a little bigger. I STILL think she is a very beautiful woman. I lust after her 53 year old body ALL THE TIME!!!!
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Shells
here here! Bravo!
well said
I hope I live to see the day that my daughter is not banished because she has a little back fat or a belly that protudes over her belt.
I hope we recognize that a size 4 isn't the only thing that represents healthy. there are plenty of us voluptuous women who are healthy happy and in love.
Brilliant Article.
Reply
Wednesday 28 October
By jejozi
I'm sorry, but "plus" sized models are not for me. Neither are the malnourished waifs. Give me a toned woman with some curves, not some StaPuffed marshmallow with rolls or a real life stick figure. A little exercise goes a long way, ladies. Put half as much time on the treadmill as you do with make up and all the other primping you do for each other and watching American Idol and the soaps and you'll catch the eye of more men than you'll know what to do with. Doesn't matter how much lipstick or designer clothes you put on it.
Pro Beach Volleyball; Tall, athletic women in bikinis. Does it get any better than that?
Reply
Thursday 29 October
By Alexa
Please see my comment also, below. It's all about being healthy. There is definitely a difference between being anorexic stick thin to being lean with core strength, which whittles inches from "fat bound" spots while giving you a proportioned look. The energy and confidence comes from knowing that you are treating yourself well and enjoying it, too. There is a tangible reward: you can actually see and measure the results of your "work."
Wednesday 28 October
By Jamie
Im really sick of seeing the stick size models. Im a size 22 after two children was a 14 and will never be a size 6 so I have no problems with a plus size magizine. I have two daughters and they are both pretty slim. I would not promote being plus size but if you are then love yourself. I think there should be some plus size clothing lines that are worth looking at. Why do we have to look like we are wearing a sheet? Maybe some plus size mags would even be nice.
Reply
Thursday 29 October
By Alexa
I was once a petite model. No bulimia, no anorexia, just genetically thin. After a bad accident where I broke my neck, doctors put me on meds that blew me up by 40 pounds within a month. I looked like a hot air balloon that happened to be a person. First, I went from being pursued by men and being complimented and treated well by women, to then being ignored, subjected to insults, and then men looking at me with revulsion and actually in one case running away in disgust. Forget what they say, people will never admit it, but they treat heavier women badly and flock to thinner women. I have also experienced both sides of the coin.
Now, after physical therapy including Pilates, core strength building, yoga, walking 2 miles daily, and eating a lot of high-fiber and protein-rich foods, I'm thin again, but healthy, with lean muscles and a thinner waist, which gives me a proportioned shape despite my thin build (I'm 5'4" tall and 102 pounds). This time, the weight is muscle. I'm sure I will weigh more as I put on more muscle, which is denser than fat, but continue to lose inches at the waist and hips and thighs.
Just focus on being healthy. You'll feel better, be treated better, and have more energy and confidence.
Reply
Thursday 29 October
By No_Aloha
Alexa, I'm so glad you posted!! You should inspire every single person who has posted, who thinks they can't. Every time I hear (or read) a person who says that they *cannot* I cringe, because is plain and simple an excuse. I have hypothyroidism and PCOS. I eat about 1200-1300 calories a day, mostly vegetarian, zero sugar, no refined carbs, and lots of healthy protein/fats. I power walk 5 miles a day, do pilates, AND strength training, and that is the *only* way to keep my body from packing on pounds like there's no tomorrow. I will *never* be a willow, but that's no excuse for me not to be the most fit me I can be. If I "cheat" for a weekend, quite literally, my scale will jump 5 lbs! Yet, my lifestyle is not painful. It is not a burden. It's really a blessing, because my body refuses to metabolize unhealthy food, hence I cannot eat it. The "pain" people talk about is due to food addiction (food releases chemicals in the brain just like drugs) and chronic lack of exercise. But, we all have to work through it. I work full time and go to grad school full time. We all can work it into our schedules if we have the desire.
And to the poster above who commented about her daughter's tummy blip and back fat. Word of advice: no matter her size that is due to ill-fitting bra and pants/skirts. Treat her to a professional fitting. She'll look better and feel better for it.