photo: Models.com + V magazine
I started a post about this topic a while ago and have been going back and forth about whether or not to even go there. But recently there have been articles that keep bringing it all up. It? You know, the SIZE issue. (Links are live so if you want to read them, knock yourself out!)
This has been gaining strength over the past few months, actually even longer. New York mag showed Christina Hendricks in all her curvaceous glory, V magazine did a "Size" issue in January and even French Elle has reported they "are giving up on skinny" as quoted by the Times UK. In addition, there is the ongoing issue about models with the British Fashion Council along with the US's CFDA attempting to install some health guidelines so the girls don't fall down mid-catwalk because of their malnutrition. Most interesting piece about the 2010 discussion on the 2007 initiative here. Thanks Jezebel for not summarizing an important discussion into a fluff piece!
Everyone has an opinion. Renowned blogger Garance Doré criticized the movement towards well, let's just call it large- i mean, anything over an American size 6 (GB 10, EU 38) is just plain huge isn't it? Even Alber Elbaz (who is not very tiny) says in an interview with Style.com that realistically, if we ask women what they want, they say they want to be skinny and the designers can't be blamed for it.
The latest hoopla has been about Photoshop-ing. I think we all saw the Ralph Lauren ad last year and you'd think we might take a lesson. But just this past week Photoshop has been on our minds. British "Healthy" magazine was made an example of in an article in the Daily Mail and just today the Ann Taylor website got a swipe for over-retouching. Where will it stoppppp?????
So, let's think big:
- are we really ready to be faced with reality? Do we want to see "real" women in magazines that are meant to be aspirational? Or do we like the clothes on the skinny Minney's cause we can't afford the clothes anyhow and everyone knows the skinny chicks make the clothes look better (tongue-in-cheek alert here)
- will there be a backlash and a new market develops? We all know that there have been brands that are aimed at the "Plus Size" market for a long time but they haven't exactly been seen as glamorous. If the media gets on board, will that change?
- what about the health issue- can we look at large without thinking unhealthy? How large is ok? what's the line that "curvaceous" and "fat" ride?
With the whole world getting fatter should we be glamorizing large? i mean, we've been glamorizing anorexic for years...
Discuss.
