NYT review of V magazine's upcoming issue featuring plus-size women

[franklanguage]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/fashion/MODEL.html?ref=fashion



I tweeted about this review just now, and got the reply, "Curious to what you think of the fashion spread? My feelings are mixed and complicated after seeing the photos."

Well, having been at or near the eye of the storm my entire life, I find it near-impossible to put into words. I read some comments, including a featured one that "Celebrating overweight women is just as bad as celebrating underweight ones." Well, considering that in the U.S., anyway, most women are overweight, it seems to be a sign of the times: deal with it, chick. She goes on: "Models ideally would be women who ate right, exercised regularly and managed their stress." I'm a vegan, I walk about ten miles a day or more, and I'm still overweight; I have been all my life. (But I have awesome thighs!) I wish someone would celebrate me.

I know the standard for as long as I've been alive has been tiny, thin, and waiflike, but fewer and fewer women look like that. In fact, the first article I ever read about Feral Cheryl, the Australian fashion doll, began with a little girl complaining, "Nobody looks like Barbie." It's a lot of work to look like Barbie, which is probably why so few women do anymore.

Comments

[rant.livejournal.com]

Those women don't even look "plus size". What are they? Size eight?

[sometimesdee.livejournal.com]

At least they have curves. And yes, I think plus-size modeling starts at size 8-10. Not to mention that they often have their tummy and back rolls, etc. Photoshopped away, just like skinny models.

And yes, we need models that represent the majority of women.

When I was in high school...

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

all the sizes were about two sizes smaller than they are now; i.e. a 14 was more like what they call a 10 now, down to a 6 being like a 2. I mean, a 10 was tight on me in high school—although I still have a size 9 dress from back then, and somehow it still fits. It all depends on the cut.

Re: When I was in high school...

[sometimesdee.livejournal.com]

You noticed that, too?

Re: When I was in high school...

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Of course; I wore size 14 pants, and now I wear 10.

[jurassicsnark.livejournal.com]

I'm all for celebrating whatever's healthy, and these women look healthy (although, only their doctors could say for sure). We've been so bombarded by the media to think that the women shown above are 'plus size' that many of us really don't know what the hell 'normal' is anymore.

I wonder if most of the readers of that magazine understand that 'plus size' generally encompasses anyone over a size 2?

On one hand, it's nice that the magazine is saying that you can look damn good if you're not a walking skeleton, but on the other hand, I think calling these women 'plus size' is a bit sad.

This is one of the reasons I like the Dove advertisements - they use real people that most of the population can identify with.