She continues:

The bad news: You won't find any Chanels, or sexy separates from hot labels like Alexander Wang, and the department store offerings are far more traditional than trendy - if they have plus-size departments at all.

Yeah, that's more like it. The article highlights blogs like Curvy Fashionista and a handful of plus-size online boutiques, but the overall truth remains that it's hard out there for a plus-sized shopper. I should know. With the holidays right around the corner, I've found that when you go just a couple of sizes up — from 14 to 16, or from 16 to 18 — the selection changes drastically — and narrows. Most of the time, cute scoop-neck tops and flirty dresses are suddenly replaced by dowdy tent-like tops and frumpy, conservative dresses. If you want to look on-trend, you have your work cut out for you. Plus-size online boutiques deserve applause, but quite often, the design and quality simply can't compete with real designer clothes by noted designers. It's crazy that adding 3 inches here or there means you're suddenly not good enough for J. Crew or French Connection.

In addition, there's the reality that plus size means different things to different people. Commenter "PLozar" rants:

What some posters don't get is that "plus size" doesn't equate to "fat." Even at my absolute thinnest, I couldn't wear tops smaller than size 14 because I'm well endowed… The problem (as kd9 points out) is that simply increasing the dimensions doesn't create a garment that FITS RIGHT — and it's all about fit. Clothes in general are designed for women who are …straight up and down — and they just plain don't FIT anyone who has curves.

On the other hand, it seems like a miracle that any designers and retailers welcome plus-size shoppers — and the substantial profits, since the American woman wears a size 14 — when you think about the mindset behind the other comments on this article, which range from "NO fat chicks!" to "Eating everything at the buffet is not cute or chic" and, of course: "Do these dresses come with a side order of fries?" You'd think that a piece about plus-size fashion would be a place for plus-sized women share experiences, compare notes, and, you know, talk about plus-size fashion. Instead, it's a repository for vile thoughts. merciless mocking of the model (pictured above), and relentless fat-shaming. Some comments have been deleted; it's left up to your imagination how nasty or derogatory the "conversation" was.

My favorite comment — winning points for fat-shaming and misogyny — comes from "tcttw," who says:

If the readers of these comments are going to be so sensitive — ok, offended — or, maybe it's the author, or the editors too, maybe stories like this should go on Jezebel.com. I cannot believe how many harmless but sarcastic comments were edited. It just proves you cannot take a certain gender so seriously.

Plus-Size Fashion Trends: More Options Online [SF Gate]

"Big, little, pint-size, plus-size — every body is beautiful. And this issue is out to prove it."

V Magazine launched in 1999, and usually alternates between celebrity covers (Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga, Grace Jones) and model covers, as seen below:






But for V's January issue, expect to see Crystal Renn (that's her, at the top of the post, in a shot from the May 2009 issue of Glamour) and other plus-size models, shot by Terry Richardson, Bruce Weber and Karl Lagerfeld.

Some problems:

• Lagerfeld, you may recall, once said: "No one wants to see curvy women. You've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly."
• Since V usually uses "regular" models — especially for its "beauty issue," how does a one-off plus-size issue "prove" that "every body is beautiful"?
• Much like when Italian Vogue did an "all-black issue," the flipside of highlighting one kind of model in a "special" issue is that they're actually being segregated, placed in a ghetto, away from the other "real" models.
• This is mentioned often on this site, but worth repeating: A plus-size model is not the same as a plus-sized woman. A "plus-size model" is a model who is at least 5'9" but has measurements above the requirements for "straight size" models, which are, roughly, 34-24-34. Basically, a plus size model could be a US size 8, 10 or 12, despite the fact that those sizes are not considered "plus" by clothing manufacturers, So they don't exactly represent plus-sized women.

[Main image by Patrick Demarchelier for Glamour.]

Fresh off a wave of positive publicity for its inclusion of non-size-zero models in its pages, Glamour editor Cindi Leive told New York magazine earlier this week, "We've shot stories for every issue from now through February using fabulous plus-size models, and not just in our feature shoots, but also in fashion and beauty. One of the plus-size models who was featured in our original story is in one of our two major fashion features in December, and looks amazing."

This is good news for anyone who's complained that "love your body" features in women's magazines are relegated to well-meaning corners, near weight loss features yet sequestered from the pole-like, genetically-anomalous, and hungry types that are the standby. So let's take a look at this curvaceous lady in the major fashion shoot in the December issue.

Well, first you have to find her. I paged through the December issue several times but then had to ask to have the plus sized model pointed out to me. This is partly because model Amy Lemons, who also appeared in the November nude shoot, shares the pages with some relatively healthy-looking women (for models). It's also because she appears to be, at most generous estimate, a size 8. The shoot is lovely — exuberant, colorful, even diverse. But plus size? Really?

Of course, Glamour itself admitted that the term was imperfect, in its November spread:

"At most modeling agencies, any girl larger than a size 4 might have trouble getting work because she won't fit the clothes, and over a size 6 she might be moved to the plus division," says Glamour senior bookings editor Jennifer Koehler.

So what do you guys think? Does this count? (By the way: Amy Lemons is the model in the blue and red dresses.)

These Bodies Are Beautiful At Every Size. [Glamour]

Related: Glamour's Plus-Sized Win: Tipping Point For ‘More' to Come? [Mediaite]
Coming This Fall: More Naked Fat Ladies in Glamour

Ditto, who explains that she was "really butch" in high school, says she "loves to break all the rules," in terms of fashion. That's why she wears horizontal stripes, floral patterns and clown-ish ensembles. But while it's interesting to see her gush about seeing designers as "artists," the best thing about this video is the idea that a non-thin person has been given such a platform — allowed to voice her thoughts about fashion on a Condé Nast website.

With buzz about plus-size models and Precious star Gabourey Sidibe rocking fantastic ensembles on the red carpet, it seems that we may finally be getting some positive coverage of larger women — and maybe the idea that fashionable = thin is beginning to break down.

Style Studio: Beth Ditto [Style.com]

The Naked Fat Girl Extravaganza Glamour promised after the huge response to showing plus-size model Lizzie Miller's belly in the September issue is finally here, and it's nothing short of a "revolution" (according to Glamour).

(Click images to make them larger.)


In her Editor's Note, Cindi Leive repeats the declaration she made when the photo was unveiled on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

As Kate Harding wrote earlier, "it's a good effort... But let's not kid ourselves - this isn't a revolution. Yet." Seeing seven models with average-sized bodies (deemed "plus-size" by the industry) along with an article on why that's such a rarity and Glamour's promise to change that is great. However, using the hyperbolic term "revolution" only draws attention to what hasn't changed. Rather than a full length fashion spread, all the models are crammed together into one shot. They're also naked, which solves the problem of finding 7 designer ensembles bigger than a size 4.


Though Glamour has used plus-size models without comment in the past, the "revolution" hasn't really spread to the rest of the magazine. The only larger lady not on pages 198-199 is a non-model learning to make her "hot self look sleeker, curvier, whatever-er" in a Spanx body suit. (Thankfully no one had to model the shapewear thong.)



As Ms. Leive mentions, the model featured in the issue's one fashion spread that ran immediately before the plus-size model article is quite Twiggy-esque.


Of course, no one is angling to have thin models banned from magazines in lieu of larger ones, but aside from the liberal use of inflatable monkeys, the story didn't scream "revolution."


The rest of the magazine features the usual articles on the products every woman must buy to ward off wrinkles, in addition to answers to readers' questions on acceptable sexual behaviors ( "Should you pee with the door open when he's home?" and "Is it ever OK to sleep with your ex?"). Larger models are not featured in any of the posed pictures accompanying the beauty, health, and sex articles, because apparently Glamour can't find the requisite plus-size long johns, bras, and pink boxing gloves.


Let's face it. At any size, we ladies need magazines to guide us through the day-to-day problems we face. Like whether or not to date vampires.


And as always, the cover was chock full of lies.

Earlier: Coming This Fall: More Naked Fat Ladies In Glamour
Glamour's Plus-Size MOdel Photo Unveiled on Ellen
Naked Fat Girls On Ellen! Sort Of!

Making her debut with a full-length picture looking all kinds of fierce, Falcon's column immediately earned points with me for daring to call out designers for equating larger sizes to shapeless, non flattering cuts and for embracing "ass-hugging" as necessary quality for the perfect jeans.

As much as I love, love, love Falcon's column (I'm already rethinking my stance on my now-canceled subscription) there were a couple of lines in the article that immediately jumped out at me.

Now, maybe I'm a little too accustomed to the fashion blogs I read which cater to a variety of sizes without apology (Clutch, The Fashion Bomb, Fatshionista/LJ holla!) But I couldn't decide if Falcon was keeping it real about her experiences or starting to pander a bit to a smaller audience who expects a more self-depreciating big girl:

Of course, it surprised no one that I decided to pursue a career as a fashion stylist-though at 5'2" and 220 pounds, I'd need an elaborate pulley system and a can of Crisco to shimmy into the clothes I dress models in.

Big girls love accessories-they always fit, no size tags required.

Let's face it, it's a maddening task for girls even half my size, but I go through at least a few pairs of jeans every year, routinely wearing holes in the area where my thighs rub together.

Again, I'm not sure where to fall on these. After all, that last bit about wearing holes in jeans is something that happens to me as well, all the time. And the jeans she recommends are cute. But some of the big girl platitudes don't jive with my experiences . For one, accessories don't always fit which is why I have to trek to Torrid for bangles, and live in slouch styles since most other boots never make it up my calves. Purses too - large arms means I always need to check the strap. In addition, glamming up a basic outfit with luxury accessories is a bit beyond my reach - but I'll chalk that up to the priorities of the fashionable. It's clear that Falcon has made piece with her body (after all, she dresses beautifully) but her column seems more practical than celebratory when it comes to the transformative power of fashion.

But that's a minor quibble - I'm excited to see a size eighteen woman like myself seen as an expert on fashion and selecting clothes and outfits that would actually work for women my size. I'm excited that she's bringing more than size diversity to the fashion glossies.

And most of all, I'm excited to see next month's recommendations on cocktail chic.

(Image Credit: Marie Claire)

Big Girl In A Skinny World [Marie Claire]
Official Site [Clutch Magazine]
Official Site [The Fashion Bomb]
Official Site [Fatshionista]
Live Journal Community [Fatshionista]

David DiSalvo of True/Slant offers this explanation:

Presumably this is because underweight women compare themselves equally to thin models and favorably to overweight models, but overweight women compare themselves unfavorably to thin models and find their similarity to overweight models depressing.

But this sounds a little simplistic to me. Must it be that "overweight" woman look at plus size models and think, "Gross! I look like that? How depressing!" Or might it be that, as Kate wrote,

[P]lus models are still models. They're still tall, well-proportioned, clear-skinned, shiny-haired, able-bodied and usually white, on top of only being "fat" relative to size 0s. The standard is basically the same as it always was, just notched up to a somewhat more common range of dress sizes - which is to say, the standard is still impossible for most of us to meet.

When the whole beauty-industrial complex is basically designed to exscript them, and the few models who are supposed to represent them just look like that complex's ideal "notched up" a little bit, it's no surprise that plus-size women might feel just as bad looking at Crystal Renn as they do at Kate Moss. This isn't to say that including more models like Renn and Lizzi Miller on magazine pages isn't a good thing — it is. But it doesn't magically make these magazines friendly to all shapes and sizes, or make fat women forget that lots of other cultural forces are still conspiring to devalue them.

The study's finding about underweight women is interesting too. The idea that underweight women actually feel better after looking at models contradicts an earlier study that showed all women felt worse about themselves after viewing skinny ladies in ads. It's a little hard for me to believe that underweight women compare themselves "equally" to models any more than overweight women do — like Kate said, they're still models. They're still closer to the beauty ideal than most women, regardless of weight, and they still get help from the powerful forces of hair, makeup, and airbrushing. It would be interesting to learn what percentage of the underweight women in the study were eating-disordered, and how that affected their response to the images. I'd also like to know what was going on in the underweight subjects' minds during the study — whether they actually thought, "yes! This model looks just like me," or whether they got a more modest boost from seeing a woman of similar size presented as an ideal, even if that woman was different in other ways. Perhaps this boost is easier to get if you are of privileged (ie. thin) size — although the study did find that overweight and underweight women had similar self-esteem at the outset of the experiment.

Ever since Lizzie Miller was in Glamour, the inclusion of plus size models has been trumpeted as a way to make magazines more friendly to all women. But it's clear that this might not be enough. Internalized fat prejudice goes deep, and just showing women a few bigger models isn't going to erase it. The fact is, images whose purpose is to sell women shit — whether those images look more or less like them — are probably never going to be on the forefront of social change. Including plus-size women in ads and fashion spreads is an important step not just for social good, but for aesthetic value — magazines would be more interesting if they contained a greater diversity of models. But they wouldn't magically make overweight women feel perfect about themselves, or erase all the other influences making them feel bad.

Women's Self-esteem Affected By Magazines [UPI.com]
Warning: If You're Overweight, Don't Read Women's Magazines [True/Slant]

Earlier: Memo To Women's Magazine Editors: White Women Hate Themselves After Reading Your Magazines

Shark Tank is a reality competition show in which entrepreneurs present their products to a team of "Sharks" (investors), who will make a business deal with their own money if they like a contestant's pitch. In the clip above from last night's episode, Bentley, who sells her clothing for women sizes 12-28 through Neiman Marcus online, asks for a $250,000 investment to start her own flagship store in Houston, Texas. (Thanks to the tipster who let us know about the episode, which is available in its entirety here.)

Bentley makes a great pitch, explaining that 60% of American women who wear a 12 or larger are, "forced to shop in the far corners of the department stores, only to find clothes that don't fit and we don't even like." The Sharks seem interested in her business, and jump all over Kevin O'Leary when he suggests that larger women are somehow inherently unfashionable. Bentley explains that women of all sizes want fashionable clothes, but high-end stores don't sell sizes larger than a 12. Some of the men can't wrap their head around the idea that stores wouldn't sell a product that's in high demand and Damon John, founder of FUBU, has to assure them that it's true.

Luckily, Damon John and the lone female Shark, Barbara Corcoran, understand that there's a huge market for fashionable plus-size clothes (or better yet, "integrating the sizes" as Bentley suggests). In the clip above, Bentley points out to John that FUBU's clientele probably includes larger women and it would make sense for them to do business. Ultimately Corcoran and John offer to become partners in Bentley's business and she accepts. Not only was it great to see the fashion industry's refusal to make larger sizes addressed on national TV as a legitimate problem, it was even better to see someone else in the fashion industry who has realized that making clothes that don't fit the majority of American women just doesn't make business sense.

Shark Tank: Week 9 Full Episode [ABC.com]

Mannequins have been around since the 18th century, mainly in the form of the dress-maker's dummy, but it was not until the 20th century that fashion houses began showing their wares on the "static salespeople." In recent years, there has been a growing demand within the U.S. for mannequins that better reflect the customer base. "Black and Asian models have been doing fine for a long time in the US, and we have customers in Britain. But in France, Germany and Austria, forget it!" said Lacroix, who manages the Paris-based mannequin manufacturer Cofrad. Cofrad also owns Patina-V in Los Angeles, a firm that specializes in ethnically diverse dummies (the image at left was taken at their L.A. warehouse). While different types of mannequins grace American store windows, European clients do not want their brand represented by darker—or larger—dolls.

Surprisingly, Asian companies also tend to buy mostly white mannequins. Lacroix claims they "prefer European-looking mannequins as they have a more universal appeal" to global labels and consumers alike. However, most couture clients want mannequins without heads or any identifying signifiers. More upscale companies do not want life-like mannequins, but rather skinny, faceless clothes hangers.

Lacroix does not seem to believe that anyone, in Europe or America, wants to buy mannequins that reflect actual sizing. The standard mannequin is about the same size as most models, and falls between a two and a four. In 2007, Spain initiated a push toward featuring mannequins that better represented the average woman. In order to do this, they scanned the bodies of woman from around the country in laser-equipped booths. But Lacroix believes that this movement never truly caught on. "As for body shapes, every time we try different sizes, it fails. It's not relevant," he adds, "a mannequin has to have personality and has to sell the clothes." Apparently, fat mannequins - and we must assume, larger women - lack personality by the sheer virtue of their size. It almost sounds like someone has been reading too much Tucker Max.

Mannequins Hit By Discrimination—And Loss Of Face [BreitBart]

Earlier: Mannequins For The Masses

Ellen chats with Crystal Renn, who modeled swimsuits in Glamour's May issue and Lizzie Miller, whose belly-bearing photo in the September issue inspired this "naked fat girl extravaganza," as Kate Harding put it, as well as two other "plus-size" models who aren't identified in the clip.

We haven't gotten our hands on a copy of the November issue yet, but it appear that the "extravaganza" actually boiled down to a single naked model huddle, not pages and pages of well-rounded hips, breasts, and thighs. It may not be what we were hoping for, but the shot still looks beautiful and (unfortunately) for a women's magazine, even two pages of average-sized models is a big step.

After the reveal, Leive says the magazine commissioned the photo to not only celebrate the models' beauty but,

To send the message to young women especially who are reading the magazine that there are a million different ways to be beautiful. You don't have to be born pin thin. Whether you're voluptuous or lean, however you're made is the right way for you.

She even goes on to pledge that Glamour is:

"Committing to picturing a wide range of body types [and ethnicities] in our pages... Diversity of every type. We just want to say there are a million ways to be beautiful and you don't have to fit that cookie cutter standard. And we're going to celebrate the designers who help us do that.

Hopefully Leive means it, because that's definitely something we could get accustomed to.

Glamour Magazine's Normal-Sized Models [The Ellen DeGeneres Show]

Earlier: Coming This Fall: More Naked Fat Ladies In Glamour
Glamour Shocks Readers By Featuring Plus-Size Model's Belly

"I read about that girl!" said the woman. "It's like, I think she was anorexic, and then she gained all her weight back, but she's still a top model." Crystal's agent, Gary Dakin at Ford, smiled wryly.

Crystal and the other two models in Lane Bryant's current campaign were at the store to film, viral-video-style, a snippet of a segment of them all trying on clothes and shopping. "Do you Twitter?" asked Gary, of a sales assistant. "Tell them to Twitter that the Lane Bryant girls are all at the store getting new clothes."

They did many takes of the trio stepping out of the dressing rooms in new ensembles, and styling each other's outfits: jumpsuits with belts, lingerie, and boyfriend blazers over long t-shirts. Crystal was on her way to catch a flight to Canada to shoot for Elle magazine, and of course the video shoot was behind schedule. So when it came time to talk, we jumped in a cab to her neighborhood, Williamsburg, so she could pack. Five o'clock traffic gave us plenty of time to talk — about her experiences starving herself to be a straight-size model for years, the point at which she broke down and had to enter recovery, and the amazing ignition of her plus career, all of which is chronicled in her new memoir, Hungry, co-written with Marjorie Ingall.

After returning to her natural size, Steven Meisel booked Crystal for American Vogue — the "Shape" issue, of course, because American Vogue still fails to feature plus models any other month of the year — and then, the famous photographer shot her for an editorial in Vogue Italia. Since then, she's worked with photographers like Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, Ruven Afanador, and Ellen Von Unwerth. She's walked the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier, been in campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, and she's made the covers of international editions of Elle and Harper's Bazaar.

A handful of other models have gone from disordered misery at straight-size, to self-acceptance and a new career at what the modeling industry calls plus. (Kate Dillon and Carré Otis are notable examples.) But perhaps most importantly, Crystal seems to be slowly helping the notoriously sizist industry change its ideas of what a plus size model can be: she rarely looks like the typical friendly, smiley, approachable stereotype of the larger model. Although she can look adorable styled as a pin-up, she's also booked for jobs that require a confrontational look, an overt sexuality, or a darker kind of beauty — it's probably no coincidence that she says she was a high school goth, and that when we met, she was wearing complicated black paper-bag-waisted pants, a deconstructed black t-shirt, and a cropped black vest with serious shoulder pads. (She particularly likes the designer Rick Owens.)

Crystal and I played a long round of model geography, locating mutual friends and photographers we'd worked with. We compared everything from childhood hobbies — collecting unopened Barbies, bottlecaps, and Star Wars figurines (her), collecting Kinder Surprise toys and not swapping stickers with the other girls at primary school (me) — to favorite kinds of chocolate ("I'm very particular about my chocolate," says Crystal) before we started bonding by swapping industry horror stories.

CR: But you know what: I made a decision to do this job. Nobody tied me to a treadmill.
JS: It's true, it's true.
CR: Or locked me in a closet, and forced me to not eat. Although — I got a contract to go to Japan, and I refused it, because this model told me, They locked me in a closet for three days…So I mean, I'm sure somewhere, maybe someone is being forced.
JS: Japan can be really brutal. I never worked there, because I heard similar kinds of horror stories. A friend actually told me that she got off the plane, and she was immediately booked on four jobs in one day. That was Day 1. She got to sleep for five hours, and then she was booked on another three jobs. That was Day 2. No client had any food, because they were all booking her in four-hour increments, with no obligation to even let her take a break. By Day 3, he'd had basically nothing to eat since arriving, and she collapsed on set. She had to be taken to hospital, and as the EMTs were putting an IV in her arm, the client was trying to stop the ambulance from leaving, and screaming into his cell phone to her agency, ‘I'm going to charge you for the time your model is wasting!' While she was being taken to hospital.
CR: That's so gross. That's incredible...I actually heard something similar the other day, I was at a studio and this client said, ‘Oh my God, I booked this girl for all this money, and she's outside crying into her phone. Ugh!' I'm thinking, well, why can't you guys shoot one half of the story now, and her part later? I mean, who knows. Maybe the girl is like, ‘I didn't get enough drugs and I'm freaking out.' That's the stupid reason — but maybe something serious happened? Maybe someone passed away? And this woman, as opposed to going up to this girl asking, ‘How are you?' she was screaming down the phone to her agency about how unprofessional the model was.
JS: And the poor girl has to walk back in there, try and recover from whatever personal crisis she's been dealing with, and—
CR: Because if you're a model, you're not a person, and you can't have feelings.
JS: It's true, it's true. Some people in the industry, it's just like they're missing an empathy chip.
CR: Right! Some people. Not everyone, there are good people.
JS: Oh, absolutely. Not everyone. But there's an attitude that's like — it's girls to order. You pick one out of the lineup, and you want that one, and you want her to do these poses, and you want her to wear these clothes.
CR: Right. And you're going to get her exactly how you want — like she's a doll. You have to remember there's a soul and a heart in that person, and feelings…

Crystal shares a story about a time on a shoot when, after telling the client that she was dealing with a personal crisis, instead of being understanding or thankful that Crystal had still turned up ready to work, the client promptly made a private situation into a huge deal, and loudly questioned her professionalism. Crystal complained to her agency, and they talked to the client. Which, in modeling, is exactly how the system is supposed to work: Model is treated unfairly, model contacts her representative, representative deals with situation appropriately.

JS: There are these people who are going to take some kind of an ‘In' that you gave them, and use it against you. As some kind of leverage.
CR: Definitely missing the empathy chip. Totally missing it. Did you have any experiences like that?
JS: I did, actually. I told a story of when, during the sad break-up of a long relationship, I went to work for the first time in a new market, having gained a few pounds above my fighting weight. And I got to Milan, and the agency was upset. Extremely upset. The woman — it wasn't my booker, my booker was great — but the woman who was in charge of doing all the measuring, was viciously unkind. You know, it's your first day, you're on your way home from the airport and they whip out the measuring tape to see where you're at.
CR: It's so uncomfortable.
JS: You're standing there naked in front of strangers. After stepping off your long flight, it's the first thing they want to do. And this woman said, ‘Ugh. These hips…' And I made the mistake of telling her the basics of what was going on. I made sure to say, But I am getting back on track! She just looked at me and said, ‘We had another girl who just broke up with her boyfriend, and she's not been eating at all. It's strange how some people react.'
CR: Are you serious?
JS: Yep. She was like, Shame you aren't one of those girls who stops eating during times of emotional strife! Because we'd really prefer that!
CR: We would prefer you to handle stress in a different way, Jenna! Can you manage to change your way of handling stress? And depression? Can you do that? Yeah, that makes sense. Wow.
JS: It was ridiculous. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I just wanted to cry.
CR: Of course…I can't even believe people are like that. I remember being on this shoot once, and this was when I had put on the weight, you know, after starving for so long.
Crystal is talking about the period when, while still working as a straight-size model, her metabolism slowed and she started, slowly, gaining weight even despite her extremely disordered eating and near-constant exercising. Crystal used to maintain two gym memberships to avoid detection as a compulsive exerciser.
CR: I was working on a commercial with this girl who was 6' tall, and there's me, who's 5'9". We wore the same bathing suit, and the stylist said...‘Oh honey, it's OK. You just have a fat ass!'
JS: No.
CR: That's what he said. So I go into the bathroom. I have a fucking fit in the bathroom. I am so angry, I'm like — steaming hot tears are pouring down my face. I'm like, this freaking guy, has just pushed my wrong button.
JS: Let me find your weak point and jam it in there!
CR: You just have a fat ass.
JS: That's disgusting. That he would say that. To anyone.
CR: I just remember being like, dying inside. And then I had to go be on camera in a bathing suit. I have never felt so disgusted with myself or with everyone around me.
JS: That's terrible.
CR: That rubbed me the worst. And that was right before I made the decision to stop what I was doing. I was like, What do you want? What do you want from me? I am doing everything I can. There's no food. There's exercise only. And I am still not the size that you want.
JS: I think it's — I think the relationship that you have with your own body is the thing that's most under threat when you're modeling.
CR: Yeah. Yeah!
JS: Because you're forced to analyze your body, as if from a third-person view.
CR: Totally. I love that you know that…You're an object.
JS: You objectify yourself...You know, when I was reading your book, I was just struck with the thought, How is it possible that your old agency never noticed that this girl had an eating disorder. They asked you — they told you — to lose a vast amount of weight. Like, 40% of your body weight.
CR: I don't think they really understood what they were asking. I want to think that they didn't really understand what they were asking me, a 14-year-old girl, to do. I mean, [when someone is asked to diet down to a certain measurement] nobody knows for sure how many pounds that will actually be.
JS: It's so fucking naïve though. And, Jesus Christ, when you're dealing with such young girls, irresponsible.
CR: I think so. They have certain requirements, and I don't think they want to think about how the girl meets those requirements…A lot of girls never come forward to their agencies and say, Hey, I starve myself to maintain the standards that you've set for me.
JS: Yeah.
CR: You know, they're not going to do that. I'm one of the only ones. And that's the reason I got a book.
JS: True. And congratulations.
CR: They're literally unaware. And that's, I think, what is the problem. People look away. They are unaware. Not only of themselves, but of the wider problems.
JS: It's true. Everyone sees some little piece of it, but nobody — yet — has stepped forward to take ownership of the problems in fashion in any kind of a holistic sense. I'm curious, how did that feel to walk in to your old agency — after taking that last set of Polaroids, and them still wanting you to lose weight after having an eating disorder for years — how did that feel to walk in there, and say —
CR: I literally had a breakdown. I was like Really, Really? I started to get hysterical. You think I should ‘Maybe go on a diet?' Oh, maybe! Maybe I should go on a diet! Let's see, what am I doing: Eight hours, twice this weekend. Sixteen hours in the gym. Maybe go on a diet! I am eating only vegetables. Maybe go on a diet! What do you think I should do, because I would like to know! Tell me what I should do that I am not doing already! Because I think I have gone above and beyond what any normal person would do for their job! Please, tell me!
JS: Jesus.
CR: Right! Tell me! So that's when my old agent said, Well, you have two options. That's when she understood — she realized, obviously I had done everything…So then she obviously offered me the two options: do commercial work, or do plus size modeling. And she wasn't too keen on the idea of plus size modeling. She was like, It's for old women.
JS: (Laughs)
CR: And I'm thinking, but I can be any size I want and still model!
JS: (Laughs)
CR: (Laughs) Do you know what I mean? Settle for commercial work and still starve myself to be this size?
JS: Plus, she was basically asking you to give up the dream of modeling. Which is that you might book that job with Steven Meisel.
CR: That was exactly it. That was 100% it. I didn't want to lose the dream. Because they would have never supported me in sending me to those people. And I would have been still miserable, in a horrible emotional state, still looking terrible, still starving, and for no dream…Choosing the unknown, but still the dream, was of course the option. I'm not going to lose my life. Wonderful! I know it sounds so casual to say that —
JS: But it was a real concern.
CR: It was a real concern! Where do you go from there? If I'd continued eating as I did even for another couple of months, I would have been in a hospital. I was really starting to be sick.

(Here, having arrived in Williamsburg and sat down outsider her building, we were interrupted by one of Crystal's elderly neighbors, who wanted to warn us not to sit on the curb, and also to tell us to eat at a certain Italian deli around the corner, where he once brought "someone from the Governor's office — because we know all them people." He talked for five minutes.)

JS: (Laughs) That's a real piece of Brooklyn right there.
CR: That's the guy on the block. And he tells me about the same restaurant every time. He'll say, ‘You know that restaurant over there…' And I'm like: I already know what you're going to say. Yes, I know the restaurant. And Armando says, ‘Hello.'
JS: (Laughs)
CR: It's sweet, but like, the twentieth time…
JS: Retirees, man. You move away from Florida [where Crystal grew up, before moving to Clinton, Miss.], and you think you're out of the woods.
CR: In Miami, it's more — you see these kids walking around at the malls. And they wear these really skimpy outfits, and I — cus I told you, I was the Goth girl, wearing my huge glow-in-the-dark JNCOs—
JS: When I read that part of your book, I felt such recognition. Because I used to make my own pants, in high school. I was after that whole silhouette of the road cone. My friends and I were all into sewing and just making whatever we could...we would make these pants with hems out to here.
CR: That's cool. That's really cool! I would have to say that I liked people like that in high school. Who would do interesting things, as opposed to — I guess ‘conforming,' and wearing the same old Gap sweater. Nothing wrong with Gap, Gap's great — but everyone having the same sweater? Really? You and I would have been great friends.
JS: I think so, too. One of the things I always loved about the fashion industry was that sense that it was all the high school misfits, put together in one room.
CR: Totally! Yeah. I actually feel, weirdly enough, now that I'm my normal size, that I'm actually more accepted now than I've ever been in my entire life.
JS: That's really heartening.
CR: It's true. Because, God, I was so uncomfortable in high school. I felt like I was — just a complete outsider…Now that I have accepted myself, and I'm in the fashion industry, I totally feel more accepted by others.
JS: What a wonderful irony!
CR: I think that I've found my place. That's why I'm so happy — the people I work with, my peers, are accepting of me. I came into the industry and I was pulled apart because of my weight, but now, I don't have to worry about such things anymore. I'm in the best, most magical place that can be. It's great.

And then she went inside to pack her suitcase and go to the airport.

Hungry: A Young Model's Story Of Appetite, Ambition, And The Ultimate Embrace Of Curves [Amazon]

Renn, who is America's highest-paid plus-size model, was discovered by a modeling agent at age 13 and told she could be on the cover of Vogue... if she just lost 70 pounds. She starved herself down to a size 0 and secured a modeling contract, but was still told she was too fat. On Sunday, she told The Guardian:

"I did everything: I didn't eat, I exercised, but I couldn't make myself the shape they insisted on. Eventually someone suggested I become a plus-size model."

She found greater success after regaining the weight. First, Anna Wintour asked her to appear in Vogue (in the "shape issue," of course). The shoot led to a non-weight related appearance in Italian Vogue, then several other Italian fashion magazines and four international editions of Vogue. In addition to being featured in several ad campaigns, she walked down the runway with Jean-Paul Gualtier for the finale to his prêt-à-porter 2006 collection in Paris. Most recently, she appeared in Glamour's May bathing suit spread:


She'll also be featured in the magazine's "naked fat girl extravaganza" in November.

Renn says people in the fashion world are becoming more interested in showing "the natural shapes a woman's body takes when it's not being deprived of food," but we're skeptical, as one fashion spread featuring plus-size models in their underwear does not a revolution make. However, Renn's agent Gary Dakin of Ford Models, tells The Guardian there is reason to believe that this time things will be different:

"I have been in this business for 11 years and I have seen this debate ripple through the fashion world a number of times," he said. "This time, though, the momentum of the debate feels different."

Big Is Now Beautiful For Models On The Catwalk [The Guardian]

Earlier: Glamour Tries Not To Make A Big Deal Of Its Plus-Size Model
Coming This Fall: More Naked Fat Ladies In Glamour

Writer Neal Justin is trying to make the point that the rash of plus-size TV shows — Drop Dead Diva, Dance Your Ass Off; Ruby, More To Love and The Biggest Loser — are getting great ratings, and writes: "Fat is suddenly fabulous, at least on TV." Not in real life! In real life it's still totally gross, okay?

But what Justin wants to know is why. Why would people want to watch shows with plus-size characters? He writes, "Why this appetite for fuller-figured personalities?" But it almost sounds like: Why would you want to watch fatties?

You'd think, since according to one study, "adult obesity rates increased in 23 states last year," it's about American audiences seeing a reflection of themselves.

But Paul Telegdy, who oversees NBC's reality programming (including Biggest Loser) says: "I think it embraces a concern and a worry that keeps a lot of Americans awake at night." Hear that? You're lying awake at night, afraid to get fat, which makes you watch The Biggest Loser.

Yeah, I'll just go ahead and say: Bullshit! If you're watching these shows, it's because there's drama, and a human story. We love a personal story, and if it's personal, it's universal. Even if you've never been overweight, you can understand the range of human emotions showcased on these programs: Frustration, heartbreak, dedication, triumph. As Loser host Alison Sweeney says: "[The show] strikes at the heart of the human spirit.You see people being able to overcome this obstacle that seems insurmountable. Miracles can happen."

And honestly? It's not like plus-size, overweight, fat or large people all live sequestered from society. In many cases, they're your mom, your dad, your aunt, your uncle, you, me. It's not strange that people are interested in seeing plus-size people on TV; it's strange that up until now, plus-size people have been mostly ignored on TV.

A Growing Appetite for Plus-Size Personalities [WaPo]

Earlier: Glamour Shocks Readers By Featuring Plus-Size Model's Belly

"The average Australian woman is a size 14, so it's great we are being represented on the runway." Apparently the chain has gone from one store to 48 in five years and plans to expand to 80 during the next year. Click through the gallery for a playful catwalk full of lovely ladies!

Leggings are not pants! But the studded skyline tank is cool.

Meh. Over jeans with fading and skulls and crap.

A flirty tutu silhouette is always fun.

Some of the models wore intense looks of concentration…

While others felt comfortable enough to smile! Polka-dots do have that effect.

Even though I'm not a fan of Ed Hardy crap, props to him (or someone) for making it in plus sizes.

It helps if you look self-assured and amazing.

That said, please let this trend die. Now.

This is more like it! Fresh floral, sorta '80s but so very now.

Uh, they're not actually recommending this skirt length, are they?

Loving her curves, attitude and fierceness.

Yowza! I wish I had this dress, and somewhere to go, right now. Which is what fashion should do.

Yet! Sometimes, it makes you want to puke. Begone, pleated acid wash. I rebuke you.

What do you think: Cute cocktail? Too bridesmaid-y? It's probably all how you style it.

The graphics here are perplexing.

Ooh la la! Va va voom! Cha cha cha!

I mean, I don't know where you go in a getup like that (Saloon night at the local bar?) but you're pretty much guaranteed a good time.

Don't you love behind-the-scenes photos? Those curls are somewhere between architecture and sculpture.

Painted lady.

Grace under pressure? Can't be easy to have your hair pulled and tugged into someone else's "vision."

Make that pulled, tugged, clipped and curling ironed.

Still, doesn't it seem like everyone had a blast?

Plus-Sized Models Make It Big [Courier-Mail]

[Images via Getty.]

Cindi Leive, editor of the magazine, wrote a post on the magazine's website saying that since the day the September issue hit newsstands, letters have been pouring in about one unknown model featured in the body-confidence article "What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body." Leive writes:

The letters blew me away: "the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in any women's magazine," wrote one reader in Pavo, Georgia. From another in Somerset, Massachusetts: "This beautiful woman has a real stomach and did I even see a few stretch marks? This is how my belly looks after giving birth to my two amazing kids! This photo made me want to shout from the rooftops."
The emails were filled with such joy—joy at seeing a woman's body with all the curves and quirks and rolls found in nature. (Raising a question: With all the six-packs out there, do you even know what a normal belly looks like anymore—other than the one you see in the mirror?)

On its own, the picture may not seem that incredible, but after flipping through 193 pages of uniform sample-size models, the image is striking. Rather than thinning her via Photoshop or having her sit in an unnatural pose, the model is shown with a bit of belly hanging over her underwear and slightly-bulging thighs, looking happy and genuinely confident. As Leive says, we've gotten to the point where showing a woman with folds in her skin or a belly that sticks out (who isn't in a "before and after" feature) is a radical move for a women's magazine, even though that's what every woman actually sees in the mirror every day.

Leive identifies the model as 20-year-old Lizzi Miller, who is "size 12-14 and avid softball player/belly dancer." Miller says of the fan mail she's receiving:

"When I read them I got teary-eyed!" she says. "I've been that girl, flipping through magazines trying to find just one person who looked a little bit like me. And when I didn't find it I would start to think there's something wrong with the way that I looked. When J. Lo and Beyoncé came out and were making curves sexy, I started to accept myself more. It's funny, but just seeing them look and feel sexy enabled me to do the same."

This is Miller's second appearance in Glamour according to Leive, and we found this photo of her from an article that ran in March. She's posing in her underwear in this picture too, but this time she's showing off her thighs.


Glamour has a better track record than other women's magazines when it comes to showing women of all shapes and sizes. As mentioned earlier, we liked that the magazine's May issue used a plus-size model in their swimsuit fashion spread but didn't mention her size or pat themselves on the back for featuring a "normal-sized" woman.

But still, being the ladymag with the most body diversity isn't that hard when your competition is Vogue. Both pictures of Miller were included in articles about body acceptance and May's plus-size swimsuit spread was a rarity. Every other model featured in this month's Glamour was very thin. Even "What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body" starts out with the standard photo of a perfectly-proportioned model staring at herself in the mirror with a slight frown, which doesn't exactly depict the average reader's issues with her body. Any shot of body confidence readers got from seeing a woman with an average-sized body presented as sexy is quickly neutralized by the magazine's other 295 pages of diet tips, workout recommendations, and images of women with all their natural bumps and rolls airbrushed away.

Leive concludes by asking readers what kind of images they'd like to see in the magazine, adding, "Trust me, Glamour's listening, and this only strengthens our commitment to celebrating all kinds of beauty." Hopefully she means it, because it's already obvious from the response to one three by three inch photo that women are interested in seeing beautiful pictures of women of all shapes and sizes that look like them, rather than what the magazine says they should aspire to look like. But, we're still skeptical. If magazines run more images like the one on page 194, women may internalize the idea that you can look sexy with messy hair, no clothes or accessories, and a layer of body fat and stop buying products to fix their natural yet somehow "flawed" figures.

The Picture You Can't Stop Talking About: Meet "The Woman On P. 194" [Glamour]
Exclusive Body-Image Survey: 16,000 Women Tell Their Body Confidence Secrets [Glamour.com]

Earlier: Glamour Tries Not To Make A Big Deal Of Its Plus-Size Model

At the beginning of his first group "date," on a boat, a lady named Heather threw up. The ship hadn't even left the dock yet.

During the cruise, Malissa and Luke had an intimate moment, and a little kissing sesh. Malissa said that Luke makes her feel like a "size 2 supermodel." What does that even mean? Like you're wearing Balenciaga and jumping for Vogue? Are we really supposed to buy that this man makes her feel beautiful or thinner?

The problem with Luke is that he's the kind of guy who says "her body is bangin'." Meanwhile, the misty-eyed women on this show are saying romantic stuff like, "I feel butterflies." They're getting emotional; he's getting a hard-on.

But the absolute worst part of the episode had to be that the third group date was at a pool. Of course the producers wanted to show overweight women in swimsuits.

Hoping to make everyone feel more comfortable, Luke suggested they head for the bar first. Because what's better than being on TV in your swimsuit than being on TV in your swimsuit while drunk?