The 8-page editorial, shot by Terry Richardson, is titled "One Size Fits All." Each model wore the same sample clothes, and they are purposefully styled the exact same way and posed very similarly.

While it's nice to have it demonstrated that "plus" models can in fact wear at least some editorial samples with ease — the prevalence of tiny samples, and a model's need to fit into them, is one of the commonly given reasons that straight-size models have grown thinner in the past decade — overall this shoot proceeds like a game of "Spot the difference." With real women in it.

V also pointed out, in its press release about this shoot, that Crystal Renn has "graced the cover of American Vogue." I know Renn has been in American Vogue at least twice — both times for the "Shape" issue, and both times shot by Steven Meisel — and in her memoir, Hungry, she recounts a story about her first editorial for Italian Vogue, which was supposed to include a cover shot. Only she couldn't fit the lace couture dress Meisel and the stylist wanted for the cover:

The dress was supposed to be skintight, so there wasn't even a zipper. It had to be wriggled into, then laced up the back with corset ties. The seamstresses, who were amazingly talented, cut up the teeny seams all along the sides of the dress, hoping they could sew me into it, but it just wasn't happening. A humiliating team effort ensued, with everyone on set trying to stuff me into that garment, but my boobs were hanging out, and it was clear no amount of magic would get the dress to close. The sylist said, "He can't shoot that on you."

Another girl got the cover.

I excused myself and went into the trailer on set. I held myself together until the door was closed, and then I burst into tears. I knew I might never get another chance at the cover of Italian Vogue. (Indeed, so far I haven't.) I dried my eyes and went back to the set.

— Hungry, by Crystal Renn with Marjorie Ingall, p. 165-166.

As far as we're aware, Renn's editorial career, though extremely successful, has not yet resulted in an American Vogue cover. (Or the cover of Vogue Italia she so richly deserves, after that debacle.) We contacted her booker to make sure, but haven't yet heard back and he confirms it: "She has not been on the cover of American Vogue YET!!!"

In this shoot, for purposes of accurate and informed side-by-side comparison, we presume, V provides readers with Renn's and Jablonski's respective measurements:

Jacquelyn: 5 ft, 9 in; 32"/24"/34"
Crystal: 5 ft, 9 in; 36"/31"/41"

Is this a competition?

As great a step that it is that plus-size models are increasingly garnering editorial attention beyond the usual "Love Your Body" special issues, it's a little bit disappointing that someone decided this one needed a straight-size model for a chaperone. And the way the entire shoot is structured to encourage the reader to compare Renn to Jablonski — as if that's what we women need, to decide the age-old battle between plus-size and straight-size models, once and for all! — just makes me want to barf. The point shouldn't be to focus on the differences between these women and decide who looks better. We all know Crystal Renn is a compelling model all on her own — and Jacquelyn Jablonski, though a relative newcomer, isn't half bad either. It's pitting them against each other that does them both a disservice. So why did V and Terry Richardson think it necessary?

V Magazine [Official Site]

Earlier:
The Pros And Cons Of V Magazine's Plus-Size Issue

• Rachel McAdams — with a mop of, dare we say it, could that be Kate G.-inspired hair — graces the January cover of Vogue. McAdams went to a couple fashion shows with Anna Wintour in September. [JustJared]

• John Galliano is getting into the men's wear business. Not satisfied with Christian Dior, Dior Haute Couture, John Galliano, and Galliano, the British designer will present his first men's collection at men's wear week in Milan next month. There will be knitwear, leather, shirts, jackets, and jeans, and the pieces be available for sale in the fall. [FWD]
• Sienna Miller was asked whether she was a fan of the January issue of V, which will feature plus-size models. "I suppose that's something you'd have to say — I couldn't sit here and say, 'No, I'm not,'" said the actress, who modeled briefly before switching codes. "But I sincerely believe that that's more beautiful than someone who is poker-thin. I really do. I would love to have boobs to go with my hips, but I don't — that's just not the way the cookie crumbled." [The Cut]
• An LVMH executive tweeted today that Marc Jacobs and Victoria Beckham were talking together about a line with fur. [Fashionologie]
• Britney Spears' upcoming Candie's campaign was shot this week by none other than Annie Leibovitz. That woman must be a total spendthrift to be bankrupt. [ONTD]
• Alberta Ferretti, who normally shows her Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti collection at New York Fashion Week, is downsizing, probably to a presentation, for this February. Ferretti herself may not even make the trip from Milan. [FWD]
• In case any of you were wondering: Those new Louis Vuitton ads that look kind of like low-rent Vermeers, and feature models doing leather work by hand with waxed linen thread? They are as fake as the pebble-finish coated canvas on a monogram bag. Louis Vuitton products are mass manufactured out of machine-cut pattern pieces by people at industrial sewing machines who do piecework. (Next up we plan to exclusively reveal that some of the cheese you eat may not, in fact, come from happy cows.) [BW]
• Barneys New York's parent company, Dubai World, received a $10 billion loan from Abu Dhabi to solve a cash flow emergency. This is fueling speculation that Barneys may be sold, although insiders say no sale is imminent. [WWD]
• More Michael Jackson memorabilia is hitting the auction circuit. Shoes which Michael Jackson moonwalked in for a concert on September 10, 2001, are being sold off along with a fedora from the same gig. [Mirror]
• After leaving fashion, Georges Marciano of Guess? jeans fame engaged in a kind of epic crack-up. He once dreamed of becoming governor of California, but his own paranoia, and a series of lawsuits, have him poised to lose a $500 million empire. [LATimes]
• Some people with too much time on their hands scoured The Fashion Spot, counting editorial models in the various world editions of Vogue for 2009. 17-year-old Karlie Kloss, reigning favorite of American Vogue and Vogue Italia, won; Carine Roitfeld's model of choice, Lara Stone, came in second. Jourdan Dunn, who spent nine months of this year pregnant, still managed to come in ninth. [Fashin]
• Nylon managed to say some nice things about the Olsen twins' JC Penney line, Olsenboye. Despite the fact that one of the pieces is a direct knock-off of Stephen Sprouse's graffiti pieces for Louis Vuitton. [Nylon]
• Same-store sales at H&M fell 9% on last year this November, marking the seventh straight month of falling comparable sales at the Swedish chain. [WSJ]
• Executives from Kohl's came to New York last week to look for real estate for what would be the company's first Manhattan location. Then New Yorkers could shop Lauren Conrad's collection in person! [WWD]

"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.]

• Katie Holmes made the cover of AnOther Magazine — along with Vanessa Paradis, Kate Moss, and Natalie Portman. [DesignScene]
• Apparently, we're supposed to support Gwyneth Paltrow's absurdly high-priced clothing line for Zoetee's because the profits are for charity. [People]

• Those pictures starring a Victoria Beckham lookalike, wearing Beckham's dresses, which the Daily Mail mistook for a lookbook from the line yesterday, are actually from an online-only editorial in V, and therefore not associated with Posh at all. Model Heidi Mount was cast by the magazine to impersonate La Beckham, and she does a mighty good job. [V]
• But the leaked images of Scarlett Johanson from earlier this week are indeed campaign shots for Dolce & Gabbana's new scent, Rose The One. [People]
• Marc Jacobs will have an after-party following his fashion show this season! And not just any party: He's doing it with Lady Gaga. [The Cut]
• Marc Jacobs said Anna Wintour is "Very maternal and caring," and then added the all-important follow-up, "to the people she cares about." [People]
• Because of Wintour's famed dislike of tardiness, all the bold-faced names at the September Issue premiere were remarkably prompt to arrive. Except for P. Diddy, who got to the red carpet, realized he was the only one there, and sprinted for the doors. Anna Wintour can make P. Diddy run. [NYObs]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal may be presenting Dries Van Noten with his award at the Couture Council of the Museum at FIT luncheon, which kicks off New York Fashion Week. Gyllenhaal has worn the Dutch designer several times in the past. [Stylefile]
• Michael Bay, the director the New Yorker called "stunningly, almost viciously untalented," is doing the Victoria's Secret holiday commercial again this year (he last got the credit in 2002.) And he just uploaded some behind-the-scenes shots of Doutzen, Adriana, et. al., to his website. [MichaelBay]
• Meanwhile, Hayden Christensen is shilling for Lacoste's scent, Challenge. [ONTD]
• We do not look forward to the day when celebrities, after developing exhaustive arrays of perfumes, launch into home fragrances, as Ferragamo is doing. [WWD]
• Christian Audigier says Jon Gosselin and Hailey Glassman, who flew to St. Tropez to holiday with the designer as reality TV star and reality TV star stylist, respectively, were not an item at first. But, "by the time two weeks passed it was a completely new story." Audigier also says that Gosselin "is not the same as he was. He has a more complicated life now." [People]
• Ralph Lauren went to a bar in Williamsburg, the ticking heart of New York hipsterdom, walked around, and left. This is news. [The Cut]
• Kellie Pickler is going to do an event next month for the charity Soles4Soles. [WWD]
• Could Haider Ackerman be in the running to take over Maison Martin Margiela? Margiela himself has been rumored to have stepped back from his namesake label for several seasons now — before the Fall 2009 show, there was a rumor that Margiela had taken on a consulting role, and just a couple months ago he was rumored to have left completely. Ackerman, when asked about the rumors that he might take over the house, said only, "When you meet the person you have admired for so many years, how can you possibly replace him? Sometimes it's better never to meet your heroes." [T via Fashionologie]
• And Jean Paul Gaultier is said to be resigning from Hermès, effective after his Spring/Summer show this October. [FWD]
• Perhaps we should be happy Rachel Zoe is a stylist, because if she hadn't ended up dressing small women in psychedelic tent dresses, she would have been "A psychiatrist. I am endlessly fascinated by people's minds and what makes them tick." [W]
• Electronic Arts is producing a line of video games targeted at 8-12-year-old girls, all of which will feature heavy product placement courtesy of Claire's, the costume jewelry chain. To wit: "My Fashion Mall, available for Nintendo DS, allows players to manage their own mall, taking it 'from drab to fab.' Girls can compete in mini-challenges at Claire's, which is featured in the game, as well as add Claire's charms to their virtual jewelry box." [BrandWeek]
• Christian Siriano is launching a line of makeup with Victoria's Secret, a collaboration that actually makes some sense because Siriano worked as a makeup artist when he first moved to New York. The products all reflect Siriano's Egyptian influence for his Fall 2009 collection, and include lots of bronzers and gold-flecked eye colors, named things like Oasis and, naturally, Gilded Fierce. And there's a kohl eye pencil that Siriano says is "really dirty and downtown — like, I dunno, you're going to go home with someone after you put it on." Or, as Edward Gorey put it, "The Wanton, though she knows its danger / must needs smear Kohl about her eyes / and catch the attention of a stranger / with drawn-out, hoarse, erotic sighs." [The Cut]
• Victoria's Secret just suffered a 27% decline in its second quarterly profit, so the chain is moving its focus to lower-priced items. Perhaps this means no more $80 tee shirt bra? [WSJ]
• Henry Holland loves "Walking. I just spent loads of money on a pair of studded Prada brogues and my justification was that my shoes are my car." We, car-less and broke and shoe-loving, wish we had never heard this justification. [W]
• Gap is apparently launching a pop-up store with the French concept shop Merci. All profits will be donated to charity, and the store will open on September 10 — just in time for fashion week — on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. [WWD]
• A tipster claiming to work at Gen Art, the group that gives seed money to fashion designers and film-makers — Zac Posen is among the young talents to have received funds in the past — says the company, which has long been struggling financially, is the victim of its own leaders' mismanagement, and that while the staff experienced multiple rounds of pay cuts and layoffs, the brothers who run the show never even docked their own pay. [Gawker]
• Despite declining sales, cost-cutting at the Gap has meant the retailer saw a slight increase in its earnings for the second quarter, beating analysts' expectations. Sales fell by 7% across all the chains the Gap owns, but profits held virtually steady at $228 million, versus $229 million during the same period last year. [AP]
• Gap is also opening its first Israeli store in the city of Jerusalem on Monday. [UPI]
• Ann Taylor experienced a quarterly loss of $18 million. [TS]
• There is going to be a Twilight range of beauty products. By this point, we're only surprised there isn't one already! [WWD]

V made the impossible possible by picking random crops of pictures from the Mario Testino editorial inside to use as the cover shots. After the figures were very approximately shorn of their actual backgrounds.

Which rather explains how Daria looks like she was traced with an x-acto and stuck on that lurid backdrop with paste. Is this a conceptual gesture? About how people cut pictures out of magazines and pin them on their walls? A nod to Henry Darger and collage? Is this intentional? Or just terrible, terrible Photoshop?

Naomi's cover, to my eye, is actually the best — her baseline level of camp seems just about right for the proceedings.

Kate on the other hand, looks awkward.

Look, I liked this picture much better when it was on the cover of Purple Fashion two months ago.

Half of these poses — Daria's, Naomi's — are poking fun at the cheesecake factor inherent in most swimsuit spreads. And the rest — Claudia's, Kate's — are high-fashion awkward. So what were the criteria for culling the cover shots from the editorial?

Eva Herzigova: channeling Lindsay Lohan channeling Marilyn Monroe.

Seriously, V: what happened? The issue is out next Wednesday, May 6th. I can't say I'm exactly waiting with bated breath.

Fierce Kate Moss Leads Revival Of The Supermodels As They Stalk Back Into The Spotlight [Daily Mail]
Viva Gisele [IMG Blog]

• Confirmed: Madonna will do the Louis Vuitton fall campaign. With Jesus Luz? I imagine LVMH execs did a pro/con weighing the headline value against the risk that Madge would dump her boytoy ere September. [Grazia]

• No pesky swine flu pandemic threat level five business will put the fear into superstylist/downtown savant/Socrates afficionado Pat Field. When asked if she was afraid of the illness, she replied, "No. We're in America and we don't give a shit about anything." [The Cut]
• Frenchie actress and hobbyist 9/11 conspiracy theorist Marion Cotillard, new face of Lady Dior, will, unsurprisingly, wear Dior to the Met ball on Monday. [WWD]
• Fashionologie has an excellent roundup of the Met ball news, from which designers are sitting this year out due to the cost, to who's taking whom as a date. [Fashionologie]
• Michelle Obama's March Vogue cover was a top-selling issue, moving 560,000 copies on the newsstand, which is 1,000 more than 2008's best-seller, the September issue. [WWD]
• Elle MacPherson designed a cashmere sweater for her sister-in-law's line, Banjo & Matilda. It costs $499 Australian. [British Vogue]
• Behnaz Sarafpour went to Saudi Arabia to show her line in a trunk show (organized by a princess and attended by women only, naturally) and the designer reports that it is totally an underrated holiday destination. "I even got to ride a camel for the first time!!! Very Lawrence of Arabia!!!" [WWD]
• The launch party for Matthew Williamson's H&M line doubled as a booze cruise. Only unlike your pre-recession enforced-jollity work do, his had Grace Jones performing. [Style.com]
• And a pants-less Chanel Iman. [The Cut]
• Sophie Dahl: "When you've got big bosoms and a really big bottom it's difficult to get dressed. You end up looking slightly pornographic in everything. But it's nice to be able to get into jeans and a T-shirt and not have your breasts do the talking." [Daily Express]
• V's take on a swimsuit issue looks like a winner. Six different models on the cover, including a sizzling Naomi Campbell, shot against a yellow background. Campbell marks her 25th year in the industry this year, so naturally, she's hinting about a retirement. That'll never stick. [Daily Mail]
• Francisco Costa is going to be on Martha Stewart's show tomorrow. [WWD]
• Kenneth Cole is going to be a commencement speaker at Northeastern University. Wanna take odds on 30 continuous minutes of puns? [FWD]
• A collection of Christian Lacroix's couture theater and opera costumes is being shown in Singapore — the first exhibition of the French designer's work outside France. Patsy would just die to be there. [Dazed Digital]
• Under Armour is recalling 211,000 athletic cups. Because they come from a batch that "can break if hit, posing a serious injury hazard to athletes." [BlackBook]
• An awful lot of Isaac Mizrahi's recently-released first collection for mass-market retailer Liz Claiborne has already been discounted, notes Racked. [Racked ]
• Hugo Boss's net profits shrank by 2% in the first quarter of 2009. [WWD]
• Men's Wearhouse just discovered its own long-existing Prom Rep program — a kind of Tupperware Party of tux rental, with "referrals" and "rewards" for customers willing to transform themselves into vectors of corporate marketing with a target lock on their friends — is perfect for the Twittered, Facebooked, atomized high school world of now. Isn't that nice. [BrandWeek]

• Madonna's the new face of Vuitton. Do we sense a French accent in the making? [Style.com]
• Wait, isn't Lagerfeld on a low-carb diet? Apparently not in Vermont. Says one lackey, "He requested seven loaves of Pennsylvania Wheat Bread and a tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter to be brought directly from New York to the set...My only job was bringing him the bread and the fake butter. Karl paid me $500 to do it, plus he paid off my $200 speeding ticket." [New York Post]
• Hillary Clinton buys three coats, a sweater at Burberry. Glad we're respecting her privacy. [New York Daily News]

• Merger costs take a toll on American Apparel's net. [WWD]
• Michael Stipe designs polo shirt for Lacoste. He “created a monumental two tone photographic image depicting a crowd at a stadium concert from the perspective of a performer on the stage.” [Rolling Stone]
• If you feel an overpowering desire to see the behind-the-scenes workings of Nick Knight shooting Lily Donaldson for V Magazine, you're in luck: they're livestreaming it. [Boing Boing]
• If that thrills you, you may well want to add this $750 Steven Meisel puzzle to your Christmas list. [Fashionista]
• Kenneth Cole launching a politically-themed billboard? What a shocker! The latest is Obama-themed: "A precedent we can be proud of." [BrandWeek]
• J. Crew's shares at an all-time low. Is the high-end gamble not paying off? [Crains]
• And yup, Ann Taylor hits 8-year low. [Crains]
• Tommy Hilfiger gets back into children's clothes. [WWD]
• Teen Vogue's Fashion University seems fun, expensive, exhausting. Who needs real college? [Teen Vogue]
• More counterfeits were seized in New York this year than ever before. A crackdown, or an increase in demand? [WWD]
• Here's a recipe for depressing! Lifetime Television + "dress-up online games." [New York Times]
• Did you catch Sofia Coppola's Miss Dior Cherie ad? Yes, it looked cool and had rad music. [Fashionologie]
• This poor British model has threatened suicide. [The Sun]
• Larry Birkhead is auctioning off some of Dannielynn's clothes for charity. Which is laudable and all but...who's gonna buy them? [ET]
• Be vigilant! Apparently lots of department stores are having stealth sales! [WWD]
• Wow! Europe's largest costumer is auctioning off 100+ years worth of vintage! [VogueUK]
• The new Odin website has dangerous time-wasting potential. [Fashionista]

• Shocking but true: MTV is investing in subversive style iconoclast Lauren Conrad's clothing line. What, Emily Weiss didn't tell her about "private equity"? We think this is a first for media behemoth Viacom and the apparel industry and we can only hope Toastie and Scott Baio's BFF are next, and that whoever owns Fuse will back Heidi and Spencer's line of American flag wear, and that no one in the country ever buys any of this shit. [Portfolio]
  
• Quote of the day:"I actually think our customer prefers it if she has to work a little for it. She knows she's not going to smell like everyone else," Jennifer Balbier, senior vice president of global product development, MAC Cosmetics, regarding limited edition fragrances. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Yogi/mogul (yogul?) Russell Simmons steps down as CEO of Phat Fashions so crazy Kimora can "get space" in which to self-destruct. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Derek Jeter's second fragrance comes out in December. It's called Driven Black. We think this sounds a little racist, but we're confused by that, because it would be a different story if it were called "Paint it Black" or "Smelling like a baseball player's cup is the new black" ... pondering. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Mazel tov to the Gap! The second fiscal quarter brought about their first financial gain since like, the Friendster era or something. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Not so much for Ann Taylor. [WSJ]

  
  

• Marc Jacobs and Richard Prince do the artist-fashion designer collabo thing for Louis Vuitton. [WWD, 1st item]
  
  • Kate Moss to open a gastropub in Gloucestershire, and the locals are less than exuberant. We think we know the cure! And um you won't find it at a "gastropub." [Vogue UK, 2nd item]
    
  • Custom-designed diamond-encrusted lederhosen. When else were you gonna get those five words together like that? [CBS News]
    
  • V magazine has scheduled its party for photographer Mario Testino's new book at the exact same time as the after-party for the Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2008 after party. OMG it's like the Jerusalem of time slots! [Fashion Week Daily]
    
  • Australian designers Sass & Bide are now doing a lingerie line. Unlike our role model starlets, we love underwear and hope you do too; photos here. [Sassybella]

Seriously Disturbing Image Of The Day [Feministing via V Magazine]
Earlier: The Most Disturbing Sex Toy Ever