Models and weight.
A topic that is no stranger to most of us.
Recently, some headlines have caught my attention…that I knew we could have a great discussion about.
Headline Maker #1:
Glamour Magazine’s feature of a mostly naked plus-sized model in their September 2009 issue:
When I first saw this picture, I thought two things:
1) She is gorgeous
2) She is plus-sized?!
The feature of this model in Glamour magazine caused a huge stir to say the least. In fact, it inspired a huge body image revolution.
Editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive, was thrilled when Glamour magazine was flooded with supportive letters from readers. Her blog post also received over 1,100 comments, most of which were encouraging.
One woman from Pavo, Georgia said it was, ‘The most amazing photograph I’ve ever seen in any women’s magazine.’
While a man exclaimed, ‘I speak on behalf of all men: she is stunningly beautiful!’
Evidently, the people spoke, and they were saying please, please show these models more frequently!
Is this a genuine effort by Glamour magazine to feature women of all sizes or is it simply a publicity stunt as a way to generate more readers and revenues?
Headline Maker #2:
Karl Lagerfeld recently made headlines after making some shocking remarks when referring to Brigitte Magazine’s decision to feature regular women in the magazine and not professional models.
He said, "These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly,” Karl said in an interview with Focus magazine, adding “no one wants to see round women.” [Source]
Needless to say, Karl offended millions of women around the world with his comments.
Headline Maker #3:
Ralph Lauren recently came under a huge amount of criticism for air-brushing 21-year-old Filippa Hamilton in a recent Ralph Lauren Blue Label campaign featured in Japan.
Here is the ad:
I could not believe this picture when Caitlin posted the article on Twitter tonight. It just sickens me!
This is what she normally looks like below: Obviously very THIN!!!!
Note: She was recently fired due to being ‘too heavy’!!!!
It is clear to me that there is still a huge discrepancy between what the Fashion Industry thinks women want and what women ACTUALLY want!
The Glamour magazine comments clearly show that women want to see a wider range of shapes and sizes in magazines, and I would guess that this would extend to music videos, movies, runways, TV shows, and the like.
I think it is important to show a WIDE range of sizes, from thin to thick. One thing that bothers me is when people say, ‘Oh she is a REAL woman’ if she is curvy and thick. I think that is still a way to put down women who are not of a certain size. We need to accept all sizes, whether you are naturally skinny or curvy and voluptuous!
Skinny women are real women.
Large women are real women.
Period.
We need to accept everything in between and stop this madness of thinking that there is one ideal size. There is not.
Are we always doomed to have this discrepancy? Is Karl just a product of his environment and a man stuck in his ways? Will the runway, magazines, and fashion advertisements ever change?
i think women in general are beautiful and the fact that they alter the pictures so much is what irks me
I just want to say that I am so impressed with how much time and effort you obviously put into your posts, Angela! I look forward to reading each and every one.
This is a loaded topic for me as well. I was the chubby teenager who longed to be as thin as those models. I watched America’s Next Top Model just wishing I looked like them. I tried to stop eating, just to be thin. I am in a much healthier frame of mind today, but that longing is still there. When I picture my ultimate goal weight, I want it to be tiny. Part of me still wants to be model thin. I realize it’ll never happen, but man, if I could have one wish granted, it’d be that. I’m just so easliy affected by images I see in the media.
I’m still working on accepting and loving my body, as it is. It’s a slow process. I feel like I’ve been brainwashed, and I’m trying to get back to “normal.” To loving “normal.”
Thanks!
Definitely a hot topic! I applaud Glamour for the picture they used in their magazine, and I applaud the model even more. However, I do think it is a bit of a publicity stunt. For two reasons. One, I think they positioned her to make her look like she has a bit more of a gut than she does. Most people, leaning forward like that over a band of underwear, will probably have a bit of a gut, even if it is just skin. If she had been standing up or in a different pose, I think she would have looked even more thin & people wouldn’t have thought “wow, look at her stomach.” I mean, I’m glad they did it, and I think it got people talking. And if they reached only a few woman by making them think “Wow, she has a gut, just like me, and she is beautiful” then I think they did well.
But I also think it’s a bit problematic when a magazine posts a story like that to tell women that they should love themselves just the way they are, yet also runs articles on getting skinny and losing weight in the same issue. I understand that getting skinny and losing weight aren’t bad things, but they don’t really focus on articles about feeling your best or being as healthy as possible. Instead, they usually focus on image.
Love the first picture. I thought she was gorgeous, too, when I first saw the photo. We all have different bodies, but until the world/people come to terms with that nothing can change.
I am in shock by that retouched picture – insane … absolutely insane.
I thought it was a joke!
I would have to agree that I thought it was a joke- it doesn’t even look real in the least…
I never watch those “Insider” gossip type shows, but I happened to be cooking and it came on. They had a blurb about this RL thing and I was just absolutely disgusted. No wonder young girls, teens, women feel so inadequate these days…so sad.
I have a copy of that Glamour issue and the first thing I did was tear out the picture of the two plus-size models so I could put it up on my wall. This specific article was so inspiring and really helped me stay on the right track. We are ALL beautiful, no matter what size. Those woman have BEAUTIFUL curves, BEAUTIFUL faces, and BEAUTIFUL hearts. Their smiles show it all. Screw Ralph Lauren for that absurd depiction of that model. Blasphemy.
I totally agree with Tracey @ TropicalHappiness regarding the Glamour article being a publicity stunt. The first thing I thought was that she was beautiful, then that if she was standing up, she likely would not have a stomach roll! I will never be a size 2 (it’s just not in my body frame) but have learned to love my curves, mainly because I know I am healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. It irks me when people talk about heavier or “thick” women being real. That’s a bunch of B.S.! We are ALL real women!
That touched up photo makes me sick. I showed it to my husband and he was appalled. Who thinks this is the way a woman should look? Ugh!
It is all ridiculous and it certainly affects how I see myself, as much as I know better and know it shouldn’t. Many of us can’t help but compare ourselves to waif thin models and I think we all want to see someone who represents our own body type in a magazine. And since we ALL have different body types, magazines should have models with all different types as well — in the same issue and every issue.
What I’d want to see most is a thin model with some tummy and side fat. That is what I look like and I sometimes just want so much to see someone like me represented.
Something else I get really tired of in the fashion industry is that so much is catered for women over 5′ 4.” As someone who is barely 5 feet 3 in. I think it’s pretty annoying to only see tall models and to search so hard for clothes that fit my petite frame.
@Lauren….I’m 5’10 and nothing fits me at all. I’m way too tall for most of the industry. I have no idea why companies want tall models when their clothes are meant for someone who is 5’6″.
Totally agree here! I’m 5’1″…not many stores carry pants that come in “short”, so unless you want to hem (and who wants to do that!) it’s pretty limited!
Of course, I could just live in Lulu pants…where the hemming is free ;)
Every so often, mostly in my high school years, people would give me grief and make comments about how short I was/am. Luckily, I’ve never been one to mind being short…but I know some girls and women feel like they’d rather be taller.
Short is BEAUTIFUL too!
I completely agree with the whole “real” women thing. It irritates me to no end that people imply that only plus-sized women are “real.” I’ve never been plus-sized in my life, yet I’ve never been model stick-thin. We’re all real, regardless of size.
The other word I hate? Curvy. As soon as a woman describes herself as “curvy”, she means she is plus-sized. Why is that? I have plenty of curves at my height (5’10”) and weight (148lbs).
Do you ever look at the The F Word? (http://the-f-word.org/blog/) They’ve been having incredibly awesome discussions on all these topics and more lately. And the author (who’s from my hometown!) always has poignant things to say, even if I don’t always agree. Definitely check that blog out.
No I havent but I will check it out- thanks!
Angela!!! Thank you for this post. The term “real women” is so frustrating. Like you said, we’re all “real.”
It’s rather disgusting that either way, thin or not, women are bombarded with messages, most of which are directed by other women. For example, those who look down on thin women say “real women have curves” and those on the thin side look down on heavier women as “lazy” or what have you. It’s B.S. both ways. We are just people, living, breathing, eating, loving. And as someone who is on the tall, thinner side, it can be rough to get accusing questions as to whether/how much/ what I eat, and I would never ask that of someone heavier. This happened to me tonight, actually. I point them to my blog. Yes, I eat. I eat a lot more than pictured, too. It’s such a touchy subject that really gets me going- sorry for the odd rant! Haha.
Anyway, thanks for bringing this up!
Hi Angela,
Totally agree with you on this.
I do think the Glamour feature was a publicity stunt, however if it helped even only one woman coming to terms with her body image, then ok fine, there is still something positive out of it.
Regarding Karl, well… unfortunately that’s the way he is. He is a real genius in terms of designing clothes, but it is a well-known fact that he designs clothes to be worn by coat hangers basically :-D I believe he meant every word he said, and also that he knew perfectly well the kind of reaction it would get, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he finds this controversy extremely funny.
And the RL ad well, what more can I say that the other commenters haven’t said yet? It’s just plain sad, both the ad and that she was fired because she was “too heavy” (???).
Thanks for this post!
I too was disgusted by the retouching, but sadly not surprised. I am so glad you wrote this post, I am naturally a fairly thin girl and it REALLY bothers me when people think that you’re only REAL or NORMAL if you’re curvy or thick. That just makes people who are thinner feel abnormal and like there is something wrong with them. I was always called skinny while I was growing up, which I feel has a negative connotation to it and even as a little girl I would get soo so upset. I think it’s important to accept everyone for who they are and stop judging people or making comments about their size and shape. We are ALL beautiful, and that comes from the inside first! When you feel good about yourself, you look good..and we should ALL feel good about ourselves!
I agree.
It really hit home for me when readers started emailing me telling me that they had been made fun of their whole lives or received negative comments from coworkers because they were ‘too thin’ when in reality that is how they always were and how their body was meant to be.
I agree with so many things said here! Great post as always Angela.
One thing that I hope doesn’t happen is that Glamour do a ‘real women’ issue and then go back to their usual ways. On Jezebel.com they showed the picture of the ‘plus size’ (who aren’t ‘fat’ or ‘big’ at all!!) models – but it was basically a naked shoot. That really disappointed me. We don’t just want to see them all naked! We want them to show us how clothes look on them too.
I feel like there’s a revolution happening in the minds of the readers of magazines, but the editors and writers have yet to properly acknowledge that.
And I agree that the term ‘real women’ is just silly. We’re ALL real women, and we don’t all have to subscribe to the same version of beauty. Beauty does NOT come in one form.
PS. Angela, I don’t know if you’ve read The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolff but I think you’d really find it fascinating!
No I havent but I would love to pick it up sometime!
The RL ad reminds me of an obviously anorexic girl who I see running every morning on the college campus where I work. I want to gently take her arm and lead her across the street to our hospital’s eating disorders program, which is literally 100 yards from the parking garage where she’s running up and down the ramps like a hamster on a wheel.
i live in singapore which is also an asian city and i can just say that the pressure to be thin is much much greater than in europe or the states. the thing is that asians are bulid much smaller than us westerners. so a western model has to be extremlly thin to make it big in the aisan market. sadly here its not about being thin its about being skinny. and that includes bmi under 17.5 which technically is anorexic weight!
the first model is stunning. she’s perfect, as we all are. Filippa is also gorgeous. If she’s “too fat” at 5’10” and 120 lbs, I’d hate to see what they would call me at 5’8″ and 145. I cannot imagine losing 20+ lbs on my frame, let alone adding on 2 more inches.
I love fashion but am sick of the industry — but the only way it will change is if we VOTE THAT WAY WITH OUR DOLLARS. If magazines with fuller women sell well, they will continue to use them, but if those mags dont sell as well as the ones with the stick figures, the industry – the models will never change. We can praise and leave comments all we want, but its up to us to buy the magazines which support what we say we want.
I for one hope we start seeing models like cindy crawford and mariyln monroe and not kate moss-types.
Amen sister! You are an inspiration- thank you for taking the stance that you do. We all need a little reminder every once in awhile that we are perfect just the way that we are!