What problem? Well, the fact that there aren’t any these day. Sure, Coco, Daria, and Lara are popular but that last batch of real super models was hatched back in the ’90s. Think Cindy, Naomi, Linda. The difference, as Anna Wintour insightfully pointed out at a forum this week, is that two decades ago models were allowed to look like full grown women. By contrast, today’s catwalk queens are often scooped from freshman year in highschool and expected to maintain the physique of a 13-year-old to fit into the ridiculously small sample sizes.

The forum, held at Harvard University Business School, was called “Health Matters: Weight and Wellness in the World of Fashion” and featured designer Michael Kors and model Natalia Vodianova among it’s speakers. Kors earned a rounded of applause from the audience when he promised not use models younger than 16. “The age of models really has to become a priority,” he said. “We need to give these girls a chance to grow up.”

Kors was on a roll at the forum, pointing a fact that should elicit a resounding DUH from anyone with enough brain active to read this post. “The reality is that women who buy designer clothes are 30-plus. The visual has to match the reality. Girls dressed up in their mother’s clothes? Guess what, it’s not attractive.” As glad as I am to see a turn around in attitudes at the top, it irks me to no end that this statement is some sort of epiphany.

I’m not so sure it’s progress so much as where we are in the cycle of fashion and the broader culture. Still, I’m psyched that “adults are in vogue” just in time for yours truly to hit the big 3-0. Not that I’m expecting to see any size 8s sashay down the runway any time soon. Nope. Someone my size, though below the national average, can only expect the limited reaches of plus size fashion advertising to speak to me and body… image.

I suppose I can’t expect the powers that be to look after my feelings when they rarely even do so for there star figures. Vodianova, who was the only one among the headliners to have first hand experience on the “issue,” has had her contributions to the discussion reduced to a side note in the mainstream reporting of the event. The model, who started modeling relatively late at 18, reportedly shared her own experiences with anorexia and encourages practices like age limit to protect young models. “Their sense of self-worth is handed over to a bunch of people who don’t care about their self-esteem,’’ she said.

Via The Cut & TheCrimson.com
photos: catwalkqueen.tv & nikulainen.eu

There’s something going on in the fashion world. An uprising is brewing and the Wintours and Lagerfelds on high are being forced to recognize that their body ideals are destructive and unrealistic. The people are angry (low calorie diets tend to make you cranky) and ready for change. And like so many rebellions in history, when the people start to stir the powers that be throw them a bone to try to quiet them. Enter Vogue Curvy. No, it’s not a magazine, it’s a section of Vogue Italia’s online presence found at vogue.it/en/vogue-curvy.

Vogue Curvy is devoted to … women with figures. That section leads with a video interview with Crystal Renn, who talks about how amazing life became when she decided to stop starving herself and eat salad with salmon and walnuts on it. Source: The Cut – nymag.com/daily/fashion

A quick look at the site and I found it sparsely appointed and featuring content more than two years old. Then they have the nerve to list Liz Tyler as a curvy icon! If you’re looking for inspiration for plus size fashion, Vogue Curvy will probably not be your best bet. Like most “separate but equal” efforts, these facilities are outdated and underfunded. I should mention, too, that the launch of this new mini-site is simultaneous to the launches of Vogue Black and Vogue Talents – which are devoted to black people in fashion and emerging designers, respectively. The message from the biggest fashion franchise in the world: it’s okay if you’re fat, black, or unknown, but we don’t have room for you in our stately halls.

What’s next? A “fat” section at fashion shows for anyone larger than a size 4? Will a size 6 with long legs and a good girdle be considering “passing?” Can the separate but equal routine work in the longterm? American history says the answer to that is a resounding NO.

My outlook isn’t entirely cynical. I realize that many movements start with superficial, well-intentioned-but-awful measures. Ultimately, however, we can’t rely on a franchise whose High Priestess is the likes of Anna Wintour to provide us with meaningful angles on fashion for average women. Thankfully, the blogosphere is officially on fire and there are plenty of plus & real-size fashion blogs that translate fashion Culture into advice for the average woman. Here’s a quick reading list:

Black Cat Plus
Fat Chic
The Manfattan Project
Big Girls Browse
The Budget Fashionista
Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too
Pretty Pear
Le Blog de Big Beauty
Fatshionable
Fat and Fab Chic

The above question is one that, shamefully, I have asked myself. At a healthy size 8 (& bigger in the bust) one can feel rather invisible in the fashion world. Browse your average street style blog and note that nearly all subjects are a 4 and under. Sadly, the fashion eye is just trained to seek out skinny silhouettes, so thick (or even just average) girls are hard-pressed to shine through the industry’s carb-starved goggles. But when a model like Doutzen Kroes is told that she needs to lose weight, it’s more than sad – it’s downright scary! The subject of body image was discussed at a pre-NYFW panel, hosted by CFDA at Milk Studios yesterday.

Doutzen Kroes made a decision to take her career in a different direction because she didn’t want to starve herself. “I probably fit the sample size once, when I was eleven or twelve. It became a problem — I was always told lots of times that I should lose weight. It was a thing, ‘You look great, but you should probably lose a few pounds,'” Kroes explained. “That kept going on until I was about 22, and when I was like, ‘This is crazy,’ because I would look in the mirror and I like the way I look.” So Kroes met with her agents: “What we called now a so-called ‘ass meeting,’ because I have one, I have one. It was there, and you know I could maybe get rid of it, I had a choice, not eat maybe for weeks.”

Unlike many models, Kroes had the luxury to choose which direction she wanted to take her career. “I think this is what a lot of girls don’t have now — they have to go back to poor countries if they don’t fit the sample sizes and I hope that after what I’ve done, I’ve chosen that I want to have a healthy lifestyle with the body that I have and work around it and I hope there will be more opportunity for girls to have a choice like that,” she added. In fact, she credits food to her success. “When you don’t eat, you get grumpy, you don’t feel good. So how can you have joy in what you’re doing? And I have that joy and I think that’s what clients see and that’s why I work for two huge global brands. They like working with me, and it’s because I’m eating! There are naturally skinny girls, but not all of them and I’m not one of them.”

Read the rest at The Cut

Photos: freshbrewed.wordpress.com, zimbio.com

V Magazine’s “Size Issue” hits newstands on Jan. 14. Especially at this time of year – when so many of us are setting new bogus resolutions to be supermodel skinny by swimsuit season – let these previews stand as a reminder that are are different types of beauty (and health!).

It will be interesting to see how well the issue sells and whether it will translate into more full-figured models in mainstream fashion magazine. Somehow, I doubt it. We might complain some seasons that the catwalks are whitewashed, but open a mag and you’ll see some racial diversity somewhere. On the other hand, search that same mag for a woman over a size 6 and you will fail. Month after month everyone pictured in party/street style/user photos is thin (and the models, of course).

Photo: Sølve Sundsbø
Styling: Nicola Formichetti
Make up: Frank B (The Wall Group)
Hair: Esther Langham (Art + Commerce)
Models: Candice Huffine, Marquita Pring, Michelle Olson, Tara Lynn (Ford NY), Kasia P (Click)

Photos: Models.com

V Magazine’s “Size Issue” hits the newstands January 14, 2010. Judging from the preview (courtesy of Models.com), the magazine will face the size-ist realities of fashion head on… but with polite preservation of the status quo. Is it just me or has Crystal Renn shaved off a pound or ten? Seems like cheating…

In the photos you see here “plus sized” model Renn is juxtapose a model of standard size (i.e. skinny). The two wear identical outfits to show how thick body compares to a thin one in the same get up. Depending on what side of the fence you’re on, you can use these to argue your point: “women with meat on there bones are sexier and more beautiful,” or “clothes look better on women with slight figures,” or “they both look great and there should be diversity of size in fashion,” or WHATEVER.

Photog: Terry Richardson
Stylist: Mel Ottenberg
MUA: Frank B (The Wall Group)
Hair Stylist: Peter Gray for Cutler Salong and Redken
Models: Jacquelyn Jablonski and Crystal Renn (Ford NY)

Source: V Magazine via Models.com

When I saw the photos of Zoe Saldana at the “Avatar” premiere I thought, Wow – she looks amazing in that dress (Roland Mouret?). And sure enough she’s getting net buzz today, but not for her stellar style choices. Folks have chosen Zoe as their latest “OMG-she’s-so-skinny” target. These, I’m sure, are the same people that would have a field day if she put on a bit of weight. She’s a hollywood actress with a ballet background = she’s always been pin thin.

Photos: yousaytoo.com, thesun.co.uk, zimbio.com

*** UPDATE: January 2011***
This post has been edited to fix a broken image link and to include photos from “Drumline” the movie, in response to a commenter below.

Queen Latifah was seen recently at an appearance to promote her new fragrance “Queen” at Macy’s. The all-around entertainer is looking smaller than ever in her smart little black dress and belt. She looks great, but I wonder if her fuller-figured fans will feel abandoned by her new physique. Queen has always been very outspoken about loving her size, but now she just doesn’t qualify as a BBW anymore.

Source: Scene in the City

Queen Latifah also look slim and trim recently at Rosie O’Donnell’s birthday extravaganza on broadway. She wore two trends: motorcycle jacket and sparkles/sequins.

I love looking at street style blogs and on occasion I snap a pic myself. But I’ve notice that generally all the subjects captured look like they could fit a showroom sample size (I’m guilty, too). Certainly street style photogs can’t think that cuteness only comes from skinny chicks… can they?

Apparently, there’s at least one out there that doesn’t. Meet The Manhattan Project – a blog featuring smart street style worn by average-sized people. The blog is fairly new, so the library is still pretty small. See a couple faves above.

While it’s pleasing to see this blog in action, I’m afraid it’s not exactly progress. Segregation rarely is (if ever). What I’d prefer to see is street style blogger published subjects of all sizes. Hmm.. what’s that saying? “Be the change you want to see…” or something like that.

Every few years there’s a bit of buzz around the fashion industry about the lack of minorities on the runway. And it’s true that fashion models that reflect the going Western standard of beauty fare better in their careers… but I can’t help but think that’s the least of the fashion world’s ills. The bigger issue: WEIGHT. The fact is if you want diversity on the runway, you need to present diversity of size. And frankly I think it’s in the industry’s best interest to move in this direction. Fashion has become very, well, fashionable, but people still regard high variety as frivolous and even irrelevant at times. I think this could change if more people could relate to the runway. That’s why I’m giving a big round of Cult applause to designer Mark Fast for present his Spring 2010 collection with some average-sized models in the mix.

And what’s more the models were not draped in yards of fabric to hide their lovely natural curves. On the contrary, the clothes were extremely body conscious. And it wasn’t gimmicky. It was simply here are some great clothes on some great-looking girls. Period. In addition the “standard” models, though thin, were not emaciated but very healthy looking. Now… if only Fast could have sprinkled in some melanin

photos: wwd.com

Lizzie Miller, the 20-year-old model in question, agrees that it’s astonishing that, at 5ft 11in and 12.5 stone she’s considered a “plus size” model. “It’s sad,” she says. “In the industry anything over size six is considered a plus-size.” Miller, who is around a US size 12-14 (that is, either average or slightly below average) lost about 60lb when she was 13 but today she is considered too large to model for plus-size lines Marina Rinaldi (she says, “they like girls who are an 8-10″) or Elena Miro. She says that the overwhelming reaction to the tiny photograph, buried on page 194 of Glamour magazine “shows that the world is hungry to see pictures of normal women.”

One wouldn’t have thought this would be news. As Miller says, “pretty much every picture in a magazine or ad is airbrushed . . . I don’t think the public understands how much smoke and mirrors are involved in making women look like that.” Source

(12.5 stone = 175 lbs, for we yanks)

It seems folks are really starting to take this weight thing head on. Could there really be some revolution in the fashion industry? Are people fed up with coke-fed skeleton’s being the style standard? Well… not quite. That day will come when a 150-lb model does NOT make an international splash simply for her size.

So all you fashionistas and fashionistos out there starving yourself for fashion week or any other silly event, carry on with your starvation and purging… for now. Mmmm, can’t you hear the lovely sound of chew & spit?