In support of the everysize girl
4 Nov
There’s a great discussion going on over at BlogHer today about Glamour magazine’s plus-sized photo shoot. I highly suggest you check out the discussion, because not only is it informative, it also really gives a woman some food for thought (no pun intended?). Since I read Susan Wagner’s post, I’ve been thinking about designers and stylists in general, and what they are doing to our self images.
Media is flooded with talk about the fashion industry, and what it means for society. Little girls are obsessed with their bodies, and who do we blame? Do we blame magazines? Television? Mothers? I say we blame none of the above. What I noted in the BlogHer discussion, and will note here, is that the designers we all love are being supported by both the model-thin and the plus-sized and the everything-in-between. Don’t we buy Marc Jacobs handbags no matter what size we are? Don’t Jimmy Choos fit most every girl (regardless of whether we can afford them)? Haven’t we bought the “frugalista” lines of Anya Hindmarch and Anna Sui and Isaac Mizrahi? When the economy tanked, high-end designers found a new niche: Target shoppers. You can’t tell me that only the model-thin shop at Target, because I shop there and to think of me as anything but larger than the average girl is laughable.
It’s no secret that very few women are sample size, much less smaller than a 12 (I believe that’s still the national “average”). Certainly we should all strive to be healthy, but as Oprah, Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli and I know all too well, it takes a while to get where you’re going. And sometimes you go there and come back – several times. I’m not saying here that I think more or less of someone because of their size (except YOU, Blake Lively, I do hate you and your tall skinny self) but I do think less of designers that limit their products to the very rich and the very skinny.
Rachel Zoe
I love fashion magazines. I watch Project Runway and The Rachel Zoe Project. I see Rachel’s collar bones and spine sticking out like a sharp coffee table edge, and I see the models the Runway hopefuls design for. We support their shows and their work; it’s time for designers – and the magazines and shows that feature them – to support everysized women by designing for ALL of us. Haute couture will never be within my financial reach, and to be honest, I wouldn’t wear half the crap that goes down the runway each fall and spring. BUT – and this is a big BUT – Americans are bigger now than they were last year, and I don’t see that trend changing much. We’re not all getting gastric bypass for Christmas, so until the national “average” turns around, design some decent-looking clothes for the rest of us, would ya?
In my ideal world, fashion designers would have zero power over society.
Thank you for the link!
You’re welcome!
That picture is digusting. Great post.
Yeah, Rachel Zoe’s bones are something I never wanted nor needed to see. For real.
After seeing that photo, i’m going to eat my PB& J with extra peanut butter and cheesy puffs..
Mmm…peanut butter and cheesy puffs. Something the model-thins will never appreciate.
It’s not even the leather-covered skeleton that’s the gross part. The real nastiness is that dress.
Although the expression on that chick runs a close second.
I’m sorry. Should I know who Rachel Zoe, Woman With Two First Names is?
Not necessarily. She has a show on Bravo called “The Rachel Zoe Project.” She’s a stylist to the stars…apparently. She says insane things like “I die for this!” and “Buh-nanas” all the time. You’re not missing much, I guess.
Well, this is not going to help your disdain for Blake Lively …
http://jezebel.com/5402438/gossip-girl-hair-is-all-the-rage-but-youre-too-fat-short–poor-to-have-it
Actually, I like Rachel Zoe. I’m pretty sure she is aware of how she comes off on her show, and is going for campy melodrama. Remember the time she almost died from being busy too much? That was a two-parter!