Big is Beautiful? Plus-size models spark health debate at Sydney Fashion Festival

As the use of plus-size models on magazine covers and runways becomes more popular, it is refreshing to see the fashion industry embrace a variety of shapes and sizes.

But in trying to strike a balance, are some designers going too far?

Australian department store Myer hosted a Big is Beautiful show during Sydney's Fashion Festival yesterday, hiring plus-size girls to model outfits by various labels.

 

Plus-sized models appear on the catwalk for the Myer Big is Beautiful show during the Mercedes Benz Sydney Fashion Festival yesterday

The show included pieces by various designers in sizes 16 to 24

Robyn Lawley - the first ever plus-size model to feature in Vogue Australia - opened the show in a stunning black assymetric dress.

But while some girls looked healthy modelling sizes 16 to 24, others appeared somewhat overweight.

Adopting the slogan 'Big is Beautiful', and thus encouraging women to remain unhealthy, could be classed as almost as harmful as promoting the controversial 'size zero.'

Robyn Lawley, left, the first ever plus-size model to feature in Vogue Australia - opened the 

show

Refreshing: The industry is starting to embrace all shapes and sizes

The show has sparked an online debate as The Australian journalist Damian Woolbough branded the choice of models 'irresponsible.'

Damian wrote: 'There is a place for women of all sizes in the fashion media, as seen by the positive response to a plus-size shoot with Lawley in this month's Vogue Australia, but obese models send just as irresponsible a message about the need for healthy eating and exercise as models with protruding clavicles and ribcages.'

But the post received a series of comments from readers defending Myer's move.

And Tam Fry from the National Obesity Forum warned the dangers of seeing skinny models 

on the runway far outweigh the message that plus-sized girls send. 

Slow sales: Just 64 tickets were snapped up  for the show - of the 500 available

He said: 'Is it ok to be overweight? No. 

'But if you are big and big boned, people come in all shapes and sizes,it would be monstrously wrong to say the models are just overweight.

'If they are running a show which has big girls modelling for big girls, then that would be totally appropriate.

'Sending skinny girls down the runway does more damage than you might expect this show to be doing. 

'If the show Big is Beautiful is for ladies that are size 18 because that is their natural size then I see no problem.'

Either way, it seems not everyone is sold on the idea that big is beautiful.

Just 64 tickets were snapped up  for the show - of the 500 available.

Harper's Bazaar editor Edwina McCann told the Sydney Morning Herald: 'I don't think the consumer is as obsessed with plus-size as the media is.

'I think the consumer is quite happy to accept the fact that a model, like an Olympic swimmer, is usually an exceptional beauty and doesn't look like the rest of us.'

Source:

Rawi, M. (2011) Big is Beautiful? Plus-size models spark health debate at Sydney Fashion Festival. Retrieved in 7 January 2013 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2029610/Big-Beautiful-Plus-size-models-spark-health-debate-Sydney-Fashion-

Personal opinion: Another fashion show celebrating the plus size woman. I believe it is great to see that fashion industry is open in accepting woman of different sizes but whether it will bring adverse effect like what the thin models brought to the society, I believe it will only be obvious in a long run. There is a certain potential where plus size models will encourage plus size woman to be too comfort in their comfort zone.

Will an Agency for "Normal Sized Models Actually Work?

I’m 5’5” and a size 6, with a not-insignificant ass. I don’t see many models out there who look like me. In fact, very few women–no matter what their sizes–probably see themselves reflected in the ads we’re bombarded with every single day. There seem to be two distinct types of models–the traditional beanpole “straight size” fashion model, and the zaftig hourglass on the plus-size end of the spectrum.

When these two worlds collide, as they did recently in a controversial editorial that appeared in the online publication, PLUS Model Magazine (wherein a plus-size and straight size model were shown naked and embracing), one gets a sense of how emotionally charged this issue can be. Women on both sides of the scale’s needle feel attacked for being too big or too small. But what about those who fall somewhere in between?

Katie Halchishick, 26, has been working as a plus-size model since she was discovered at 17, being repped along the way by agencies like Wilhelmina and Ford. We caught up with Halchishick, who was recently featured on ABC News for her campaign “Healthy is the New Skinny,” to hear her story.

After being signed as a plus-size model as a teenager, Halchishick’s agency told her she could work more if she gained weight–and she obliged (unwittingly) by gaining the freshman 15–or 20 in her case–after starting at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. She hit a max of 200 pounds (size 14), and worked the most she ever would as a model, often banking six figures in a year. Then she met her boyfriend, who’s a physical trainer.

Halchishick ended up losing 50 pounds–and subsequently all her modeling clients–when she got down to 145 and a size 8. She was left with a few lingerie clients and doing commercials for diet pills. “As I got smaller I had to wear fat suits and padding, and that worked [keeping clients] for a while,” she told me. At this point her agency told her if she got down to a size 4, they could probably find her some commercial modeling work. Halchishick hated how she looked and felt, and is now holding steady somewhere in between her highest and lowest weight. And she’s now on a mission.

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Katie before, after, and now

Katie ended up leaving her last agency and started her own about a year ago, calledNatural Model Management. Its goal is to promote the mantra “Healthy is the new skinny” and many of the girls who the agency reps are in traditional modeling no-man’s-land: sizes 6-10. Is this a revolutionary idea?

I talked to Gary Dakin, who heads up theplus board at Ford Models (the agency that reps Crystal Renn), and who also briefly repped Halchishick.

“It’s not a new concept,” Dakin said. “Plus is considered anything over the straight size standard–[which is] 2,4, some 6’s. We rep girls that are anything above that. We definitely in the past five years have seen an increase in girls that are kind of in-between as well. Crystal Renn pretty much started that in-between thing.” He also credits high fashion photographers like Steven Meisel for the increased acceptance of “bigger” girls in more fashion-oriented editorials.

Girls in that middle size range have traditionally had a hard time booking jobs, and that is still a hurdle. We all know what runway models look like these days, and plus-size clients usually want a girl who’s a size 14/16. “You can’t market to a plus-size girl with a size 6,” Madeline Figueroa Jones, the editor of PLUS Model Magazine, said. “Can she see herself in a size 6?”

Halchishick admitted that many of the smaller models at her agency are having better luck in Europe, where a size or two above straight size is considered plus-size, than they are here in the US. To avoid confusion, Halchishick isn’t even listing models’ sizes anymore because clothing size varies so much between brands and labels; she just lists measurements.

Dakin acknowledged that agencies are in a supply and demand business–they try to provide what brands want. And right now, mainstream, commercial brands seem to be where the demand for “real” women models lie. Gary said, “We’re seeing a lot of people in dot-com, and definitely lingerie clients, but even [retailers like] JC Penney loves a straight size girl to be a 6 with a little more curve. The mainstream clients want that perceived-to-be-healthier shape.” Halchishick is having the same experience, telling me that Kohl’s has been really receptive to her agency and features models of many sizes and ethnicities.

So what’s it going to take before we see more than just–let’s be realistic here–rather stodgy retailers using size 6’s and 8’s? Halchishick believes that teenaged girls and their spending power can eventually change the industry. The not-for-profit arm of her business, called “Perfectly Un-perfected,” includes giving lectures and running programs on body image for girls at schools; Katie’s touring for the initiative next week. She hopes to share all the feedback she’s collecting from the girls with brands in hopes that they’ll change the advertising images they use.

Some of it is pretty eye-opening. Katie sent me a few copies of handwritten questionnaires from teenaged girls with some of their thoughts about size. Here’s a sample:

What grade are you in?
11th

Do you like your body?
No. I don’t like wearing tight “girl” clothing because I feel huge everywhere I go. If I do end up wearing tight jeans, I feel like everyone is staring.

What is considered “fat”? Do you think you’re fat?
Fat: your sides are hanging off the sides of your pants. Yes I do.

What do you think about models today?
They are unhealthy. No one looks like them naturally.

Would you be willing to starve yourself or work out excessively to be a model or to be “model skinny”?
Yes, definitely.

What is your current dress size? What size would you LOVE to be?
Dress size 5. I would love to be a 2.

This is only one example, but girls are obviously confused. (Hell, I haven’t been in the 11th grade for a long time, and I’m confused.) They see skinny models, want to be like them, yet call them unhealthy. “With the Dove campaign, it was about real women, but at the same time it wasn’t done in a way that was glamorous or had a level of fashion or beauty or any sort of appeal,” Halchishick said. “It made the ‘real woman’ a negative connotation. For girls it’s really bad. They don’t want to be the real woman. “ Would seeing curvier girls glammed out and pretty, who are smaller than size 16 but bigger than size 2 help?

The most over-used word in fashion and beauty marketing right now is “aspirational.” Advertisers want to show consumers better versions of themselves. More than once I’ve fallen for buying a bikini from Victoria’s Secret because it looked so amazing on the model. And fashion, especially designer fashion, is about the fantasy. What do you think? Could a size 8 model be the next Kate Moss?

Source : 

Wischchover, C (2012) Will an Agency for "Normal Sized Models Actually Work?. Retrieved on 7 January 2013 from http://fashionista.com/2012/01/will-an-agency-for-normal-sized-models-actually-work/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+fashionistacom+(Fashionista)&utm_content=Google+Reader



Personal opinion: In the past 50 years since the beginning of twiggy trend, slim and slender figure until today's plus size, what about the category that falls in between? It is mentioned that there are some average woman which are not highly demanded in the fashion industry are asked to wear padding so as to make them look plus size and also more curvaceous. This model agency is trying to portray healthy is the new skinny. They also organize things like giving lectures and running programs on body image for girls at schools. i think it is a pretty healthy approach in educating the girls on body image.

However, another studies show that showing more plus size models actually helps in reducing women's obsession with thin bodies.

Study provides new evidence that more plus size models could change women’s obsession with thin bodies

This is a research study done by the Durham University researcher who studied over 100 women, provide evidence to back calls for models in adverts to be more representative of the actual population.  This move could ultimately help girls and women to develop a healthier attitude to eating, the researchers say.

- British women’s obsession for thin bodies could potentially be changed if advertising showed more plus size models, suggests a new preliminary study.

In the preliminary study, women who habitually strongly preferred thin body shapes were significantly less keen on thin bodies after they had been shown pictures of plus size catalogue models.  Conversely, showing slim models increased women’s preference for thin bodies. 

The effects could be found whether the women were shown catalogue models or ordinary women of either size.

The findings provide research data for policy-makers and support for on-going calls from Government and health charities to ‘normalise’ female models in the media. 

Lead author Dr Lynda Boothroyd, from Durham University’s Department of Psychology, said:

 “This really gives us some food for thought about the power of exposure to super-slim bodies. There is evidence that being constantly surrounded through the media by celebrities and models who are very thin contributes to girls and women having an unhealthy attitude to their bodies.

“Although we don’t yet know whether brief exposure to pictures of larger women will change women’s attitudes in the long term, our findings certainly indicate that showing more ‘normal’ models could potentially reduce women’s obsession for thinness.” 

Susan Ringwood, Chief Executive from the leading UK eating disorders charity, Beat, commented: 

“This study points towards an important aspect of our modern lives.  We see an average of 2,000 images a day in advertising alone, and most of these include bodies that are more slender than average.  Increasing the diversity of body shapes and sizes portrayed in the media could rebalance our views about our own bodies in an emotionally healthy way.”

Dr Boothroyd added: 

“Thinner bodies are definitely in vogue and within western media, thinness is overwhelmingly idolised and being overweight is often stigmatised.  Although the media doesn’t directly cause eating disorders, research suggests it is a very powerful factor in creating body dissatisfaction.

“Furthermore, it seems that even so-called ‘cautionary’ images against anorexia might still increase our liking for thinner bodies, such as those featuring the late French model Isabelle Caro, who gained worldwide publicity for posing nude for an anti-anorexia campaign while suffering from the illness.  These campaigns may not have the desired effect which is a sobering thought.”

The images used in the study were of thin and plus size models from high street catalogues and beauty contests, and of ordinary women photographed in plain grey leotards.  The thin models shown were a standard size for catalogue models and the women in leotards had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of between 11 and 14.  The plus size models were a minimum of clothes size 16 and the women in leotards had a BMI of between 36 and 42¹.

The study also looked at the influence of positive and negative associations with weight.  When women were shown the ‘aspirational’ images of larger models, paired with the plain images of underweight women, their preferences also shifted away from thinness.  This supports the idea that, in the West, our associations between thinness and good health and high status may play a part in strong preferences for thin bodies. 

This is in contrast to some developing countries where being overweight is generally perceived as an indicator of health, wealth and femininity, and many people tend to prefer women who carry more fat.

¹ The World Health Organisation regards a BMI of less than 18.5 as underweight, while a BMI greater than 25 is considered overweight.

Rachel Cowey Rachel Cowey is 25 years old and from South Shields.  She is the co-creator of Team Recovery Ninja, an online resource aimed at supporting people through recovery from eating disorders, and is also a volunteer for Beat.  Rachel developed anorexia when she was 16 years old and now considers herself 90 per cent recovered. Rachel said: “There were lots of factors which led to me developing my eating disorder such as school pressures and expectations, bullying, family issues, not feeling good enough and the need to be ‘perfect’. “Just like there were many factors which led to the eating disorder, there have also been a number of elements which have helped me recover.  I am determined and stubborn in nature and I have used those character traits in my focus to recover.  I have also put myself out in the real world; at university, working for charities, travelling and ultimately accepted myself for who I am.  “I was discharged from hospital treatment three years ago although I consider myself to be 90 per cent recovered.  Recovery is an ongoing process. “In order for me to have got to where I am now, I have had to take very small steps and overcome huge challenges.  The media’s portrayal of women has not helped in that. “There is an immense pressure to be seen to have it all and be perfect at everything.  Within the media, being thin and attractive is linked to being successful.  “The doctors told me it was impossible to survive at the weight I was, yet the media constantly showed skinny celebrities who were apparently absolutely fine.  That was hugely unhelpful for my mindset and recovery. “I think this research is incredibly important as anything that can help us understand eating disorders is valuable.  It also helps to highlight the media’s impact on people, and that what they print can sometimes have devastating consequences. “As well as the media’s constant focus on weight loss and looking thin and ‘perfect’, the often sensationalist portrayal of eating disorders also makes it more difficult to speak out.  The publication of people’s lowest weights and their pictures when ill causes damage, hurt and stigma.  It gives the perception that eating disorders are only about weight and appearance which is not the case.”

Source: 

Study provides new evidence that more plus size models could change women’s obsession with thin bodies (2012). Retrieved on 16 December 2012 from 

http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=15821

Personal opinion: In this article, the information indicates that by showing more image of plus size model is able to assist in reducing people's obsession of wanting to be thin. I truly agreed that media has been bombarding with images of thin models walking on the runway. We've seen many thin models being on the magazine cover, runway, print advertisment. Indeed, this has reflected that only the thin models have the opportunity to be in that position that in other words being successful, well known. Is it so?

Does celebrities contributing in promoting the idea of being plus size?

Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine: Stop fat-shaming Christina Aguilera

Through some reading on newspaper, watching news on TV, i just realised that there are actually quite a few celebrities who are quite plus size, some of them originally are but some used to be skinny.

Celebrity singer like Christina Aguilera, the small-boned, 5-foot-2 has gained so much more weight in 2010 after splitting from musiz executive husband Jordan Bratman.

Regardless of some nasty, fat-shaming comments about her body, Christina has insisted that sex appeal is about self-confidence rather than being a certain size.

"I happen to be very confident in my own skin," she said. "It takes time to get to that place, but it's all about embracing yourself and your body.

“The challenge I’ve always had is being too thin, so I love that now I have a booty, and obviously I love showing my cleavage. If you can work it and you can own it, that confidence is going to shine through [regardless of your size].

Source:

Chang, S. (2012) Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine: Stop fat-shaming Christina Aguilera. Retrieved on 14 December 2012 from http://www.examiner.com/article/maroon-5-singer-adam-levine-stop-picking-on-christina-aguilera-s-weight-gain?CID=obinsite

Lady Gaga is fat (Photos)

Another celebrity singer would be the famous pop singer, Lady Gaga, whom recently have been putting on weight as well. 

“I love eating pasta and pizza. I'm a New York Italian girl. That's why I have been staying out of New York. My father opened a restaurant. It's so amazing . . . it's so freaking delicious, but I'm telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there. So my dad wants me to eat at the restaurant, and I'm, like, I've got to go where I can drink green juice."

Although she states she doesn’t care, she has been careful to cover herself up when going outside in public and adds she is now dieting. Seems like she cares.

“You know, I really don't feel bad about it, not even for a second. I have to be on such a strict diet constantly. It's hard because it's a quite vigorous show, so I tend to bulk up, get muscular, and I really don't like that. So I'm trying to find a new balance."

Source: 

Chelsea-Seifert, R. (2012) Lady Gaga is fat (Photos). Retrieved from 14 December 2012 from  http://www.examiner.com/article/lady-gaga-is-fat

Kim Kardashian: I've always accepted my curvy body (Photos)


Kim Kardashian is another example of plus size celebrities.

"I've always accepted my body," Kardashian says in the November 2011 issue of InStyleSouth Africa. "If you don't have fun and go with it, you'd be miserable, always trying to change into something you're not."

Kim is 5'2'' whose weight is fluctuating in between 109 and 129 pounds. She admitted that she was not always happy with her oversized butt and ample breast.

She used to be teased by her sister, Kourtney for having big and ugly breast. 

'Your boobs are so big and ugly!' She was so mean and then I would have to wear a bra and she would say, 'Who wears a bra? That's so disgusting.' It was so embarrassing."

She was also being called a "fat donkey" by former Miss USA Shanna Moakler even her former BFF Paris Hilton's snarky comments that Kim's butt was "disgusting," and looked like "cottage cheese stuffed in a garbage bag."

However, Kim's uniquely voluptuous looks have spawned a multi-million-dollar empire that includes four hit reality tv shows, exercise DVDs, diet pills, fashion boutiques in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, a clothing line, jewelry and handbag collections, fragrances and her own makeup line.

Source: 

Chang,S (2011) Kardashian: I've always accepted my curvy body (Photos). Retrieved on 14 December 2012 from http://www.examiner.com/article/kim-kardashian-i-ve-always-accepted-my-curvy-body

Personal opinion: Indeed, with the famous fashion icon or pop star portraying voluptuous body and even giving positive review about their own body. I believe this has somehow indirectly giving a confident boost for the plus size people. However, in a long run it might encourage them to be fat and forgetting the fact that it might threaten their body health.

Study says using plus-size fashion models could make women fat

a new study insists that promoting images of heavy models is actually worse for women's health in the long run.

The research predict that using overweight models may result in encouraging women to become fat by influencing them to think that it is normal and healthy to be overweight.

Dr. Davide Dragone and Dr. Luca Savorelli of the University of Bolognia in Italy mention this in their paper Thinness and Obesity: A Model of Food Consumption, Health Concerns, and Social Pressure, 

"To promote chubby fashion models when obesity is one of the major problems of industrialized countries seems to be a paradox.

Everyone has to trade off in life a number of things like the pleasure of eating and going to the gym as a cost, so if you just fix the average healthy weight, then maybe you will throw up some incentives to be thin."

The research claims that countries where the fashion industry is more accepting of plus-size models (like the U.S.) have heavier populations.

..the fashion industry is a powerful trend-setter that influences society's behavior and standards of beauty, so the increased use of heavy models may desensitize people to the reality that being overweight is bad for one's health.

The researchers specifically took issue with a 2006 agreement between the fashion industry and Italy, Spain and Germany to require a higher minimum size for models and to increase the production of larger sizes for fashion labels.

"When reading the content of the agreements, it is clear that both the government and the fashion industry agree that fashion is a powerful trend-setter. It not only influences what clothes, styles and colors are trendy, but also determines how a person should appear to be desirable.

If being overweight is the average condition and the ideal body weight is thin, increasing the ideal body weight may increase welfare by reducing social pressure. By contrast, health is on average reduced, since people depart even further from their healthy weight.

Given that in the US and in Europe people are on average overweight, we conclude that these policies, even when are welfare-improving, may foster the obesity epidemic."

Basically, the researchers claim that promoting a healthy-weight ideal benefits society as a whole because seeing skinny models may influence people to watch their weight, and this will result in lower overall healthcare costs.

In 2008, the medical costs of treating obesity-related diseases in the United States totaled some $147 billion.

Source:

Chang, S. (2011) Study says using plus-size fashion models could make women fat. Retrieved on 14 December 2012 from http://www.examiner.com/article/study-says-using-plus-size-fashion-models-could-make-women-fat

Personal opinion: This article can be a support statement for the bad impact of using plus size models. This is based on the fact that, in this articles it mentioned that fashion is a powerful trend-setter. It not only influences what clothes, styles and colors are trendy but also determined how a person should appear to be desirable. Therefore,  by publishing many images of plus size models will indirectly leading the people especially women to be fat or continue to be fat because it is a common thing.

Plus-Size Model Excited to Inspire Fashion's Next Generation



Aussie Robyn Lawley is one of the successful plus size models in the current fashion world. In this article, Lawley mentioned that she actually struggled with confidence issue due to her body size. She experienced pressure in losing weight. 

Signing to a model agency, Lawley hopes to be a source of inspiration for others. She hopes to inspire women in her size that they are able to look amazing even in lingerie and it gives them hope.

She is excited to have her body representing the “real woman,” too.

She also mentioned that she hopes that the companies will start to realize that who really is their customer and she hopes she is able to break down those barriers. In other words, the customers are not just the small size but it should also include the plus size people.



Source:  

Hogan, K. (2012) Plus-Size Model Excited to Inspire Fashion's Next Generation. Retrieved on 4 December 2012 from http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2012/08/20/model-robyn-lawley-plus-size-fashion/

Personal opinion:

Plus size model is getting more and more happening in the current fashion industry. This has showed that sizes are no longer a hindrance for plus size people in becoming a model. In the article, it also triggered me to question how should we actually define the real women? Is fashion world clinging back to promote the natural beauty? In a sense that, fashion world is no longer about skinny model? It is about looking amazing in your natural body size?