Monday, January 4, 2010

Updated: Plus size photo shoot from V magazine (via Jezebel)


From Glamour's body-conscious, but somewhat token, and also self-conscious inclusion of naked plus-size beauties in its November issue, to V magazine's plus size issue, to the inclusion of a (small) handful of plus-size models on the spring catwalks, it seems the fashion industry is finally starting to embrace a (teeny-tiny) bit of diversity.  Earlier Jezebel worried that V's plus-size shoot was more gimmick than revolution.  However, I agree with them that the recently-released shoot for their new issue is absolutely GORGEOUS and a real step forward.  The women just look so luscious, fashionable, and hot hot hot.  The next step is to have a shoot showing off the clothes, rather than the women's bodies, to prove that real-sized women can make just as good mannequins as twigs.

What do you think about this shoot, and the idea of a "plus-size issue" in general?

Update: Tlo have chimed in with their opinion, and I must say it irks me a tad.  They're approaching this primarily from a fashion perspective, and while they echo my desire to see a plus-size spread that shows off the clothes, I think they ignore the fact that a plus-size shoot where the women DON'T look like regular models and where clothes DO fit them in a different way is just as revolutionary.  Those of us who are not 5'11" and 110 pounds have rolls in 90% of our pants.  We could camaflouge our bodies to make you more comfortable, but why should we have to?  This is a different kind of photo shoot than the traditional high-fashion clothes-centric spread, and TLo themselves has documented--and complained about, so at least they're fair--many a similar body-focused part naked photo spread featuring "straight size" gals.  I think this is one step in the right direction, and a truly fashion-focused spread would be another one I'd love to see!

Jezebel: V gives the world a plus size shoot not afraid to flaunt its curves

3 comments:

  1. I just saw your comment and link on TLo so I decided to check it out, and I absolutely agree with you. Should regular-sized women model clothing, and be able to do so without tokenism? Of course. But there's no way that can happen until our culture becomes comfortable with what real larger bodies look like, which include rolls, dimples, etc. If we see a stomach pooch or back roll and go "Ewwww" (which we so often do when we see ourselves or each other) there's no way we'd be able to fully appreciate real-woman inclusion in fashion.

    (Just to be clear, I'm not one of those real-women-have-curves people; I'm using "real" to mean not photoshopped, not forced into form by unnatural means, thin women included!)

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  2. Thanks for visiting, Kate! We appreciate your comment and hope to see more of you!

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  3. what I can say bout this post I really like it
    i wish i could read a post about long boots and fashion from your post

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