Article Written by Personal Stylist Vanessa Valiente of V-Style
Were you able to snag the Glamour issue with the plus size
model and her sweet belly? I didn't - it sold out. It got editors thinking. As
the sales of magazines decline due to the Internet and the recession taking
risks for readership is becoming more attractive. Sad that showing a woman's
belly is risky. I never thought it a big deal to see a pooch in a magazine, but
then I realized... Do you ever see a size 12 woman in Cosmo? InStyle? Vogue!? I
think not. The closest we get to it is Queen Latifa in Covergirl ads.
I consulted with Lucia Moses of Media Week her opinions on the matter: Will real women start frequenting our magazines?
"I think other magazines can’t help but take note of the strong, positive response Glamour got when it featured plus-sized models in two issues this fall. I can see other mass magazines that purport to celebrate healthy lifestyles and real women like Self and Women’s Health jumping on the bandwagon. Dove apparently had at least a short-term bump in sales when it launched its Real Beauty campaign featuring 'real'' women, which helps support the idea that women want to see images that make them feel better about themselves."
It gives women hope that perhaps they will start seeing more plus size women in magazines. Personally I am a size 6, but beyond that I want to see some diversity. Show me size 2, 6, and 18. Show me Chinese, African, French and Spanish models. I want it all, but I don't think we are there yet and neither does Lucia Moses...
"I see this as more of a one-off and don’t think that you’re going to see any wholesale change in the use of pencil-thin models in magazines or on the runways because of the aspirational nature of these images and the fact that (as I often hear) clothes 'hang' better on skinny models."
She has a point, but every step towards showing all walks of life in the fashion world excites me. What is fashion if not an expression of our culture and guess what, the average size of our culture is 14.
Posted by Kim on April 03, 2011 at 05:54 AM EDT #
Posted by Kelly M bray on June 30, 2011 at 12:18 AM EDT #