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Blogger Backlash Over Glamour’s Plus-Size Fashion Spread
Capitalizing on the goodwill generated by its inclusion of plus-size model Lizzi Miller in the September issue, Glamour magazine features a whole photo spread of plus models in its November edition. But not everybody is happy about it.
Lesley at Fatshionista.com accuses the fashion rag of embracing models of size only as a trend, and rejects the health warning attached to the spread:
[T]he November issue of Glamour has arrived and, as promised, features more naked plus-size models and a lot of self-congratulatory back-patting on Glamour’s part for their progressiveness and willingness to buck the oppressive norms of the fashion industry… at least for one article in one issue. This piece is likewise steeped in the language of beauty, advocating that women of a certain size sure can be beautiful, boy howdy! But of course there are limits–lest anyone think Glamour is irresponsibly promoting self esteem and self acceptance, they are sure to remind us that “obesity is a significant health problem,” and that these models aren’t obese (except when they are).
Lesley’s whole essay is astutely written — definitely worth a careful read if issues of beauty and size interest you.
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You’re quite right that Glamour is “going with the flow” of the approval of all normal sized and plus sized women when they include models with average proportions in their spreads. It brings them more readers, free publicity, etc which makes it jingle in their pocket. BUT they are also setting a tone by doing so and many publishers, who maybe are a little more risk adverse are seeing what’s possible when you go against the prevailing mindset. Marie Claire now has a dedicated page for plus size women and the Brigitte magazine here in Germany has decided ONLY to use “normal” women in their spreads. Brigitte would be along the same lines in popularity as the US Glamour. It’s a fantastic move, business savvy, of course, but an important movement for size acceptance everywhere.
Comment by Trendy Plus Size Clothes — November 6, 2009 @ 7:18 am
I agree with this entirely. However, most important social changes start with “going with the flow”. Case in point “fair trade” which started over 20 years ago then slowly became a fashionable buzzword and finally is main stream. The same process is happening with “plus sizes”. As a healthily sized consumer, I am slowly beginning to find interesting fashions. Yes larger women, do have fashion consciousness.
Comment by Heather — November 7, 2009 @ 9:02 am
Those women in the picture are NOT plus-sized! What’s going on with everybody’s minds?
Comment by Mônica — November 14, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
[...] the ethics regarding plus-size modeling, check out this post about Mark Fast and another about blogger backlash over Glamour‘s similarly minded plus-size fashion spread. No Comments | Filed under: On your mind [...]
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