Winter is on the wane, and now is the time when the anticipation for warm-weather fashion begins to reach its fever pitch. It starts with New York Fashion Week (then a quick succession through London, Milan, and Paris), then we move on to the Oscars and before you know it, women’s magazines are wallpapered with “Get Fit by Memorial Day!” cover stories.

Mannequins or models? Sometimes the difference isn't so easy to detect.

This parade of fashion is also incidentally a promotion of the unattainably thin ideal. Whether or not that is a good thing depends on your perspective.

For the better part of two decades, feminist outlets and public-health officials concerned with negative body image have spoken out against the ubiquitousness of too-skinny models and celebrities. But amazingly, it’s only been in recent months that anyone has started to do anything about it.

And we can’t help but throw confetti that plus models have suddenly become in vogue. From Lizzi Miller’s celebrated nude photoshoot in Glamour to the ascension of Crystal Renn on high-fashion catwalks, everyone is buzzing about size diversity. All of a sudden, pin thin is not the only acceptable silhouette in the fashion world.

So in our second-annual body issue, we explore variations on the weight theme.

British designer Mark Fast has made waves again for employing plus-size models (including the aforementioned Crystal Renn) for the second time in his Fall 2010 Ready-to-Wear Collection, presented at London Fashion Week on February 20. But, as excited as we are about this development, there remains some room for improvement.

We surely can’t be the only ones who miss Mad Men while the television drama is on hiatus, but to fill the aching hole left by empty space on the Tivo, Christina Hendricks appeared in a bustier on the cover of New York Magazine this month. We totally understand why everyone is gaga for her classic curves, but why all the controversy?

Don’t forget: A few days remain to enter our Weleda hand cream giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on the Behind the Seams blog. So simple it’s criminal, right?

And if there’s one must-read article in this issue (we like to believe that includes all of them, but regardless), it’s Kara’s profile of the exceptionally insightful ballerina known as Melissa T. in our second Real Girl Ethics column. Ever wonder what it would be like to work in an industry that constantly pesters you to be thin? As Melissa shows, it requires self-confidence (as well as buns) of steel.

Of course, if all these stories merely whet your appetite for more, check out Seam Ripper for a few more articles on the subject of body issues.