Here’s a subject we haven’t considered before.

Susie Orbach, the foremost British psychologist on issues of body image and author of the book Fat Is A Feminist Issue, has accused lingerie companies of misleading the public by hiring models who have had breast augmentations to pose in their goods:

“I have plenty of clinical evidence to show that surgically enhanced models create a situation in which young women and girls feel inadequate,” Ms Orbach said. “They begin to think about how they can get their breasts to look like the ones that they see on ads. They feel dispirited because even though they know these images don’t necessarily relate to ‘natural’ bodies, they appear to be the norm and they feel left out.”

This reminds us of the controversy over using false eyelashes in mascara commercials, an issue over which a Rimmel ad was banned in 2007. But let’s open it up to the commenters: Do you feel inadequate when looking at lingerie ads featuring models who have surgically enhanced their bustlines?

New Zealand’s most irreverent online magazine Stuff.co.nz has published “You want me to wear what?,” a round-up of the most bizarre and, er, high-exposure men’s fashion on the runways across the globe:

At Berlin Fashion Week German designer Tom Rebl went for bondage, sending out a model in a leather shoulder harness and nothing else. The model used his gloved hands to hide his package.

The fetish theme continued at London Fashion Week where Jaiden rVa James presented a collection that was frighteningly fierce and S&M; and New Power Studio put lipstick and silly hats on its models, including a drum. …

At Air New Zealand Fashion Week in September last year Kate Sylvester sent male models down the runway wearing women’s lingerie slips, and boxer shorts trimmed with lace for the presentation of her men’s and women’s 2010 winter collection Diamond Dogs. The collection was inspired by infamous Auckland socialite of the 1980s Judith Baragwanath who had a penchant for wearing menswear and black lipstick.

“We were pillaging our menswear and putting it on the girls and thought what about the poor old boys, and decided to do a complete swap,” Sylvester says. “We had very boysy boys – it was important that they still looked very masculine in their slips. The models were incredibly gracious about it and wore them in very good spirit.”

Call us callous but of course the models were gracious about it — why shouldn’t they be? For decades, women models have appeared on the catwalk decked out in everything from menswear to mere scraps of fabric. And anyone who’s seen the movie Prêt-à-Porter recalls the infamous Warhol-esque finale, with a bevy of models walking the runway completely naked.

Female models have endured such fashions with nary a complaint since the dawn of Fashion Week. I don’t know that we need to applaud their male counterparts for suffering such tame indignities.

Pictured above: A male model walks during Kate Sylvester’s Fall/Winter 2010 show at Auckland New Zealand Fashion Week.

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?
• 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.
• And don’t forget: A few days remain to enter our Weleda hand cream giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on this very blog. So simple it’s criminal, right?

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.

In September, when British designer Mark Fast first sent a few plus models down his Spring/Summer 2010 collection runway, the aftershocks were felt all around the world. At the time, we declared: “Curvy models are having a moment.” And nearly six months later, that moment is still going strong.

Plus model Crystal Renn walks the runway for Mark Fast's Fall 2010 Ready-to-Wear Collection at London Fashion Week. (Courtesy of Style.com)

It has no doubt been helped by Mr. Fast’s continued inclusion of size diversity in his Fall 2010 Ready-to-Wear show as well, which debuted at London Fashion Week on February 20.

The renewed commitment is commendable because members of his own design team quit last fall amid accusations that hiring models of more than one size was nothing more than a publicity stunt. But it seems that Mr. Fast is no flash in the pan after all.

We applaud him for sticking to his guns and not backtracking with a more mainstream set of models for his newest collection. His S/S 2010 show last September could easily have been merely a fluke, a gimmicky move that attracted headlines but effected no actual change in his design strategy.

But instead, he seems to have dug his heels in and set himself apart as a designer who is intrigued by the notion that even women who wear a size 12 want options for high-end clothes — and indeed have the power of the purse behind them.

However, before we get too far into this lovefest, we have to quibble with a few fit issues that became evident on the runway.

Among the models he hired for London Fashion Week was Crystal Renn, the most famous and well-paid of plus models working today. Hers is not a particularly difficult figure to fit, what with her small waist and well-proportioned bust and hips.

Yet in the above still frame from the show, even allowing for design elements like ruching, the dress is clearly pulling in myriad directions. Her breasts are straining the fabric, her hips look mashed inside, and the sleeves look downright uncomfortable. A well-tailored dress should not restrict movement to that degree.

Other creations from the collection would have had better success on her proportions, such as the gold-hued asymmetrical belted dress that appeared halfway through on a standard sample-sized model. The cut of that gown, with the defined waist and elegant draping, would have easily lent itself to an hourglass figure. (You can see the full collection in slideshow format here.)

With such options at his disposal, it’s odd that Mr. Fast and his stylists didn’t make more inspired choices for the plus models. There is no reason to stuff women into ill-fitting garments that seem to call attention to lumps and bumps rather than flatter the fuller figure. But perhaps if he put a too-flattering dress on a plus model, how would anyone know she was plus at all?

This isn’t to imply that what Mr. Fast has done is not groundbreaking and inspiring. It is so refreshing to see this level of body consciousness in such a mainstream setting as London Fashion Week. But his next challenge should be not only to design clothes that plus-size consumers can wear, but to make garments they will want to wear as well.

Of course, the question remains: When will petite models get their day on the runway? The shorties of the world want to be represented, too!

Italian Vogue’s groundbreaking “Black Issue” in 2008 took a giant leap forward in diversifying mainstream fashion magazines, but we can’t help but feel that a similarly-minded drive behind Vogue.it — the magazine’s newly relaunched website, complete with English translation — doesn’t have quite the same impact.

With tabs like Vogue Black and Vogue Curvy, the website strives to cover the full range of fashion newsmakers. But does highlighting such topics in their own sections instead set them apart? Wouldn’t including them in regular magazine content be more, you know, inclusive?

New York Magazine’s The Cut agrees:

We were reasonably amused perusing Italian Vogue’s new Internet collective, but why must curvy women, women of color, and burgeoning design talent be viewed in separate channels? Is it not possible to have a fashion magazine that embraces women of all sizes and colors who wear young and established labels? Italian Vogue seems to think not.

What do you think? Commendable on Vogue Italia’s part and nitpicky on ours?

We have gained a ton of respect for young model Coco Rocha for writing this insightful, articulate essay on just how ridiculous it is that at size 4, she’s been accused of being too fat for the runway in respected publications like The New York Times and the New York Daily News.

Let’s let Ms. Rocha have the floor:

I’m a 21 year old model, 6 inches taller and 10 sizes smaller than the average American woman. Yet in another parallel universe I’m considered “fat”… This was the subject of major discussion this week and the story that was spun was: “Coco Rocha is too fat for the runway”.

Is that the case? No. I am still used and in demand as a model. In fact I find myself busier than ever. In the past few years I have not gained an extreme amount of weight, only an inch here and there as any young woman coming out of her teenage years would.

But this issue of model’s weight is, and always has been, of concern to me. There are certain moral decisions which seem like no brainers to us. For example, not employing children in sweatshops, and not increasing the addictiveness of cigarettes. When designers, stylists or agents push children to take measures that lead to anorexia or other health problems in order to remain in the business, they are asking the public to ignore their moral conscience in favor of the art.

Surely, we all see how morally wrong it is for an adult to convince an already thin 15 year old that she is actually too fat. It is unforgivable that an adult should demand that the girl unnaturally lose the weight vital to keep her body functioning properly. How can any person justify an aesthetic that reduces a woman or child to an emaciated skeleton? Is it art? Surely fashion’s aesthetic should enhance and beautify the human form, not destroy it.

We are in awe of Ms. Rocha’s poise and grace in responding to such heartless and baseless criticism, and we hope others listen to what she’s saying.

We’ve been pretty clear that we think Mad Men’s mesmerizing Joan Holloway is the awesomest character on television (and not just for her fashion sense), but what we’ve come to realize in recent months is that she gets her moxie solely from Christina Hendricks, the actress who portrays her.

Her now-famous curves have had the whole Internet buzzing since she made the Golden Globes’ best-dressed lists, but to her it’s one big mystery:

“It kind of hurt my feelings at first,” she says. “Anytime someone talks about your figure constantly, you get nervous, you get really self-conscious. I was working my butt off on the show, and then all anyone was talking about was my body!” …

As for the body question, she’ll answer it when asked, but mostly it bores her. “It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” she says. “Back when I was modeling, if someone said ‘I’m fasting,’ I would say, ‘Can’t we talk about something else?’”

We say good for her for not engaging the debate. The media obsession is what it is, but more important than her bust or hips is the head on her shoulders.

As I mentioned yesterday, Valentine’s Day is an irksome holiday. So we’re repossessing it in fashion’s name this year. We say for the next week, make a conscious decision to wear only what you love.

To get you inspired, we’ve published our Love, Ethically issue for your reading pleasure:

• For the next seven days, decide you’re going to feel like a million bucks and make it happen. Here’s some pointers on how to make that happen.
• To remind you to dig deep in your accessories drawer during your week of fabulousness, we offer our second annual ethical jewelry guide — written with the bride-to-be in mind but really, everyone can use a little sparkle in their lives.
• Kara interviewed her friend Elizabeth D. for the inaugural Real Girl Ethics column, our newest feature where we profile a real person and what ethical style means to them. (Got someone in mind who would make a great subject? Email us here!)
• If you’re one of the people whose boyfriend pops the question this weekend, you’ll be sure to have wedding brain. Tracy DiNunzio from RecycledBride.com offers her insight into the enduring popularity (and ease!) of green weddings.
• On a more serious note, the recent controversy over Love magazine’s decision to publish eight supermodels’ measurements got us thinking: Shouldn’t we put more effort into building self-love, rather than holding ourselves up to impossible standards? Read our quasi-feminist manifesto here.
• And as always, we bring you Seam Ripper, our compilation of Behind the Seams blog articles on the subject of love if you’re in the mood for more reading.

Love magazine made a name for itself this month by convincing eight of the world’s most famous supermodels to pose nude on its eight covers — along with their measurements.

Kate Moss's cover for the February 2010 issue of Love magazine. (Courtesy of TheLoveMagazine.co.uk)

Even more controversially, Kate Grand, the magazine’s editor, had this to say to Vogue U.K.: “For this issue of LOVE, we took eight women who are generally acknowledged as the most beautiful in the world, got them to show off their bodies – widely regarded as the most perfect in the world – and photographed them all in exactly the same position for the cover … We did this to show how much they differed physically from one another, which is why we also printed their measurements.”

So she’s saying the issue is about body diversity. But how much do they really differ?

For reference, the largest waist measurement in the bunch was 25 inches — barely filling out a U.S. size 2 in most brands. All of the models have the same toned abs, the same slim hips (all in the 34 to 35 inch range), the same commitment to bikini and underarm waxing.

There’s no denying that these eight women are beautiful, but they adhere closely to the conventional standards of beauty and grooming. Indeed, they’ve even participated in shaping it. Ms. Grand’s assertion that these bodies that are “widely regarded as the most perfect in the world” is a done deal, a self-fulfilling prophecy. As magazine consumers, we are being told what perfection is.

So the question is, Are such magazine covers exploitative? Probably not to the models themselves. A supermodel likely views her measurements like a college graduate views her GPA: merely as information that will help a future employer consider her application for work.

But in the murky world of body image in the media, we can’t help but wonder whether putting a model’s assets out there in mathematical terms could only serve to drive young women — who often aren’t yet secure in their bodies’ uniqueness — to comparison.

These standards run deep in the consciousnesses of young women. Clearly deeply affected by such declarations of what’s “perfect”, 23-year-old reality television star Heidi Montag recently underwent 10 cosmetic procedures in one day in pursuit of a total body makeover. Nothing was left in its original form, or even in the first draft: She had her first set of breast implants replaced with DDD “upgrades,” her nose recut to an even more narrow blade. Liposuction shaped her neck, waist, hips, and thighs; fat was transferred to her lips and cheeks. She even had her ears pinned back, an effect she now proudly describes as “sexy ears.”

Such a dramatic transformation landed her the cover of People magazine, which she used to try to sell copies of her new CD. But consumers didn’t bite; the album sold fewer than 1,000 imprints in the first week. Instead, the public was horrified.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of a young woman surgically altering every part of her body in the pursuit of perfection is that it is so permanent. Ms. Montag’s tabloid exploits were a source of amusement for awhile, but now that she’s turned a dark corner and subjected herself to life-altering cosmetic procedures, the joke suddenly isn’t so funny. That she required emergency interventions to help her breathe post-op is further indicative of the degree vanity can undermine a person’s well-being.

Ultimately, what responsibility do magazines and television and society have to help vulnerable young women see themselves more clearly? Because it seems obvious the time has come to put less emphasis on the “perfection” label and more on cultivating self-acceptance. That would be the real Love magazine.