Plus Size Models For V Magazine's January Issue

"Big, little, pint-size, plus-size — every body is beautiful."

V Magazine is reportedly featuring an all-plus size models in its upcoming January issue. Because the decision has come after the hit of the blackface issue in November, some call it the new publicity horse.


The issue will feature Crystal Renn and other plus size models, to be shot clothed and nude by photographers Terry Richardson, Bruce Weber, and Karl Lagerfeld.

Karl Lagerfeld? He is the one who expressed his disagreement of plus size models in October, saying "No one wants to see curvy women. You've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly."

Well, seeing curvy women through the lens of the camera is probably his New Year's resolution.

The decision to devote the January 2010 issue of V Magazine to plus size models is a so-called "proof" that curvy women are "also" beautiful. "Big, little, pint-size, plus-size — every body is beautiful. And this issue is out to prove it," says V editor Stephen Gan.

V Magazine is following the steps of Vogue Italia when it incorporated in its publication an issue devoted to Black models. The effect has been phenomenal. It has effectively made a statement that seems to call on giving nonwhite models a fair shot at the modeling industry. But after the sensational release of the "Black" magazine, nothing more is heard of it and no black or nonwhite models have been regularly featured in its publications.

Critics forecast the same for V Magazine. It would devote an issue to plus size models that seemingly calls out to the fashion industry to give curvy women a fair chance at runway shows, ad campaigns, and editorials. But after that, there would be no new idea incorporated into its editorial concepts.

Unlike Glamour Magazine which promises to regularly feature plus size models in its future issues, V Magazine's "plus size models only" issue is just like a trend, a "big" splash with an anticipated patronizing effect using curvy models that it once have shunned.

Glamour's "Women of the Year" 2009

This year's list of Glamour Magazine's "Women of the Year" includes R&B singer Rihanna, British fashion designer Stella McCartney, and first lady Michelle Obama.


Rihanna: Back on Top
The 21 year-old "Disturbia" singer is recognized for taking a public stand on domestic violence after being beaten by former boyfriend Chris Brown.

Maria Shriver: The Dynamo
California's first lady is credited for redefining her role into a platform for change and leadership for women.

Stella McCartney: The Designer
She is one of the world's most influential designer and she is honored for designs that opted to use man-made materials instead of leather and fur. She is also recognized as a life-long vegetarian and animal rights activist.

Amy Poehler: The Entertainer
The 38 year-old "short, blonde, and underestimated" comedian is honored as an inspiration for young girls.

Marissa Mayer: The Visionary
The vice president, search and user experience, and 10-year veteran of Google, is praised for making Google the number-one search engine.

Serena Williams: The Athlete
The tennis champion is recognized for using her foundation to give grants to U.S. college students and recently opening a secondary school in Kenya.

Jane Aronson: The Guardian Angel
This pediatrician is honored for bringing the plight of orphans to the world's attention through her Worldwide Orphans Foundation.

Susan Rice: The Peacemaker
The first female African-American U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is honored for putting women's needs at the forefront of the American agenda at the U.N.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee: The Journalists
Earlier this year, these Asian TV reporters have been arrested and imprisoned while reporting on the plight of North Korean women who cross into China to escape starvation but fall into human trafficking.

Maya Angelou: The Poet
The 81 year-old "Phenomenal Woman" is credited for being a writer, educator, and civil rights activist.

Michelle Obama: Your First Lady
She is awarded special recognition for bringing the importance of mentoring to the forefront.

The 12 honorees of the 2009 "Women of the Year" Awards are featured in the December issue of Glamour magazine. They are this year's top women who have made major contributions to entertainment, business, sports, fashion, science, and politics.

Brigitte Magazine Bans Skiny Professional Models

Seems like more magazine publications are responding to skinny backlash.

After American Glamour, Germany's most popular women's magazine, Brigitte, has announced yesterday that it will ban professional skinny models to appear on its pages. The action is made to favor "real women" against unhealthy thin models whom the magazine believes to be isolating its readers.


As detailed in the Huffington Post, Brigitte's editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert has told the media that the banning of professional thin models is a response to the increasing number of readers who says they are tired of seeing models with "potruding bones" who weigh far less than the average woman.

Starting next year, Brigitte is expected to feature both prominent women and regular readers in its photo spreads. "We will show women who have an identity – the 18-year-old student, the head of the board, the musician, the football player," adds Lebert.

On second thought, there are many other professional models who are not skinny and are far bigger on "identity." So, this is not a case of one glossy magazine favoring voluptuous and plus-size models over skinny ones. Brigitte suffers a steady loss of readers in the past 20 years. Some serious financial problems, perhaps?

Lebert reveals that Brigitte's banning of professional models is an investment move and should not be taken as a declaration of war on the modeling profession. "We are not going to become a magazine for plus-sizes," he adds.

Louisa von Minckwitz of Louisa Models agency has commented that the ban on models is a marketing gag that will not last long. "Women want to see clothes on a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing person," says the owner of the top German modeling agency.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/germany-brigitte-magazine_n_309552.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/germany-brigitte-magazine_n_309552.html

Plus-Size Models Go Nude For Glamour Magazine

Glamour did it again. In its November issue, the magazine featured not just one but seven gorgeous plus-size models who posed naked for an au naturel photo shoot, and continued the efforts of pushing the boundaries of accepted beauty norms.


Photographed by Matthias Vriens-McGrath, the seven knock-out beauties who went nude for the glossy fashion magazine were Crystal Renn, Lizzie Miller, Kate Dillon, Ashley Graham, Jennie Runk, Amy Lemons, and Anasa Sims.

As part of Glamour's "body image revolution," the nude photo shoot with the plus-size models include an article by Genevieve Field, which discussed the fashion industry's weght obssession. The article cited that the reason why a woman who measured 6 and above is considered plus-size is because they are really too big for the designers' sample clothes, which usually fall between 0 to 4, only.

Aside from featuring nude plus-size models on the magazine, Glamour magazine has mentioned to feature a greater range of body types in its upcoming pages, "including in fashion and beauty stories (traditionally the toughest areas for even the top 'plus-size' models to crack)."

French Magazines Say No To Photoshop Labeling!

In France, around 50 politicians are backing a proposed law that requires glossy magazines and other image businesses to label retouched photos of models and celebrities. This action hopes to fight eating disorders and body-image issues especially among young women.


If passed, the law would affect wide range of image businesses including advertising, press photographs, political campaigns, art photography, and images on packaging.

Naturally, people in the image industry are opposing the proposed photoshop regulations. They argue that retouching is always part of the artistic interpretation.

According to Tony Chambers, editor-in-chief of Wallpaper and former art director of British GQ magazine, "The camera has always lied and always will. These things should always be taken with a pinch of salt. Fantasy and artistic interpretation are core ingredients in fashion, advertising and art photography."

Marc Ascoli, art director for various high-fashion campaigns, believes that manipulation of images cannot be avoided in any commercial presentation:

"It's so arbitrary. It's clear that there have been abuses. Sometimes heads are completely transformed. They'll change the model's eye color and hair. Sometimes I have the impression I'm looking at a window dummy. But there is such a global commercial pressure for perfection."

With or without photoshop, body-image issues prevail among humans, not just young women. True that a retouched image of a model on a magazine cover may influence a young girl's way of presenting herself, but it is not the core culprit for eating disorder. Girls are not stupid to just stare at a retouched model and believe it as the real thing. Just because one is young does not follow that one is naive.

If there's a phenomenon for eating disorder, don't you think leaders and authorities should work more on education and social awareness campaigns, not on labeling obvious photoshop images as "retouched?"

Size-12 Model Poses Nude On Glamour Magazine

Glamour magazine has made quiet a buzz after featuring a size-12 (or 14) naked model in its September issue. Lizzi Miller, a 20-year old 5'11" woman, poses nude for an article about body acceptance.


Lizzi Miller weighs 180 pounds and she has a tummy. Only one photograph of her has been posted on the magazine but it creates a huge stir, mostly positive. The reason for the favorable feedback: the model is just perfect representation of the average size American woman.

Comments center on how comfortable the "plus-size" model has posed without clothes on a widely-viewed publication and how healthy and fit her body is, compared to the likes of Kate Moss and Lindsay Lohan.

Asked if it is a brilliant move for more of Lizzi Miller's body-type strutting down the runway, it's a totally different thing. As most of the critics have come to agree, Lizzi Miller's body is beautiful but a runway model's body is supposed to be a vehicle to show the clothes "and having a belly isn't the best for showing off clothes directed towards more fit people."

Whether or not the purpose for using an average-size model is the promotion of a healthier body image, it is not an unusual occurrence for an average body-type model to pose naked for glamour shoots and any other body modeling projects. In fact, there have been lots of wonderful works of art that use plus-size (and even extremely fat) models as subject.

Average-type and plus-size models have always been warmly-accepted in glamour modeling. But for these body-types to be taking centerstage as runway models, the end of the ramp seems up to this day, very far and vague.