Plus Size models

Louise Anne · Feb 29, 2012

Most shops these days stock up to either in store or online up to a dress size 18, would seeing a size 14 or 16 model wearing a dress or other item.
Putt you off from buying that dress or item or encourage you to but it?

Miss Golightly · Feb 29, 2012

I don't think it would make any difference what size the model was - what would matter is what the dress looks like on me (and I usually have a good idea just from looking at it on the hanger alone) - so it wouldn't encourage or discourage me either way.

rene_writer · Feb 29, 2012

I'm with Miss Golightly. I don't have a modelesque body whether the model is plus size or straight size, so I really don't care what it looks like on them. I like the dressing room.

Louise Anne · Feb 29, 2012

I very interested in this from two angles a) a good friend is a plus size vintage model and get over looked a lot, b) been a siz18 myself most fashion sites or clothing companies use models many dress sizes below me and it's a little annoying for me.
I not sure who's fault that is I think it could be photographers.

Highball Emy · Mar 1, 2012

Well, I agree with the other two that no model is going to make me buy something that looks awful on me. Even if they are the same size they might be a different shapen and suit different things, BUT - I probably would take more notice of adverts with size 14-16 women, because that's my size! So if it looks good on them, it's more likely to look good on me.

kamikat · Mar 1, 2012

A few years ago, there was a petition to get Roaman's (a modern plus sized women's mail order retailer) to use larger models. While their clothing is from size 14-32, they use size 12 models. Their response was that items modeled on smaller models sell better than items modeled on larger models. The retailer had research done and it was determined that while customers may say they want larger models, their buying habits did not. Personally, being a size 20, I don't care what size the model is. Thin or fat, I will always be only 5 feet tall and never look the same in any garment as a model who is 5'9" model.

Kishtu · Mar 1, 2012

The thing is though, whose plus size?
There are some folks who consider a UK size 16 to be a "plus size" (ex-squeeze me???)
And, of course, a size 16 in one store equates to a size 12 dimension in another....

I'm afraid I don't go off the numbers on the labels as they're pretty meaningless, so I don't think I'd be influenced by a plus-sized model much.

Flicka · Mar 1, 2012

As far as models go, a UK size 10 is plus-sized... I quite often get drawn to stuff for plus-sizes because the skirts are longer, the waists are higher, they're cut to accomodate an ample bosom and quite often I like the look of the slightly larger models. I get really frustrated when I realise they don't make them in my size, despite the fact that the model isn't bigger than me.

Kitty_Sheridan · Mar 1, 2012

I'm currently setting up a plus size vintage clothing range and have actively asked for plus size girls, but it's difficult to find anyone who is size 14(uk) and above with the body confidence. I'm still looking for UK based ladies, size 18 plus.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Beautiful-Doll/212029092151496

Highball Emy · Mar 1, 2012

I think you mean a US10, Flicka, not a UK10! UK10, although still fat for a model, is definitely not plus-sized!

Flicka · Mar 1, 2012

Highball Emy said:
I think you mean a US10, Flicka, not a UK10! UK10, although still fat for a model, is definitely not plus-sized!

I'm a UK10 (US8 and Swedish size 38) and I think I'm approximately the size of many average plus-sized models...

Louise Anne · Mar 1, 2012

Well I am a size 18 and have a makeup artist and pro photographer in my team, I not sure I what you looking for ... , instead I send you a pm about a vintage femalel plus size model.

Kitty_Sheridan said:
I'm currently setting up a plus size vintage clothing range and have actively asked for plus size girls, but it's difficult to find anyone who is size 14(uk) and above with the body confidence. I'm still looking for UK based ladies, size 18 plus.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Beautiful-Doll/212029092151496

Juliet · Mar 1, 2012

A European 38 is plus-sized? Excuse me while I faint.

sheeplady · Mar 1, 2012

I don't care if an organization uses plus sized models. It wouldn't make me buy clothes any more or less.

I do care if they use models that look way too thin. I think it leads to unrealistic expectations about body size and contributes to eating disorders, particularly in young women and girls. I've noticed that certain catalogs (Sundance comes to mind) have been featuring thinner and thinner models over the years- the models used to not be that thin. These are *not* women who are on the thin side naturally with a healthy diet, they look starved and unhealthy. I find it offensive and if a catalog comes through the mail with thin models in it; the catalog goes immediately in the recycle bin and I make a mental note of it. I'm not going to support any company that does that, if I can help it.

Flicka · Mar 2, 2012

Juliet said:
A European 38 is plus-sized? Excuse me while I faint.

Just to make my point clear: a UK10 isn't 'plus sized'. However, 'plus sized models' quite often aren't 'plus sized' but just slightly bigger than ordinary models. That was my point; they sell plus sized clothes using models who aren't 'plus sized' unless compared to other models. That's how screwed up
our perception of the female body has become.

Miss Golightly · Mar 2, 2012

sheeplady said:
I don't care if an organization uses plus sized models. It wouldn't make me buy clothes any more or less.

I do care if they use models that look way too thin. I think it leads to unrealistic expectations about body size and contributes to eating disorders, particularly in young women and girls. I've noticed that certain catalogs (Sundance comes to mind) have been featuring thinner and thinner models over the years- the models used to not be that thin. These are *not* women who are on the thin side naturally with a healthy diet, they look starved and unhealthy. I find it offensive and if a catalog comes through the mail with thin models in it; the catalog goes immediately in the recycle bin and I make a mental note of it. I'm not going to support any company that does that, if I can help it.

I don't like seeing extremely thin models either - you just know that they are not eating properly (cotton wool soaked in lemon juice anyone?) - and when I hear models/actresses saying "I eat whatever I want, I'm naturally this thin" I can't help thinking "who are you kidding?!" For the few that can eat whatever they want there are more that are eating almost nothing to keep this unnatural weight - it's not good for young girls to look at these models and think this is the norm.

When I think of the models back in the 50's they were all rail thin but not emaciated (I read Dorian Leigh's biography The Girl Who Had Everything....The Story of the "Fire and Ice Girl") and she said that she was naturally svelte - so much so that a day after giving birth she was modelling as she had the kind of figure that just snapped back) and all looked very healthy.

To her credit I have to admire Adriana Lima's candour when she divulged just what it takes to get in shape:

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news...s-it-take-to-be-a-Victorias-Secret-Angel.html

At least this way girls will see how much work and discipline goes into maintaining that kind of figure and that it's not down to her being "naturally this slim".

Juliet · Mar 2, 2012

Flicka, that is reassuring.
Alas, it is such an economy, using stick thin models and downgrading the clothing lines to those parameters. Less adjusting on the clothes to regular curves means less seams, less thread usage, less time, and so - less money.

Miss Golightly, it's the worst, when they have that anxious, hungry look in their eyes. Just puts me off entirely.

Kishtu · Mar 2, 2012

I think one of my pet peeves is that being "bigger" is equated with being unhealthy, and it isn't always the case - and I think sometimes the medical profession put a fairly heavy guilt trip on people for their size when they're actually pretty healthy, just bigger than average.
It's very difficult to feel positive about being "larger" than the actuarial statistics indicate. I happen to have an unfeasible chest which has gone up *4* cup sizes in 12 months whilst I'm feeding my son, although the rest of me is smaller than it was before I was expecting him. I'm absolutely dreading having to see the doctor (not because I have a health issue - routine checkup type stuff) because I feel as if they're going to pass negative comment about me having put on weight.

There's been quite a lot of stuff in the media recently about celebs like Dawn French and Nigella Lawson having lost a lot of weight and how they can't possibly have been genuinely happy or healthy in their previous shapes, despite what they may have said. As if people aren't actually allowed to be body-confident over a size 16... the Health Police say so... if you're happy with what you see when you look in a mirror at plus size, you obviously suffer from the new disease of "body blindness".

Flicka · Mar 2, 2012

I used to know a very sweet girl who was a lingerie model. She quite seriously gave me the tip that carbonated mineral water is a good substitute for food because you feel full and it stops the hunger pangs.

In light of all the digital retouching that goes on today, the sad truth is that even if you search the whole globe, you still can't find any women who are beautiful enough as they are (or, as it were, fit the ideal well enough).

lareine · Mar 2, 2012

Kishtu said:
There's been quite a lot of stuff in the media recently about celebs like Dawn French and Nigella Lawson having lost a lot of weight and how they can't possibly have been genuinely happy or healthy in their previous shapes, despite what they may have said.

Anybody who thinks Dawn French and Nigella Lawson are, or ever were, in the same league as far as obesity is concerned is seriously deluded. Dawn French was dangerously overweight and lost weight for health reasons. Nigella has a voluptuous body that goes up and down a bit within what looks like a relatively healthy range (and she works with food for a living so it's understandable). There is no comparison.

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