Plus size models

[Eternal]

Firstly yes or no?

Secondly how big?

I'm sick of only ever seeing tiny models.

I believe we should have more mainstream "normal" models. Woman come in all Shapes and sizes and I think it should be reflected better in the fashion work, magazine and catwalk with various shapes and sizes of women.

However you then see loads of "like for this plus size model who is size 30"! It's the extreme the other way, expect for the fact you can naturally very small but being very big is never going to be healthy.

I'm a size 16 right now (I hate it) so I'm not small by any means. However I think we should see healthy women, sizes 0 - 14 maybe a but bigger but from healthy fit women. The term plus size model needs scrapped because I'm sorry a size 10 or 12 is not plus size, they are normal sized, infact I think the average size woman is 14, now I'm not saying represent the average woman, I'm saying healthy, if that's a 0 or 14!

What's your opinions?

 

[Natsku]

It is nice to see models that aren't horribly skinny. I'd like to see more size 12-16 models really. An old school friend of mine is a plus size model and yeah she is on the bigger size but she does look good and it is nice to see something other than the really skinny ones.

I think most important would be to have healthy size/weight models, like you say. To give a positive healthy image to young girls to aim for.

 

[MommyJogger]

Does anyone know the size conversion for European vs American sizing? I was flabbergasted by "14 is average" until I realized that your 14 is probably much smaller than my 14. If it's for high fashion that most people are never going to wear, I don't care what size the models are since it's more about an art exhibit than "this is how these clothes are going to look on you". But for, like, dept store advertisements, it'd be nice to see a range of sizes. But what bothers me more about "real" clothing ads is that they have to alter the clothes to make them look decent on the models. I'm not going to be walking around with a yard of material gathered into safety pins on my back, they shouldn't be allowed to run an ad where the model does it, either.

 

[dgirllamius]

I would love to see it to be honest. I'm quite tired of seeing all these skinny people modelling and basically giving off the impression that you have to be skinny. It's no wonder so many women worry about how they look when they got this to be compared to. I'm a size 16 too and I hate it but I'm not going to lose weight because the media says so, I'm going to do it for my health for that reason and that reason only.

 

[lhancock90]

Honestly i hate the term "plus size model" why can't it just be "model" ?
You don't get "small size model" unless you are a size 10+ you are just a model right?
I don't think there should be a limit on size but i do think more body types need to be incorporated into campaigns and shows.

xo

 

[steph.]

Does anyone know the size conversion for European vs American sizing? I was flabbergasted by "14 is average" until I realized that your 14 is probably much smaller than my 14. If it's for high fashion that most people are never going to wear, I don't care what size the models are since it's more about an art exhibit than "this is how these clothes are going to look on you". But for, like, dept store advertisements, it'd be nice to see a range of sizes. But what bothers me more about "real" clothing ads is that they have to alter the clothes to make them look decent on the models. I'm not going to be walking around with a yard of material gathered into safety pins on my back, they shouldn't be allowed to run an ad where the model does it, either.

I agree with evything you said! For high fashion I am not bothered as like you said its more like an art exhibition. They want to present their clothes at their best, and it will look better on a thin tall person, than one a short fat one (although I agree some models are so skinny they dont look good, but generally they do).

But it really bothers me when I walk past a shop window and like the outfit on the mannequin, just to walk in and find out that it has been gathered and pinned at the back. If they just had normal sized mannequins they wouldnt have to do that. and would be able to display the clothes how they would really look. Its false advertising!

 

[Abigailly]

I don't get why we call them 'plus size' models. I don't see anyone calling Giselle a 'thin model'.

I think they should all have models ranging in sizes and shapes and just be 'models'.
And there's the end of my unrealistic rant.

I'm a size 18 and would love to see some more curvy models in adverts. I do think the world is slowly coming round to it. Perhaps not the high end stuff. But so many high street brands are.

 

[Eternal]

Uk sizes are 2 sizes bigger than the equivalent in the us, so a 14 is a us size 10 I think! Although I've not actually seen that fact written other than people quoting it so I'm not convinced what the average size and how that what generated.

I get what people are saying about catwalk models and I guess that's not so much the issues but those tend to be the models who ate shot for adverts too who are the ones we look at on magazines and wish we looked like that, surely it would be better to have an accurate representation who when we looked at these models we think, yeah I want to wear that!

I agree that there should be no terms such as plus size and a model should just be a model regardless of size.

 

[Tiff]

I've seen people complain that having plus sized models will give the "wrong idea" to young girls and not have them strive to be a healthy weight.

But I'm unsure as to how the wafer thin sends a better message which is almost impossible to get to unless you have that body shape to begin with.

 

[Eternal]

I've seen people complain that having plus sized models will give the "wrong idea" to young girls and not have them strive to be a healthy weight.

But I'm unsure as to how the wafer thin sends a better message which is almost impossible to get to unless you have that body shape to begin with.

That's why I think they should be fit and healthy regardless of size, you can have a big tiny woman and a bit big woman so if they are both healthy and look after themselves then that is a positive message.

 

[babyhopes2010]

i dont like them being called plus size models however it is nice to see size 16 model in the catalogue as thats the uk average id rather see what the clothes will look like on a size 16-as its nearer my size than a size 8

 

[_jellybean_]

I hate it that models are so skinny, and I do believe that there should be more that are a normal weight.

 

[suzib76]

The idea of a model is to 'model' the clothes so I think that models should be used within the size range that the store or whatever sells

 

[Button#]

The problem is that they're in the business of selling clothes, not making moral decisions about how they make other people feel or how whether they encourage girls to lose weight. Models are basically glorified coat hangers and more people will buy clothes if they are displayed on slim women than larger women because more women aspire to be slim than the other way round.

I have seen catwalk shows with average size women and even with pregnant women so obviously some designers are changing their approach.

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

Healthy models look best to me. I think the issue is that everyone wants to see someone close to their size modelling clothes, but it just cannot happen. We shouldn't have really big models for the same reason we shouldn't have really skinny models; unfortunately this is something that hasn't yet be stopped. Also just because a size is "average" doesn't mean it is right or healthy.

 

[Pearls18]

I think having "bigger" (as in bigger than the size 0/6 models we have now) is great, it gives us a more realistic idea of what clothes can look like on and hopefully will help change society's perceptions a bit. However, I think the models still need to be healthy, I know they say the average size in the UK is whatever, but for a lot of people if they were all that size it actually wouldn't be very healthy, with obesity increasing in the UK the average size does not mean healthy and I don't think we should endorse any unhealthy sizes, whether that's size 0 or size 20. So yeah bigger models would be great, but I don't think we should go too far.

 

[MommyJogger]

I think having "bigger" (as in bigger than the size 0/6 models we have now) is great, it gives us a more realistic idea of what clothes can look like on and hopefully will help change society's perceptions a bit. However, I think the models still need to be healthy, I know they say the average size in the UK is whatever, but for a lot of people if they were all that size it actually wouldn't be very healthy, with obesity increasing in the UK the average size does not mean healthy and I don't think we should endorse any unhealthy sizes, whether that's size 0 or size 20. So yeah bigger models would be great, but I don't think we should go too far.

I agree unless it's a plus-size clothing store. Then they need the larger than average models to accurately represent their clothes whether they're healthy or not. If the plus size clothes don't look nice on plus-sized women, then they shouldn't be in the plus-size clothing business.

 

[bumpy_j]

The term 'plus size' is pretty vulgar when it refers to someone who has a healthy BMI - I want the term to disappear as quickly as possible. I'm certainly not fussed about girls bigger than your average catwalk model getting work since I find the industry revolting although I would find it a tad ironic if we were presented with unhealthily large models.

 

[MommyJogger]

The term 'plus size' is pretty vulgar when it refers to someone who has a healthy BMI - I want the term to disappear as quickly as possible. I'm certainly not fussed about girls bigger than your average catwalk model getting work since I find the industry revolting although I would find it a tad ironic if we were presented with unhealthily large models.

What DOES plus-size refer to? What size range are we talking? When I think plus-size, I imagine sizes that are hard to imagine on someone within the BMI range of 'normal' or even 'overweight'.

 

[Button#]

The term 'plus size' is pretty vulgar when it refers to someone who has a healthy BMI - I want the term to disappear as quickly as possible. I'm certainly not fussed about girls bigger than your average catwalk model getting work since I find the industry revolting although I would find it a tad ironic if we were presented with unhealthily large models.

What DOES plus-size refer to? What size range are we talking? When I think plus-size, I imagine sizes that are hard to imagine on someone within the BMI range of 'normal' or even 'overweight'.

In the UK they tend to be size ranges of 18-32.