I found that to be quite an insulting editorial. Dressing two different body shapes exactly the same, with the style geared towards the traditional size 0 model's shape. BUT…. Crystal has worked it! I love her NOT because she is 'rubenesque' but because she is a fabulous model.

It annoys me that the emphasis is always on the plus sized instead of the model. A model is a model. I ignore these magazines that think they're doing the world a favour by featuring 'normal' sized women. There's always a song and a dance about it. And I'm not sold on the whole plus sized women on the catwalk thing. I believe it's a gimmick, it's not sincere.

Unfortunately designers will never use curvier models simply because it is not economically viable for them. No this isn't right but neither is paying thousands of dollars for clothing in a world where children starve!!! For designers, it is cheaper and easier to use very thin models. Less material used and also…clothes sit better on extremely thin models.

Let me explain this. Despite the fact that these clothes are made to be worn by women, which means they are meant to sit on breasts and hips … on a catwalk, putting these clothes on the very types of women that these clothes will be sold to, will highlight the faults in the garment. Very often designers cannot afford to perfect the garments. Breasts and hips and curves need proper tailoring.

This is why I say clothes sit better on a size wisp model. There are no curves to hug and contour and accentuate and embellish. The clothes simply hang. Things glide best over flat surfaces. BUT…. these are excuses for laziness.

The either or…. It doesn't make sense AT ALL that women have to be labeled this way. We go on and on about diversity but it doesn't exist, not in this industry. Where are the races? where are the short women? Nothing about the fashion/modelling industry makes sense. A normal woman is plus-sized. women with no curves are hailed as the epitome of femininity.

Okay I've gone off on a tangent here, which as Fashion Butter can confirm, nothing new for me! I'm a social equistrienne…
…and what FB says is unfortunately true… but women are Amazons… sisters AND warring tribes… we are complex creatures.

Alas, it's not women that are the cause and solution… it's unhappy people.
Paganmist's comment is spot-on of the way most of us think.

Yes, this article should def be submitted to IFB too!

I definitely don't like the fact that the industry lumps women into two categories like that. I think the industry needs to let go of trying to sell women the "fantasy" and show us the real deal with real women of all sizes.

I've worked with and casted loads of beautiful plus sized models for shoots, they're all healthy and curvacious and get lots of work, just less so for runway jobs (there are people in the industry trying to change that). Some of the girls start off their careers as 'straight models' then some end up in the plus size category after ditching the diet or having children, embracing their more womanly figure.

Anyhow, I also heard Marc Jacobs is launching a plus size range…
x.o.x.o

What makes me sad in all of this mess is that us women seem to enjoy picking teams about everything just to tear each other apart. This mentality extends far beyond the plus size/skinny debate, I have noticed that we can be very quick to negatively label other women when it comes to almost anything in life – friendships, relationships, careers, raising children, etc. In a perfect world, I wish that we could all be a little more self-aware and be more supportive of each other.

P.S. Submit this to IFB Links a la Mode. It's a fabulous piece and very well-written. Bravo.