To think most plus size models are not really fat

[Stoppissingonmyheather]

I truly think people of all shapes and sizes can be beautiful and it's what on the inside that counts bla bla bla plus it is great that whilst online shopping I an now seeing a mix of body types and curvy big bums and boobs instead of stick thin anorexic looking 14 year olds BUT they all seem to have perfectly in proportion gorgeous curves yes large thighs etc but their stomachs are flat or ever so slightly rounded no rolls of stomach fat to be seen in their bikini pics I know bElly fat is unhealthy and not to be promoted but if we are being truly representative and inclusive of all women if they are modelling plus size surely we should have stomach fat on show too also the images I see on sites like PLT are mostly women with boobs and hips and hardly any flat chested straight hipped women so just creating more unrealistic images to try and live up to. I want to see real plus size with rolls and real small size with barely any curves too otherwise it's still not real life is it or is it?

I'm 5'9" as a size 16 and can assure you that I'm definitely in the "larger" bracket (BMI 27). The difference between the plus sized models and me is the same as lots of "normal" size 8 women and regular models - skin tone, proportions, evenness of shape, with weight spread over boobs and hips leaving a defined waist.

I think people have a distorted idea about what is normal. Size 16 may be the average in the UK but for the vast majority of woman it is fat. The UK is massively overweight. When I was a size eight, I often got asked if I was anorexic. I looked completely normal, not even thin. Now I'm a 14 people think I look normal, but no,I am Fat.

Plus size models tend to be hour glass body types - so waist size is small compared to both hips and bust, as well as usually being at the bottom end of the plus sizes (a 16 or even a 14). That combined with being tall, young, toned, and having good bone structure is of course why they look "better" (according to commercial type standards) in most clothes than most plus size women, just as a size 6 model looks "better" in terms of making the clothes they're showing sell than most size 6 women look in most outfits!

Yeah I think ultimately they want to show the clothes off! So I think even a “bigger” model (bigger than traditional models I mean) will be a shape that makes the clothes look good.

Belly fat would be awful for this!

I’m a size 14 at the moment and I’d say I’m overweight.

I agree with many of your points, but I really have to take serious issue with your silly, throwaway remark about "anorexic looking 14 year olds."

Anorexia nervosa is a serious mental illness. I had an anorexic teenage daughter. She was severely depressed and I absolutely feared we would lose her. It had nothing whatsoever to do with wanting to look like a supermodel and everything to do with mental health issues severe enough to make her want to die.

She is still with us and normally in a better place now but has her wobbles. She is on long term antidepressants.

Not what your thread is really about I know, but that careless comment is offensive and triggering. I think that should be acknowledged and it withdrawn.

Also of course many non model women are wearing the wrong size according to size charts - lots of people with a 31 inch waist wear a 12 because they prefer to think of themselves as a size 12 even if waistbands are a bit snug, but a plus size model could have a 31 inch waist and be listed as a size 14 because thats what size charts say a 14 is...

@HmmmmmmInteresting

Models have to show the clothes off so they are not going to show people with rolls of fat. They will show larger people, but of course they will have good proportions or the clothes won't look right.

I don't agree that we should normalise obese people. It's not healthy or aspirational.

Why can’t they just make clothes that look right on the average person!

Only on mainstream sites. Its getting better. There are companies now that use models with bodies that your average 'fat' person can identify with and also a bit more diverse. They tend to be the more 'alternative' clothing stores though. There still has to be something about the model though, that makes you want to buy that item - it just isn't necessarily a clean jaw and a flat stomach!

I love that Joanie has just started using this model joanieclothing.com/graziella-polka-dot-print-jumpsuit.html No she isn't massive by any means, she has a great figure and she's gorgeous - but also she's stocky with not much waist definition, a smaller chest and a broad back - its quite a typical Asian shape and its the first time I've seen someone with a shape similar to mine.
Ooh Betty use Kelly Fletcher as one of their models - Kelly is a size 24 with a disability www.oohbetty.co.uk/product/teal-floral-kelly-dress/ and I love seeing how clothes look on her figure. I'm far more likely to buy the dress after seeing it on her.

Snag tights of course use all bodies, as do Popsy clothing. Collectif uses some plumper models (with double chins - shock - horror!)

I did some modelling when I was smaller than I am now (still fat, just not quite as fat) and I had lots of positive feedback from ladies who just wanted a better idea of how their bodies would look in that item of clothing.
No we shouldn't be promoting obesity, but the fact is we come in all shapes and sizes, and we still need clothes - deserve clothes - just as nice as the ones that slimmer people wear, and its a bonus when you see it modelled on a normal body.

The H&M plus size models are actually plus size.
I know what you mean though!

I've actually found seeing plus size women looking good very helpful as I lose weight.

I strongly disagree with people who puritanically disapprove of plus size models on the basis that seeing plus size women looking good encourages people to accept being overweight.

In fact it is incredibly hard to make positive lifestyle changes if you're miserable, negative and hate yourself, and incredibly easy to make positive lifestyle changes if you're happy, feeling positive about yourself already and actually like yourself.

Its easier to lose weight if you have role models just a little bit smaller than yourself - if you're a size 20 a size 16 is an inspiration but a size 6 is too unimaginable, too unrealistic.

Plus size models do not make ordinary women decide to eat more cake, rather the opposite!

@Topseyt

for you and your daughter

I'm so glad she is doing better and sending you all the non mumsnetty viper love and strength for her recovery. Someone I am close to has also been through recovery and it hurts to see anorexia referred to as a throwaway insult in this way. We can all do better, the only way through this awful minefield faced by so many women around body image and eating, be that too much or not enough, is to support each other. That means not hurling insults at thin bodied women, or anyone!, when trying to make a wider point. Not good enough I'm afraid!

Depends of models are representing the buyers or selling the clothes.

I've no doubt that with make up, good posing, and a computer they could make a photo of me look halfway passable to sell a bikini, but on a catwalk, no one wants to buy a bikini and think they'll look like me in it.

A lot of the SHEIN plus models are real looking and they tell you what size the model is wearing too

Plus size models to me are all hourglass shapes. They carry weight on their boobs and hips. Even if a lot of them are size 16/18 that is still unattainable to me as a short, size 10/12 apple shape.

I just wish there were more normal sized models. It seems you have to be a size (6/8) and straight up and down. Or large hourglass. And that is it.
No other options available.

a mix of body types and curvy big bums and boobs instead of stick thin anorexic looking 14 year olds

Excuse you? Why are you so nasty? Not a sign of great self confidence, love.

I like the diversity in sizes that some companies seem to have embraced but the models are still all the same shape! Hourglass, small waist, big bum and boobs, which is physically impossible for many people to achieve. Without surgery anyway.

Plus they’re still photoshopped to be smooth and blemish free. You rarely see a hint of cellulite, even on a plus sized model.

@boobot1

I think people have a distorted idea about what is normal. Size 16 may be the average in the UK but for the vast majority of woman it is fat. The UK is massively overweight. When I was a size eight, I often got asked if I was anorexic. I looked completely normal, not even thin. Now I'm a 14 people think I look normal, but no,I am Fat.

Sorry but I don't agree. I'm a size 16. I'm 5'8 and have 19% body fat. I lift weights and am pretty solid all over, but I have a large frame.

Larger dress sizes don't automatically mean fat. It's all vanity sizing.

www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2021/03/06/the-deeply-negative-impact-of-vanity-sizing-13988772/amp/

@Sciurus83. Thank you. She is currently doing well at university, but is still on her antidepressants after several years, terrified that if she stops them now as some counsellors have gently suggested she will backslide.

I do have to take issue with this type of remark as it is so degrading to some seriously ill people. I recently had to pull my own mother up for saying that DD would /should “grow out of that nonsense soon.” She really thought it that simple. It isn’t.

Should we start the bingo now?! We've already had "normal sized models".... size 6-8 is not abnormal and "real looking", thin people are real. Please try and make your points without making out thin people are abnormal and the worst of the worst not real women. Please. And I agree with everything being said about more body shape diversity but why must it always come at the expense of denigrating other women? If you don't realise you do this just check, can I make this point a different way, in a more positive way? This stuff is damaging too.

I remember seeing an interview with a ‘plus size model’ and recognised her. I realised she is one of the bravissimo models. Actually one of the smallest models in the catalogue. Catwalk models are borderline anorexic anything else is plus.
There has been attempts to change this over the years but designers argue their clothes hang better on skeletons.

Didn't some countries legislate against medically underweight models?

@TrendingHistory

There will always be exceptions *@JorisBonson*. But most women are not 5’8”.

weirdest post today....