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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that size 14 models are NOT plus size they are just NORMAL!

156 replies

mamazon · 14/01/2010 08:46

Most models are around 6ft. for their height being a size 14/16 is perfect for their body.

they aren't "plus size" they just aren't underweight.

I dont think it is a great thing that a magazine has dedicated an issue to plus size models. I find it depressing thaht society has such a scewed vision of beauty that a girl that is in total perfect proportion for her body is considered only beautiful enough for a special fat issue rather than the usual mainstream version.

im actaully getting a bit annoyed at the constant use of the term plus size for normal women. they aren't! I am 6'1 and a size 24/26. I am a plus size person. as in i am outside the normal range for clothing and sizing.
someone with not an inch of excess fat on them isn't.

Now do not get me wrong, i do not want to see more Beth Ditto front covers.
What i want is for the media and fashion industry to stop making normal healthy women feel that they are anything but that. why does it have to be a special healdine grabbing edition of the magazine just because they use women who do not have their ribs poking out of their skin?

OP posts:
Bonsoir · 14/01/2010 08:50

You are confusing "model" with "woman". At size 14, a normal woman is, well, fairly normal!

Models are thin because clothes look better on tall and very thin because clothes look better on tall thin girls - their curves don't get in the way of the cut of the clothes.

So "plus size" in "plus size model" is not the same size as "plus size woman".

nancydrewrocks · 14/01/2010 08:51

Bonsoir admit it you do have a special fat thread alert system don't you?

brimfull · 14/01/2010 08:52

what mag are you talking boaut

RolandButter · 14/01/2010 08:52

lol funny how body ahs to match clothes not vice versa

but yes
14 s not right size for model

10 is

piscesmoon · 14/01/2010 08:56

Size 14 is perfectly normal-especially if you are tall. (It has changed over the years and is much bigger than it was 20 or 30 yrs ago)

Original poster
mamazon · 14/01/2010 08:58

no im sorry Anna but i disagree. models are essentially just hangers. they are there to make the clothes look their best so that we but them.
if they only look good on stick thin ill looking women why design them?

a model is meant to represent us plebs that go and buy these clothes. teh idea is to see the shot, like the garment and go buy it for ourselves.

to open a magazine and see a woman that is the equivalent of a typical height woman of say 5'6/7 being a size 10 being described as plus size is wrong.

she may well be a size 14/16 but because she is touching 6ft tall that makes her just about perfect. and she certainly doesn't look anything like a lady of 5'2 who is a size 16.

models are real women. that is the point. otherwise they would just use mannequins surely

OP posts:
Original poster
mamazon · 14/01/2010 09:01

V magazine have produced a "special" plus size edition.

The media are promoting it as a great step forward in the fight against the size zero craze. whilst i am pleased magazines aimed at normal women are realising that no one wants to open a fashion spread and rather than wondering if you can afford the dress your concerned over the last time the poor girl wearing it ate. but it is just destructing to keep referring to these girls as plus size. they aren't. they are NORMAL size

OP posts:
brimfull · 14/01/2010 09:06

never seen V magazine

TheChicOfIt · 14/01/2010 09:14

I was thinking this exact thing whilst watching GMTV.

I realise that size 14 is plus size for a model, but I think the point on the feature was that the entire modelling world should be veering towards plus size. So size 14 is not plus size in terms of normal people.

Personally I don't see why models have to be size zero or plus size.

Why can't they just be a size 10-12?

Then designers could design their clothes around that size .

RockBird · 14/01/2010 09:18

Hmm, I think I agree with Anna here

Plus size model and plus size woman are two completely different things and yes, I agree that it's a piss take when plus size clothes are modelled on normal sized models but that's the fashion world. And I don't think models are there to represent how the clothes would look on us, they are there to show us how nice the clothes are and actually, if they used real women it would show up how shite and narrow minded their designs actually are!

And I am decidedly plus sized!

Original poster
mamazon · 14/01/2010 09:19

preview here

I also don't like the fact that they have not decided to use plus sized models because they feel they look better or that they want to help the cause, but because they think it will sell more magazines and get them more publicity.

its just all wrong to me.

OP posts:
CMOTdibbler · 14/01/2010 09:19

Thing is, it used to be that the best shape for a model used to be considered to be tall and size 14ish and curvy as that made the clothes hang the best.

Clothes that look best on women who are undersized, will not look good on the women who will actually wear them. I think this has been the change - models used to reflect the end wearer as they were selling the clothes. Now fashion photography is about making the best picture, according to the view of the designer

Original poster
mamazon · 14/01/2010 09:22

rockbird - but how can a woman that is healthy be considered plus size?

its is skewed. it should be the typical models that should be referred to as under sized.

it is very rarely healthy for an incredibly tall model to be a size 0.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 14/01/2010 09:24

i agree with anna, too.

believe it or not, there are quite a few tall women who are naturally thin.

my niece is one of those people.

my daughter will be.

i'm getting pretty annoyed at how many people are willing to label them anorexic, ill, etc. just because they are tall and thin.

that, IMO, is JUST as bad as labels for overweight people.

this kind of assumption is already jacking up my daughter, and she's a kid!

she's starting to get obsessed with gaining weight.

becuase of course, she must anorexic and ill!

these kinds of threads piss me off, tbh.

because accepting bigger women goes hand in ahand with accepting all shapes and sizes, and that includes the not insignificant proportion of people who are natually THIN.

expatinscotland · 14/01/2010 09:26

my niece, age 15 and 6ft., 1in. is also obsessesed with gaining weight.

she plays volleyball on a high school varsity team as well as swims on a varsity team, so she's athetlic as it is.

but she really can do without people assuming she's ill or anorexic because she's a size 10 (UK).

TrillianAstra · 14/01/2010 09:28

Plus size for a model. Normal size for a (tall) normal person.

They are basically calling it 'plus size models' because if they said 'normal size models' you would htink they were referrring to normal-size-for-a-model and not be interested enough to buy the magazine/pick up the paper/etc. It's na advertising gimmick.

RockBird · 14/01/2010 09:29

Oh absolutely mamazon, it is completely skewed but I don't think most people even know what a healthy weight looks like anymore because there is information coming from all angles.

Like expat I do fear for dd who, although only just two, is going to grow up in a world where her relationship to her body size will get ever more skewed.

And I really agree with expat's last sentence. DH (yes, I know, a man!) is naturally very thin and hates it. I am desperately trying to lose weight and he is trying not to show his ribcage. I'd love to be in his shoes but he isn't happy either because people tell him he's too skinny. No one can win this one.

Original poster
mamazon · 14/01/2010 09:30

Oh no this isn't just a rat from a fat girl i can assure you. prior to my children and my ex i was very slim.

I would probably have been described as skinny rather than slim and even so i was still a size 12-14 because of my height and therefore bigger bone structure.

that is what i mean by the fact that a 6ft model that is in perfect proportion for her height shouldn't be described as plus size. she isn't plus sized, she is perfectly healthy sized.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 14/01/2010 09:34

I agree with you in principle, mamazon, but not all tall people have that bigger bone structure, though. Some have giraffe-like bone structure.

Those are the ones who often get work as models, IYKWIM.

Or who become professional athletes or pay their way through university on athletic scholarships (my niece is aiming for pre-med).

They are not abnormal, they are not average, true, but not any less healthy than a tall person with bigger bone structure.

expatinscotland · 14/01/2010 09:35

Also a lot of these models are teenagers and young adults who have not had children.

Lizzylou · 14/01/2010 09:36

Well yes, we should be used to seeing models of all shapes and sizes because women are just that.
The clothes that suit my busty/big hipped 5ft 9" frame are not the same as those that fit my 5ft 2" naturally very slender friend.

So why do we expect to see only tall willowy models modelling clothes that are supposed to be for all women? And anyone else who appears modelling in the magazine is a novelty.

Original poster
mamazon · 14/01/2010 09:36

i totally understand that expat.

I dont think women like your niece should be made to feel bad about the way she looks either but its the labelling of these girls that irritates me.

OP posts:
TheChicOfIt · 14/01/2010 09:41

I don't think this thread is about criticising slimmer people - my best friend used to have that typical 'model' figure and I'm sure people used to talk about her.

But I know that she used to eat like a horse - it was just her metabolism.

I think the point is that designers could probably do with using normal size people as models and not "labelling" them plus size.

I think this will cause more harm than seeing size zero's on the catwalk, as normal girls who are tall and a size 14 may grow to think they are "plus size", and the cycle begins again........

sarah293 · 14/01/2010 09:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

TrillianAstra · 14/01/2010 09:52

If we're campaigning for 'normal' sized models (healthy normal, not UK average) can we try having clothes modelled on people who are under 5'10 as well?