Curvy Girls

In hollywood it always seems like everyone is a size zero. There is an enormous amount of pressure to be thin in the industry and most celebrities are told they need to lose weight, they are subjected to tons of judgements and articls in the tabloids for their appearance. But there are some women who stand up for their natural body shape and embrace their curves. Celebrities like Christina Hendriks, Beyonce, Amber Riley, Marylin Monroe, Scarlett Johanson, Kate Winslet, America Fererra, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and The Rodarte Sisters. It is especially interesting to me that one of the most powerful fashion duo's in the industry, the sisters who design for Rodarte, one sister is in fact plus size! These are beautiful women. These women are role models, they are people who stood up for themselves in a world of 00's. Instead of telling women everywhere they are "chunky, thick, chubby" maybe we should tell them they are "curvy, voluptuous, and beautiful".

The Feminine Male

It has become a evolution of sorts. Men are becoming more interested in beauty and fashion. While there have always been men who give a great deal of care to their wardrobe and beauty regimines, they are the exception. A vast majority of men have been trained that it is "girlie" or even in a more derogatory and insulting (paritcuarly to the LGBTQ community) way that its "Gay" to care about your skincare regemine or have a interest in fashoin.

However, the "metro-sexual" male is becoming ever more present. Brands are starting to carry skincare lines and a larger variety of clothing options for their more beauty inclined male. It has become more popular for men to get "feminine treatments" such as pedicures, manicures, spa treatments and even waxes. Personally, a man who wont complain or cry about getting his eyebrows shaped is pretty manly to me. 

Beauty is changing in this industry ever day. You know its true when you are sitting next to a man getting your nails done at the same time.

Andrej Pejic-Bluring the Lines between Male and Female

This fall Jean Paul Gautier debuted his Fall 2011 collection and with that he had selected a very interesting model to be in the show. This lovely young woman (shown above) is in fact a 19 year old man. His name is Andrej Pejic and he has been crossing the lines between female and male for his entire life. This speaks volumes about an adrogynous trend in the fashion industry. This is a ever growing trend in fashion and could possibly have been inspiration from the LGBTQ community. Andrej Pejic is not the only androgynous person in the spotlight, singer Elly Jackson from La Roux and model Agyness Deyn have been known for their androgynous looks. This trend in androgyny begs the question, "is the new female ideal to look like a man?"

SHAPE ISSUES

Many mainstream magazines always feature a shape issue 1-2 times a year. They try to feature a range of body types from thin, tall, petitie, and of course, the curvy figure. Take V magazine for example. Gaborney Sidebe was the leading lady on the cover and they had a "one size fits all" editorial with two models wearing the same exact clothes styled the exact same way, with similar poses. View the rest of the editorial here: One Size Fits All. While not all of the editorials are spot on, this one does a good job of explaining that curvier women can wear styles that are made for models, and possibly pull them off even better. One other excellent editorial (with the exception of 1 or two unflattering outfits) from that issue was: Curves Ahead. 

 

 

In April 2010 Vogue had their shape issue featuring supermodel Gisele Budechen on the cover. Their curvy attribue to the magazine was model Kate Dillion, an image below: 

The difference between magazines is huge, as well as their attitude towards the real woman figure. V magazine had a revolutionary issue, while Vogue was just like any other issue, only with a couple of "fuller figure" models. While strides have been made we clearly still have a long way to go.

MISS DIRTY MARTINI COLABORATION WITH KARL LAGERFIELD

Last year one of the biggest names in the industry Karl Lagerfield, known for his personal and Chanel runway collections, collaborated with Miss Dirty Martini, a burlesque dame. She also happens to be very plus sized. The photo shoot was debuted in V magazine (the spring edition featuring Gabourey Sidibe on the cover) with a Chanel theme and Karl Lagerfield as the photographer. Karl Lagerfield is known to not be very favorable of the fuller figure, with quotes stating that "No one wants to see curvy women". But he seems to have a change of heart in the past year, with this collaboration as well as using 'previously' plus sized model Crystal Renn in Chanel ads. Chanel. The images in the V magazine photoshoot are lovely and with Chanel and the name Karl Lagerfield in the collaboration, it was a good step in the right direction for real women in the fashion industry. Curves are beautiful, no matter if they are on a size 20 or a size 8. You can view more photos from the shoot here: V Magazine

DOVE EVOLUTION

This commercial, another Dove creation, is one that we are all familiar with. It is striking how the woman in the video changes. They completely alter her appearance and turn her into something that is not real by natural standards. Her look is created by many makeup artists, Photoshop specialists, excellent lighting assistants and a good photographer. It is unattainable for the every day woman to attain this type of beauty without assistance....There are and always will be exceptionally beautiful women, but should we be forced to compare ourselves to these false images?

Dove Video, Refrence

A REVOLUTION

These images also helped start a new body image revolution. Both were featured in Glamour magazine and had immediate response with email coming to the Glamour offices. The intense response from readers shows that there is a great want and need for women in fashion magazines who look like today's average women. Women are raised to pick at themselves, groom themselves and evaluate the way they look, we are pressured to be worried about every thing that pertains to our image, afraid that it will affect the quality of our lives, and to be honest, it often does. Fashion is not exactly made to fit all sizes, but maybe as a industry, instead of designing for a size 00 we should rethink our customers and see what they are longing for. It is clear that women are wanting a more figure friendly look, they want to accept themselves as a beautiful being and who are we as designers to make women feel bad about themselves? As a fashion design student that is not something I want to do. I want to empower women, make them feel beautiful, not play on their weaknesses to get them to buy a product.

Glamour 1

Glamour 2