Well I don’t think it helped the fashion industry at all… pointless.

Oh and I agree completely with Amanda.

So, I don’t consider myself falsified to any degree, thereby maintaining some level of real-ness. But I’m also 5′1″ and 100 lbs. So what does that make me?

I’m bypassing the point of whether Gaultier was being inflammatory or not for placing an enormous woman in his show. That can hardly be addressed, however, without acknowledging that I can’t help but cringe with derision as folks become so wrapped up in themselves that they can’t divorce their perceived shortcomings from the requirements of someone else’s job. Models must be tall and slim: they’re clothes-hangers. They must be eye-catching: they are expected to help sell not only the garments, but the entire image. Designers and models did not sign up to be your role models. They want to make fantastic clothes.

I swear I’m not being naive in that people are affected by media; that kind of thing can hardly be helped. But one sounds grossly immature to be pitching a fit over skinny folks’ influence over their own shoddy self image. Grow up, get in shape, and when you’re finally happy with your body, let’s see how vehemently you rail against slim people.

The other comment was this: “I will never support sending “real women” (ie overweight women) down the runway because the fact is is that designer’s clothes look better on longer, leaner bodies.” BREAK THE MOLD. The reason these clothes look better is because they’re MADE TO. Make clothes that are made to grace the rubenesque. Bring back the goddessness to the zaftig. There are so many fabrics that can flow and decorate the full womanly figure, flattering each exquisite curve. All women should be able to be beautiful, not just those who fit into this stick mold.

Just as you wouldn’t like to be called “malnourished”, those of us with fuller figures don’t particularily like the word “obese”, regardless of how “health correct” it is. Both are words subject to opinion. One woman’s healthy is another man’s “obese”.

Heart failure is a condition brought about often times by anorexia. If sustaining this “really horrible dieting” for too long, chances are good that she may have been anorexic. To say that she was “on a diet” is just laughable.

I whole-heartedly embrace this. I look forward to seeing more of real women on runways.

Like I said earlier, I think we should have models that look a lot better than regular people. I don’t want to see people that look ordinary in fashion. Since when did we ever decide it was okay to just be content and not want to improve ourselves?

What teenage girl or woman’s (or even some men’s) self image has not suffered at least in part because of the rail-thin models that continue their spindly jaunts down the catwalk each year?

That Jean-Paul Gaultier has perhaps “overcompensated” for the dearth of healthy, positive images within the pages of every women’s magazine for the last thirty years can be easily overlooked.

The majority is surely entitled to its opinion, but attractiveness is certainly not objective. I find Gaultier’s model much more attractive than any model I’ve seen gracing the cover of Vogue for as long as I can remember.

Not that long ago, we saw our first “token black model” walk down the runway. That doesn’t set a bad example for white girls; it sets a good example for African-American girls. Why can’t we have our first obese model as a positive role model for women who can’t shop at Bebe?

Point and case, diet books outweigh ( no pun intended) any boooks out there on the shelves today. Baring health issues, a woman can be beautiful, wear couture, and just happened to have extra weight on her. Why should this be so controversial. Because of health issues? Would it be just as controversial sending out a thin woman who smokes? I am sure no one would say, “ohh that so unhealthy” but ” oh how sexy”…

6 of one half dozen of the other.

great article…