Beauty Comes in all Shapes

Plus-size models buck thin trend in V magazine

‘Big’ news as avant-garde fashion publication releases February ‘Size’ issue
Big is beautiful

Curves ahead
Who says thin dominates the fashion industry? The “Size Issue” of V magazine features stunning plus-size models — like Crystal Renn — in sexy boysuits and barely-there outfits. Plus-size models buck thin trend in V magazine .. .More to love

The "Size Issue" intends to showcase high-fashion outfits on voluptuous bodies — a combination rarely found in women's magazines.

The models in V magazine appear in everything from bustiers and bodysuits to nothing but their own skin. A brand-new day dawns for full-size fashions .. .Thigh-high
After shooting the models for V, photographer Solve Sundsbo said, "I loved the opportunity to show that you can be beautiful and sexy outside the narrow interpretations that normally define us."

Model Tara Lynn wears a tight top by Armani Jeans. Fellow plus-size model Crystal Renn, whose dimensions are 36-31-41, also participated in the spread. "I'd like to see everyone take on the attitude that there are women of all different shapes and sizes as 'the beauty ideal,' and that it's not one type or another," Renn said. "There are women who are naturally a size 2 — you can't forget them, and that's discrimination the other way."


Model Michelle Olson wears a corset and briefs by Dolce & Gabbana. V magazine hopes their photo spread will prove big is bigger than ever: "These bombshells of plus-size are proving that there's plenty of room in the fashion world for women who look like ... women." German mag swaps thin models for real women .

V magazine creative director Stephen Gan says he was inspired by actress Gabourey Sidibe — who weighs nearly 250 pounds — after seeing her in the "Precious" trailer. The magazine features Sidibe and size zero actress Dakota Fanning on its two contrasting covers.
TODAYshow.com contributor

The stick-skinny, celery-and-cigarettes crowd of female models will likely never go out of fashion — but now their more substantial sisterhood is giving them a run for their money.

Glamour magazine fired the first shot last year when it featured a photo of plus-size model Lizzie Miller flashing a broad smile while letting her belly show. Now V magazine has upped the ante with the release of its “Size” issue this week — featuring models whose dress sizes hit double digits sporting skimpy bathing suits, hip-hugging jeans and, in some cases, nothing at all.

“I loved the opportunity to show that you can be beautiful and sexy outside the narrow interpretations that normally define us,” said photographer Solve Sundsbo, who snapped the models for V.

Big and small
V magazine is known for pushing the envelope on fashion journalism; it famously pictured pop star Lady Gaga topless in a photo spread last year. And now it has moved the debate of size-equals-beauty even more to the forefront with two competing covers of its new issue. One cover features 250-pound “Precious” film star Gabourey Sidibe, while the other cover features 100-pound, size-0 actress Dakota Fanning.

In addition, the current issue features a pictorial of traditionally svelte model Jacquelyn Jablonski posing in exactly the same fashions as plus-size model Crystal Renn.

Renn, of course, has become an icon to bigger women everywhere. The curvy size-12 model recounted her tale of trying to fit in with the size-0 modeling crowd in her memoir “Hungry,” released last year.

And while V seemingly sets up big-versus-small as some kind of competition, Renn has said she’s not out to topple the thin models from their traditional throne of dominance in the fashion industry.

“I’d like to see everyone take on the attitude that there are women of all different shapes and sizes as ‘the beauty ideal,’ and that it’s not one type or another,” Renn told The Associated Press.

“There are women who are naturally a size 2 — you can’t forget them, and that’s discrimination the other way,” Renn added. “All women bring something different to the table, and we have to appreciate them all.”

Eye of the beholder?
Still, V’s creative director Stephen Gan says he’s more in tune than ever to what bigger models can offer. He admits he was caught up in the smaller-is-better thinking until he met with Renn during New York City’s Fashion Week last fall.

“When someone as gorgeous as she is was talking about how her agent would keep telling her to lose weight … and she ended up nearly dying,” Gan was moved to re-examine his own mind-set, he told the New York Post.

The alternate cover of V features 250-pound “Precious” film star Gabourey Sidibe, who has made the magazine’s creative director, Stephen Gan, re-examine his ideas about beauty.But what sealed the deal for Ren was seeing the movie trailer for “Precious” last year and its zaftig star Sidibe. “I don’t want to sound like a fashion person … but for the last three months I have been obsessed with bigger girls!” he told the Post.

The average U.S. woman is considered to be a size 14, and some 41 percent of them are a larger size. While some critics have panned V’s plus-size model shoot, claiming it is in bad taste and promotes unhealthy living, Gan says he is of a mind to say, “Can’t we all just get along?”

“In this world, when a girl’s called ‘beautiful,’ sometimes my reaction to that is: In what terms? In fashion terms? Beauty pageant terms? Real people terms? I wish I could just say, ‘She’s beautiful,’ and leave it at that,” Gan told the Post.
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