Fit to Lead
BY HEATHER REID
hen you think of
models, what comes
to mind?
Thin. Impossibly thin. Like the Family Guy joke where a wafer-thin Kate Moss keeps falling through the cracks in the floor, thin.
So when I read this headline in the New York Times: “The Mean Life of a ‘Midsize’ Model,” I was intrigued. What does Midsize mean?
It turns out that unlike Plus-size models, who are US women’s size 12 and above, Midsize models like Jill Kortleve, who is featured in the article, is around a size 10. By contrast, ‘Straight’ size, the fashion standard, is size 2 or smaller.
It also turns out that she’s a rarity in the fashion world. Where straight-sized and plus-sized models are doing just fine, Ms. Kortleve works consistently but also continually battles against the pressures of the industry that just doesn’t quite know where she fits.
I’ve noticed this trend.
When I scroll through retail clothing sites, it strikes me that the looks are glaringly homogenous. There is a little variety in skin tone. Still, the bodies I see are either shockingly thin, with collar and hipbones jutting out and not a spare ripple of flesh to be seen, or they are in the plus-size category on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Further, the women in these images are so young. I can’t picture myself wearing what they are wearing even if I love the item because they are 30 years younger than I am and 40 lbs lighter.
I know fashion and beauty are all about youth. My Instagram is packed with under-eye stickers and age reversing serums, and organic detox powders that will allow me to magically poop away unwanted weight.
I have no issues with pursuing any beauty regime that makes you feel good, from Botox to Ease-Z dry skin therapy, but when it comes to clothing size, why not show the styles on women who look like more of us? Or simply include a range of sizes, so nobody is left out?
Because the image of beauty is thin. So what does the idea of success look like?
W
Photo Credit Kelly Sikkema