by Carol Nissenbaum

Created on: October 16, 2008

Oy, is this a hot button for me! I was getting ready to log off and go to sleep when this debate popped up. I just had to add my two cents!

First, as I believe in full disclosure, let me start by saying I am a plus-size woman myself, although certainly no model! I receive approximately 12,000 catalogs a week from the top plus-size retailers, e.g., Roaman's, Lane Bryant, Woman Within, etc. Don't even get me STARTED on Woman Within - how dare they call their company that? Does it not imply that there is something lacking with the woman on the outside? Maybe not all plus-size women have a skinny woman within just waiting to bust out. But, I digress.

Anyway, the answer is YES, YES, YES, a thousand times yes! First, those skinny models have enough designers to model for. Give some work to those who don't look malnourished. It is totally unrealistic to put plus-size clothing on anorexic models who haven't had a good meal in years. When I get that item home, I am going to be totally disappointed by how it fits me (or doesn't, more likely!) Occasionally I have received catalogs (I believe from Fashion Bug, not sure) where the models were bona fide plus-size gals like me! I have to say, I am momentarily taken aback when I see a big girl, because it is such a drastic comparison to the toothpicks I usually see. However, once the shock passes I think to myself, "Ah, someone who knows her way around a sandwich!" It makes me happy to see a larger-size woman modeling larger-size clothes.

I often wonder how the catalog photographers even get the clothes to look halfway decent on the waifs (oops, meant models) that they usually use. I imagine them from the back, probably all clipped, pinned, and taped to death but all smiley and pretty in the front. Even the smallest sizes these plus-size retailers make is nowhere close to a size 0 or 2 model. I love how on America's Next Top Model, my favorite guilty-pleasure show, last cycle's winner was a "plus-size" - give me a break, she's a size 10! How can that be a plus size? That is a nice, healthy NORMAL size, and most women in America wear larger than that! What kind of role models are we giving our daughters? Telling them that a size 10 is a plus size and that a 2 or even a 0 is the size they should be? We're going to have a whole new generation of anorexic and bulimic kids!

To me, if the product is plus-size clothing, then the models should be plus-size. Would you have women modeling men's clothes? Of course not. Humans do not model clothes for dogs, either. I think you get my point - the item for sale is best represented by a person who can actually wear the darn thing!

So, send all the emaciated little models out to eat some carbs, and give the plus-size gals a chance to shine. Then, when we look at the catalogs specifically geared toward us, we can see how someone weighs more than 98 lbs. actually looks in the clothes! This makes it easier for us to buy clothes, which is already quite a hardship. I love how so many of the plus-size clothing manufacturers make clothes for us with jungle prints - usually giraffes and elephants. Um, I'm ALREADY large, why would I wear a picture of a huge elephant? I find that so offensive. You don't see too many size 2's or 0's with big ol' elephants on them, do you? That's because there's not enough surface area! Eva Longoria could maybe fit one tusk. Give me intelligent, well-made clothes made to camouflage my flaws (in my case it is my stomach). And show them to me on a model who eats, please, so I don't have to apologize for my size any more than I already do!

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