Shameless Repost: Never thought I’d say this but…

Submitted by mir on August 27, 2009 - 8:26am

Shameless: For girls who get it

Props to Glamour magazine for recognizing a smart move, and going with it.

This September in an article titled What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body Glamour writer Akiba Solomon discusses what frontline workers in the fashion and beauty industry notice about women harshing on their bodies:

“Terms like chunky, huge and gross don’t belong in my store. It’s partly selfish: I don’t want to be influenced by their negativity. Besides, if someone came in and started beating up my customer, I would intervene. The same goes for verbal self-bashing.” - Gyasi Atkins, Saks Fifth Avenue sales associate

The article features this pic of plus-size (size 12) model Lizzi Miller.

Lizzie Miller fills us with joy and shows off her adorable belly. (Walter Chin (Glamour Magazine))

Positive response to both the article and the image has been unbelievable, reports the Glamour Blog, in their follow up profile of Lizzi M. While the reaction may be more positive then negative, of 678 comments posted at the time of this writing, more then a few attack the model for being “fat,” ignoring the rather obvious fact that at 5‘11 and a size 12 Lizzi is not obese.

I have to admit, despite the fact that “plus-size” is one of those terrible fashion misnomers designed to make normal people feel bad, I love the picture of Lizzie. I think it is beautiful, joyous, and does a great deal to save fashion from itself.

What do you think?

mir's blog

Comments

Submitted by Nav (not verified) on August 27, 2009 - 5:43pm. #

The Bitch Magazine backlash to this really annoyed me. It felt a bit like someone saying "congrats America on electing someone only *half* black. Sooo brave." Sure, in an ideal world, fashion magazines would use a much much wider variety of models. But it seemed petulant and unnecessarily bitter to chastise Glamour for a move that is so obviously a step in the right direction.

The other interesting thing to me was how effusively joyful the reaction to this was. It says so much about how desperate people are to see representations of 'people like them' in the public sphere.

Submitted by Christine (not verified) on October 21, 2009 - 11:50pm. #

OK. That's my belly. And I can't even begin to tell you how ugly I feel about it. Shameful, actually. I love that picture. Maybe one day I'll be able to smile like that...