Fat Talk! Plus size fashion promotes obesity? Whatever!

Hi! I’m Natalie and I am obese. I am fat. I am also female. Gemini. A Daughter, Sister, Auntie. I am human. I am pretty healthy. A lot healthier then a lot of people. I am human & I deserve fashion. I have the same right as any other woman, be it a size 4, 12, 32, to have clothes that are made well and are fashionable.

Gorgeous plus size ladies at the Gisela Ramirez Encore performance.

The Australian‘s fashion editor, Damian Woolnough wrote on Wedneday

The models were gorgeous, the clothes were unremarkable and the message about health was dangerous. Professional models, including plus-size pin-up Robyn Lawley, strutted and pouted alongside 10 winners of a competition run by Myer and The Australian Women’s Weekly. Most of the models looked healthy but some looked obese. While most fashion festivals ban models for being too skinny, why is it OK to see fat women on the runway? {Full article HERE}

Now, I know in my head, I often think to myself the whole BMI, obesity weight range is a bunch of bullshit. I also know, when I look at a woman, I don’t tend to look at them as a size. Honestly, with apperance, I take in how a person is clothed. I don’t think ‘holy shit, she’s fat’ or ‘wow, she’s so bloody skinny’. My brain doesn’t work like that. If i’m walking down the street and ‘judging a book by it’s cover’, my head is going through ‘well, I like her top, but I wouldn’t pair have worn that skirt with it’. Though I never let how someone looks, be it size, gender, ethnicity or clothing style, distract me from learning who the person behind all of that is.

Models from the Myer BiB show. Photos by Katie Parks.

The models used for Tuesdays Big is Beautiful show was a mixture of professional plus size models and a range of everyday ladies who won a competition to walk the catwalk. Everyday Australian woman! I believe the largest was a size 22. Sure, ‘officially’ that could mean one or two of those ladies are classified as ‘obese’, but so what? I’m sure there are a fair few models out there that would be classified as ‘underweight’ but there is in no way as much hoo-ha out there about THAT promoting negative imaging!

I also know a lot of people talk about the size of ‘plus size models’. Em wrote a great post titled ‘Pin her or Pad her’. Most clothing companies use models who are in the smallest side range of plus size, adding to that, to be any kind of model, first off you must be 5’8 or taller. So what is considered plus size in the modelling world, a size 14, is not generally the body image of an everyday woman within the same weight range.

Images from Vogue. Elle & Robyn’s Facebook.

Take Robyn Lawley for example. A gorgeous Australian Plus Size Model (She was born in a suburb around 10 minutes from where I live!). In fact, she is the first plus size model to be used in Vogue Australia. Her stats, Size 12. 6ft. 36D-32-42. That is a plus size in the modeling world. No doubt, she is gorgeous, and larger then most models, but her body, well, it looks nothing like mine.

Clothing differences between sizes.

Retailers will never win with the on going debate of ‘what size models to use in campaigns’. Apparently smaller models show off the clothes better, they help ‘sell’ the product. While a lot of plus size woman want size 22-28 sized models, to show off what the clothes look like on their figures. I have to say, clothing can look so much different from size to size. I personally love seeing a larger lady in advertising, I can look at it and think ‘Wow! That is what I would look like!’. That being said, a company can’t shoot a catalogue featuring all sizes, or all shapes. Personally, that is why I LOVE blogs. I’ve gone and bought multiple dresses online after seeing a blogger wear it, when originally I didn’t like the look at all of the image on the site.

Larger ladies modelling clothes! Tess rocks a Domino Dollhouse dress & Gisela dons her own designs.

NO! Using plus size models on the catwalk isn’t promoting obesity.
YES! Plus size women can be healthy! We can be happy, sexy and fashionable too!

We come in all shapes and sizes, and we are all beautiful in our own way. No one has the right to tell us otherwise!