Guinness is better than a size two.

26Sep09

This was too good to pass up.

Normally, I am loathe to anything related to fashion, clothes or trends not involving music, art or design. My biggest ire, however, is reserved for the fashion world. And because I have a tendency to flout standards that are illogical to me, I’ve resented the obsession of many women to look or behave a certain way, whether it is to behave like a “lady” or to wear a certain size.

But I can only hold these firm beliefs now, at 33 years of age, and after all the life experiences and crystallizing moments. I’m an adult. It wasn’t so easy as a young girl, when it seemed that only the right clothes, the right boyfriend (read: any boyfriend), or the right measurements could make you feel pretty.

When all your self-worth comes externally, you become quite a confused mess internally.

I ultimately decided, earlier than other girls, to stop giving a flip about the public’s perception of me. Maybe that attitude began as an insecure self-defense mechanism, but it did allow me to finally move forward enough to begin appreciating myself as is. To understand what feels most natural to me.

I’ve never purchased an issue of Vogue, Elle or Cosmo because I would much rather buy music instead. The thought of shopping, dancing, or getting “dressed up” for a night has never appealed to me when I know I can work on a painting or run around in cleats outside instead. I may never shop at Guess or Abercrombie & Fitch because those funds are better spent on traveling to new places instead.

And I may never be a size 2 because I simply love steak, potatoes and Guinness too much.

…

This article by the Guardian focuses on the lovely Crystal Renn, a successful “plus-size” model, and her amazing story about self-image, self-preservation, and self-discovery. All by the age of 23.

If Renn had remained as thin as many of her fellow models, we would never have met. She would not be one of the world’s most successful models. She might, by her own admission, not even be alive. Now she’s the best-known and best-paid “plus size” model in the business, featured in magazines like American Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, sought after by photographers such as Steven Meisel and Patrick Demarchelier. She’s famous for her Rubenesque curves, her Moll Flanders bosom. Renn won’t tell me how much she earns – “It would be kind of sick” – but I imagine that it must be in seven figures. She’s modelled in the catwalk shows of designers like Jean Paul Gaultier (admittedly, the majority of designers, still obsessed with skin and bone, would most likely balk at using her) and fronts an advertising campaign for Evans. She weighs, she says, around 12 stone. She’s a British size 14 (on occasion she’s gone up to a British size 18). In the real world she’d be pretty average. In the screwy weight-obsessed modelling industry, she really is the elephant in the room.

Qualms are made about whether she should be called “plus-size” but that kind of talk misses the boat. As Renn points out in the article later, the term should simply be ‘model’. I can’t imagine a more appropriate term. Because a ‘model’ should be attainable, no?

I’ve brushed off fashion articles before, but if there was ever one that mattered, I would say this one is it.

A younger – anorexic – Crystal Renn

A younger – anorexic – Crystal Renn

 

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Filed under: Celebrity, Health, Inspiration, Misc., Musings, News, Opinion, Pop Culture, Random, Rants, Writing   |  1 Comment
Tags: anorexic models, Crystal Renn, eating disorders, fashion, modeling industry, Musings, plus-size model, self-image, self-worth, Society, Writing