I had time to finally sit down last night with one of my favorite colleagues, Barbara Berman, from the Professional Studies Program at Fashion Institute of Technology here in NYC. I hadn’t seen her since my days of CurveStyle runway shows and we talked about Stacie Nipps and how much we still miss and love her. Her memory is still with us as we do our fashion projects and shows. Stacie’s love and fashion and the business of style was infectious and she was a huge supporter of mine and a tremendous positive spirit in my life. Barbara has since taken over the backstage of fashion week with her BB’s Backstage brigade. She had lots of great stories to tell from this years fall follies. Barbara organizes all the dressers and all the helpers backstage during fashion week at Bryant Park and she really has the market “sewn” up on all things “behind the seams” of all the runway shows. (Allright, allright can I make any more garment references in one sentence?) As a full figured model back in the day, I was always excluded from fashion week. There simply were no designers who featured plus-size models on the runway. It caused me a lot of remorse. Years later, I was so happy that Lane Bryant had their lingerie shows for four or five years straight in the late 90′s and early 00′s which were splashy displays of opulence and curves done by the leader in the retail specialty boutique – Lane Bryant. We held our own with those events and had our share of celebrities and supporters appear in the front row each season. Steve Tyler, Anna Nicole and all her bawdy bodaciousness, Roseanne Barr, Camryn Manheim, all the celebs came out to strut their stuff. But never in Bryant Park. I always said, “We only get to WEAR tents, we don’t get to walk under them!” Hadn’t heard that one?? It was something I said to Fern Mallis, President of IMG, who didn’t appreciate my truthful sarcasm and told me she would “appreciate if I didn’t say anything derogatory about her choice to not include plus sizes during Fashion Week.” How could I not?
You can imagine how pleased I was to hear that Barbara, ever the plus size advocate, had helped out the plus size models backstage who were invited to walk this year and made them feel like they belonged. QVC, who else, finally was the one to break through. QVC was in Fashion Week and several of their designers do size 2-22 and in that respect they insisted on have several double digit divas strut their stuff down the catwalk. The thing is, because there were only four of them, there was really no changing accomodation made for the fuller femmes. They were stuck behind a few trash cans and a dumpster with a table cloth and Barbara said, “Oh no, no no!” She proceeded to construct a little changing area with duct tape and cloth so that they had privacy and room and didn’t feel like second class citizens from runway rejects anonymous. Oh the humility! Barbara made them feel welcome and in her making this makeshift little area, she erected a shrine of sorts, an homage to the passage into the tents for the plussies! And in so doing Barbara did it for all of us. I thanked her profusely, we had such a delightful evening, that at night’s end the waiter picked up the vibe and sent us over a bottle of champagne. So there we were, toasting everything we had discussed and then some. And toasted the fact that Barbara was able to extend her kindness and warm spirit to hopefully the first of many invites from designers who recognize that we represent beauty in all sizes, all certainly a big chunk o’ change for the designers who are willing to make the clothing in sizes that not only fit missy but women’s fuller figures. Hooray! So what if it was QVC. It had to be something like middle America to make the dollars and sense statement anyway! And on that note: Let’s just hope the crowd gave the models a cheer when they saw them from the rear!!! You gotta know we were representin’
About Catherine Schuller
CATHERINE SCHULLER’s status is legendary as she is considered one of the pioneers of the full figured fashion industry. She became a Ford Model in the 80’s when the industry was still forming and is a trained film and theatre actress who also became a standup comedienne when she was told at 5’10” and 175 pounds that she was “too heavy” for the acting world. She sought revenge in humor and created and performed her own sketch comedy cabaret act, “The Nerve!” That phrase became her mantra and she became an advocate for “being yourself” and having the confidence and style to put yourself out there no matter what After years of acting and modeling she combined standup with fashion and commentated in-store fashion shows at major retail chains for years, then segued into becoming a certified professional image consultant with AICI (Association of Image Consultants International) specializing in the plus size woman. She was invited to become an editor of the “Vogue-executed”, wildly successful MODE magazine in 1997, a position she held for the full four years of the magazine’s existence, which then led to her becoming spokesperson for retail brands such as Talbot’s Woman, Just My Size, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Saks, Filene’s, Macy’s, The Bon Ton stores’ Boston Store and Carson Pirie Scott, Charming Shoppes’ Lane Bryant, Catherine’s and Figure Magazine. Her highly acclaimed how to modeling book “The Ultimate Plus-Size Modeling Guide” was self published and turned her into the go-to person for advice on model development. After Mode’s closing due to 9/11, she started another enterprise in March 2002 in New York featuring a high end runway show in New York featuring top plus designers called CurveStyle: Reshaping Fashion devoted to promotional and marketing efforts celebrating and elevating the “full figured woman to the status of fashion icon in her own right.” She has appeared on QVC with her own line of clothing “Shape Shopping with Catherine Schuller,” debuting her line of figure-flattering apparel in sizes 2-22. A frequently quoted expert, she has appeared in articles for the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Orlando Sentinel, St.Louis Post Dispatch, The Daily News, Times Picayune, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Chicago’s Windy City, San Francisco Chronicle, US Weekly, Good Housekeeping and on television she has appeared many times on The View, The Early Show, The Today Show in her hometown of New York as well as news programs where she is a frequent guest on Neal Cavuto’s Your World, Oxygen Channel and local morning shows across America. She was assistant style advisor to Wynonna Judd for USA Network’s Nashville Star where she introduced Richard Metzger to Wynonna and he designed her looks for the TV show and tour. She executive produced two full length films with Constantine Valhouli. The first, “Curve,” a documentary about the full figured modeling industry featured interviews with plus size models and luminaries in the field from the retail, media, modeling agency, design world all bearing their souls to the scrutiny of the lens where the film captured the honesty and ambivalence about the world of fashion and the fuller figures. Her next feature entitled “Sex, Lies and Superheroes” was inspired by the death of her first husband, Mark Gruenwald, Senior Executive Editor of Marvel Comics and writer of Captain America and other titles. She is the Image and Style Advisor for Divabetic, a charity started in honor of Luther Vandross to empower women living with, at risk of or affected by the epidemic of diabetes and teaches them to have a ‘diva’ attitude about their diabetes. She works closely with Luther’s personal assistant of fourteen years, Max Szadek, and is part of its creative core team, traveling around to major United States cities with a program entitled Makeover Your Diabetes sponsored by Novo Nordisk which targets women living with, affected by, or at risk of diabetes - an epidemic now affecting 23 million Americans, 80% of whom are plus size women. She teaches the course on special sizes at Fashion Institute of Technology in their Image Program currently. Her latest project is a coffee table book entitled Such a Pretty Face about the plus size models and their interesting career paths. She has been awarded the Icon of the Industry from Full Figured Fashion Week which she will be given in June of 2011.
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I have worked backstage with BB team for a few years now and everyone she works with loves her. I was apart of the team this year and a few of the other plus size volonteers were all abuzz about hearing about OUR models in the tents. Barbara is a great woman that always make sure that the shows run smoothly and that the models are taken care of so I know she an above and beyond for them.
We talked about when will the day come of plus designers under the tents. It looks like that day is here. Next season lets see a all size designer under the tents.