Are Sample Sizes to blame?

On Thursday, February 11th, as reported by www.jezebel.com, Zac Posen, Aerin Lauder, Vogue‘s Tonne Goodman, agency executive David Bonnouvrier, casting director James Scully, and model Doutzen Kroes sat around a table in Chelsea discussing models’ health and tiny sample sizes.

After reading this entire piece I was extremely frustrated by the lack of action that is being taken in the fashion industry. It seemed like everyone was pointing fingers but no one was offering a solution. I’m disgusted that the industry has lost it’s vision. These days the images we see are of beautiful “hangers’ who are trying so hard to maintain a prepubescent look in order to continue working as a model.

During the evenings Q & A portion, Anna Wintour asked the question “What can we do to help the problem”? The real answer? Nothing is being done right now.

The truth is that the models that you see on the runways are age 15 to 17 and are weighing as little as 110 pounds and sometimes even less. The measurements that are required for the tiny sample sizes are those of young little boys. The details are enough to make you cringe!!

The fashion industry does not include plus size models for many reasons some of which are sample sizes and because we are not their target audience. Plus size women are deemed to be unhealthy and not fashionable. Yet, I find it amazing that they are using models who are CLEARLY NOT healthy and unhealthy cannot be fashionable. You can’t be healthy when you can’t eat anything other than one yogurt a day, your hair is falling out or have to resort to drugs or working out 14 hours a day to maintain your “model weight”.

While the plus size industry has come a long way, we still have a long way to go. As we continue to move forward, we must speak and increase the volume in which we express ourselves. Everyone should be writing to the magazines, bloggers, designers and commenting on magazine blogs. They are listening! Glamour did not realize the “Lizzy” picture would be so huge until the women on their blog commented so strongly, it was then that it was taken to print. How many of you emailed the editors at V Magazine thanking them for the Size Issue?

So often we want change not realizing that without our voices and actions nothing will change. We all count. Every single one of us.

Don’t let another day pass you by without your voice being heard.

Read the entire article here.

About Editor-in-Chief, Madeline Jones

Always an activist and looking to bring plus size women into a fashion forward mentality, in 2006 she combined forces with friend and online magazine publisher, Valery Amador, to create PLUS Model Magazine, where they could respond to plus women's demand for fashionable clothing displayed prominently on appropriately sized models. Since then, Ms. Jones has quickly become the, 'Anna Wintour' of the plus size industry where she is frequently called upon for her expertise and insight; Appearances and interviews include ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, Entertainment Tonight, Coco Perez, Fox News, HuffingtonPost.com and 200+ other media sources.