Terry Richardson has teamed up with V Magazine and models Jacquelen Jablonski and Crystal Renn, both of Ford NY to bring us his newest editorial, "One Size Fits All". At first glance readers may not even realize, but Crystal Renn, showed here on the right, is on the Ford + board. Plus sized for those of you slow on the uptake...We all know that there has been a long standing debate regarding the unhealthy weights of models and the unrealistic body image issues they give the average women and girls. I like to stay on the fence with this one- on one hand, as a model, only once was I asked to shave inches from my already frail frame; I'll keep my own measurements to myself, but let's just say I fall almost 9 points below a healthy BMI score. (take it or leave it- it's all metabolism) Anyway... I believe the situation I had been in at the time to be an extreme case. Yes, agencies like models thin, and yes, there have been situations, I am sure, where girls have been asked to lose unhealthy amounts of weight, and I think this is wrong. However, working more recently as a stylist and fashion consultant, I will say that it is easier, hate me if you must, to dress a tall, thin girl. You can't go wrong with the body type- almost everything looks good on them.
Before you begin throwing bricks through my window, I must say, that in this editorial by the amazing Mr. Richardson, Renn, the plus sized model, looks hotter than Jablonski. I couldn't figure it out, and then realized- Renn looks like a woman, and Jablonski looks like a little girl. Which brings me to what I believe to be the bigger issue on self esteems throughout the fashion industry, which is ageism, but we'll get to that in another post.
According to Ford's website, Crystal Renn stands at 5'9" and is a 38" 30" 42", wearing a size 12, which is much closer to the average American woman in size, who wears a 14. Jaquelyn Jablonski stands at 5'9" and is a 32" 24.5" 34.5" wearing a size 4, which is actually LARGER than the average fashion model, who would wear a size 0/2, and have a waist measurement of no larger than 24".
In my opinion, Richardson is trying to show you that big or small, it really makes no difference when you have a good model. I think he's right, and I believe the heavier girl here to be the standout star. But is this a realistic portrayal for the average American public? Probably not. While Jablonski is clearly beautiful, and bigger than the typical fashion model, I'd hardly call her plus size.
See more of "One Size Fits All" on models.com or in V Magazine's Size Issue on newsstands everywhere January 14, 2009.
<3
