Sunday, January 15, 2012

9683: Dove Real Beauty Redux…?


From The New York Daily News…

Plus Model magazine shows beautiful, naked women displaying their ample curves

Pictures show the heavier models with the skinny women usually favored by fashion magazines

By Nina Mandell / New York Daily News

One New York magazine editor is looking to help fashion gain a little weight.

PLUS Model Magazine, a virtual publication aimed at larger ladies, is making waves with a provocative photo spread.

The eye-popping shots show nude plus-sized models hugging runway models in this month’s issue. The point: Decrying the shrinking size of the women who work in the modeling industry.

Models have shrunk to 23% smaller than the average American woman. The disparity was 8% two decades ago, the mag said.

Plus-sized models are also getting tinier. Madeline Figueroa-Jones, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, said the fashion industry had leaned toward plus-sized models wearing a size 6, making it impossible for normal-sized women to pick the right outfit.

“This is not a health issue, this is about fashion,” said Figueroa-Jones, a former plus-sized model who lives in Battery Park.

Major magazines rejected the photo concept, Figueroa-Jones said, but Katya Zharkova and photographer Victoria Janashvili kept pushing to find a home for the images.

“They said we love them, but we can’t run them,” the edgy editor said.

The series seems to have hit a nerve. “We’ve gotten some negative comments like we’re advocating eating disorders, it looks like porn, but the majority of comments – even the ones we got this morning from Norway, Australia, Malaysia, husbands and even teens – are overwhelmingly positive,” she said.

Plus-sized women across the country have flocked to the magazine’s Facebook page to cheer for the campaign.

“I love what you are doing for our community!!” one fan wrote. “Its about time that the fashion world sees what opportunities they are missing!”



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