The fashion world is in flux when it comes to the body image debate. On one side, you have insiders like Crystal Renn pushing hard to shift industry standards away from their shockingly thin state. On the other side, you have those who believe smaller sizes are what the people want.
Case in point: cutthroat PR maven Kelly Cutrone. The People's Revolution founder recently tore into unhealthy images the fashion industry currently projects... then proceeded to defend them. When The Fashion Spot asked her how she felt about clothing companies using extremely thin models to wear their clothes, Cutrone shifted the blame onto the consumers:
"Society has a hyper emphasis on thin and that trend comes from the consumers -- it does not come from the fashion industry. The fashion industry needs to make money, that's what we do. If people said, 'we want a 300 pound purple person,' the first industry to do it would be fashion. You look at the Dove campaign in Times Square -- it sticks out like a sore thumb. Those girls in the white T-shirts and underwear, next to Calvin Klein [and all the other fashion ads]. As a consumer, it doesn't make me want to buy Dove. I'm all for the real look, but as a consumer it doesn't make me want to buy clothes."
Sound controversial? Well, we know quite a few people who would disagree with Cutrone's statement -- namely, plus-size lingerie store owner Chrystal Bougon. In a recent interview, she told us that the demand for larger sizes is becoming increasingly lucrative, claiming retailers were "missing the boat" by not captializing on the "untapped" plus-size market. In addition to Chrystal's efforts, a new modeling agency did away with size labels altogether, and now puts both "straight" and "plus-size" models in the same category.
Whoever has it right, we think talking and recognizing the body image flaws in the fashion industry is worth noting. Which side of the argument are you on?
Would you still buy a bikini if one of these models was modeling it?
