Embracing the Mode Mission
- Author: curvy angela
- Filed under: Fashion Media
Jul 8,2007
For a few short years (1997-2001), we curvy girls had a lifestyle advocate in the guise of Mode Magazine. With the tagline “The New Shape In Fashion,” Mode presented plus-size fashion (sizes 12+) in the same way as Vogue,Glamour, Elle, etc. More than just fashion, Mode promoted a lifestlye, “The Curvy Revolution,” and encourged a reader to unleash her innner “Mode girl.”
This excerpt from the editor’s letter in the second issue of the magazine (Summer 1997) declares the Mode mission:
This is a love letter to the 62 million women out there size 12 and up…. Because a year ago we had an idea… and it was this: to change the way the world views the feminine shape, to take a new look at what is beautiful, courageous, and incredible about being a smart, all-there woman and to say yes–a huge yes–to style, to edge, to the right thing that works for all women.
Even with circulation of 600,000 and readership estimated at 3.5million, Mode ceased publication in December 2001 (http://www.freedom.com/company/archive_122801.html). The short-lived Grace magazine tried to take it’s place, but I’ve never gotten over the loss of Mode. So this site is my tribute to Mode, and my love letter to those same millions basically shunned by fashion media.
May we all embrace the curvy life.
Blogroll
Resources
Shopping
- About Curves:Plus Size Lingerie
- Alectra - Intimate Apparel
- b&lu
- Carmen Marc Valvo
- Curvation by Queen Latifah
- Hips & Curves: Plus Size Lingerie
- IGIGI
- Just For Curves
- Kiyonna:Sophisticated Style, Size 12+
- Pleasurable Desires
- QueenLathifah.com
- Size Appeal
- SVOBODA by Jessica Svoboda
- Too Fat For Fashion
- Torrid
- Voluptuart: Art & Gifts for Celebrating Your Body
ABOUT
The Mozaik Curves Project
Feeling great about our curves! Click above to learn more or to participate in the project.
3 Responses for "Embracing the Mode Mission"
I miss Mode too! There has not been an exclusively Plus Size Fashion Mag as good as Mode since then. Occasionally Bust Magazine will do a fashion layout including Plus size Models which is always exciting to see.
I miss MODE too. I just read a great interview with one of the magazine’s creators here:
http://www.judgmentofparis.com/mode/
It’s an extended discussion of all the things that made MODE great. The page has lots of scans from the magazine too.
Thanks for this great link. This is the most comprehensive interview I’ve ever seen about the rise and fall of Mode. Looking at the images really makes me miss Mode even more.
I just love this quote from Michele:
“[Mode] was a celebration. It was a celebration of you, and it was also… Because it was hard to get clothes. Sometimes I would say, “It’s a celebration of your body first,” and to get women to understand that no matter where you were, you were the best of you. It’s so hard, because if you can’t love yourself first, it’s very hard to… Well, it’s impossible to move from where you are.”
I want to inspire and be inspired to celebrate our bodies first, as a foundational step in moving forward to whatever we dream.
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