I love Project Runway, and in fine Project Runway fashion, this week’s challenge of styling drag queens is supposed to be the “difficult” body challenge of the season. In the past, this challenge included styling family members of the designers, thus dealing with “real” bodies, and designing for women who had lost a lot of weight.

In past episodes, I was always annoyed with the way the designers whined about having to deal with big, female bodies. You’re fashion designers, for God’s sake! Design! You can make a dress out of corn husks but you can’t make a big girl look good?

So, this week you’ve got a runway full of big girls, and I didn’t hear one whiny complaint about being stuck with the big body. They talk about being “way out of my comfort zone,” but no one is being a whiny baby (as I’ve seen in the past). Of course, Korto, the designer who is most comfortable with size diversity, was responsible for the biggest body, so she didn’t act like styling “Sweetie” was the end of the world. And, she got raves from the judges on the design.

So, it’s easier for designers to style for “faux” big girls than it is for them to style for “real” big girls. I remain baffled.

I love fashion, but I hate fashion magazines. Studies have shown that the pictures in fashion magazines have a more negative impact on our body image and self-esteem than any other images. That being said, I do read some fashion mags (Figure Magazine just isn’t broad enough for me). One mainstream magazine that I subscribe to is Glamour. I noticed about a year ago that Glamour was making an effort to be more inclusive (in comparison with others) in portraying plus sizes. What that translates to is two or three mentions of plus-size clothes. Their “Dress Your Body” segment always includes a plus size model, and this month they address fashionable plus-size labels. It’s not enough, but it’s something.

That being said, I read one of the most amazing tributes to the female form in this month’s (June 2008) issue of Glamour, in the article “What Keeps a Guy Hooked on You For Life.” This is one of those male-perspective articles on what men love about their women. This article is not posted at Glamour.com, so I’m going to post the highlights of one man’s tribute to his wife’s hips–From: “Her Hips,” by Will Robinson, 29, in love for 15 years.

… But if you asked me what I couldn’t live without, what I need above all else, what I’ve worshipped since the very first day we met, I would tell you with a smile: her hips.

Round and sensual, those hips are what transform my wife from simply beautiful to incredibly sexy. They take a hard turn from her waist and then softly curve down to her thighs, a perfect combination of forcefulness and femininity….

… I wish I could convince her that though I’ll love her forever no matter what shape she’s in, having those extra-voluptuous hips to grab onto makes life together all the sweeter.

That may be the hottest thing I’ve ever read. Female hips as the “perfect combination of forcefulness and femininity”–that is a powerful testimony.

There are many beautiful, sexy plus-size women; however, if we never see ourselves reflected in the mirror of media as sexy, we begin to feel invisible. This is the ongoing dilema for the curvy girl: to be at once a visual spectacle, told she’s “too large” thus “too visible,” yet to simultaneously feel invisible in the domain of beauty and sexuality.

The F-Word.org has a fabulous, in-depth interview with grad student/photographer Kristin “Lou” Herout who replicated high-fashion magazine ads with “real” women as part of a study of the way the image of the ideal woman has changed in modern times–”he women progressively changed from large boned, round-faced, beautiful women to bone-protruding, thin women.

I’ve included an excerpt here regarding the treatment of plus-size women in media and advertising that for many years caused me much distress–the portrayal of larger women as anything BUT sexy:

It is extremely rare for any plus-size woman to be seen as a sexual being unless it is being portrayed as a joke. As stated in my paper, there is a “Wingman Training Manual” that is published by Maxim magazine that tells men how to keep their buddies from hooking up with a big woman when he gets drunk.

In my scholarly paper, I discuss the phenomenon of the plus-size bride; the bridal industry must represent plus-size women in some ads because the plus-size woman accounts for a large chunk of the market, but in an ad, the plus-size woman is treated very differently than her thinner counterpart. She is given a simpler dress, simpler background and loses the sexy mysteriousness that is common in haute-couture models. The plus-size girl wears a huge toothy smile, therefore there are different expectations for a woman of larger stature compared to a thinner model.

I think that campaigns such as the “Dove True Beauty Campaign” are commonly more hurtful than helpful. If this campaign, women are shown as being proud of who they are, great! But these women are average-size women; plus-size women are left out in the cold in this campaign. Also, these women still aren’t given the same attention as thin women: they aren’t shown as really sexy, they’re shown as being confident, despite their curves. They should be presented as being beautiful, sexy and proud, just as thin models are. Otherwise we are still making an exception for average-size women, instead of making them the norm.

Clinton Kelly (cohost of TLC’s What Not to Wear) is Macy’s ambassador of Special Sizes–Plus and Petite. Clinton was in Atlanta today at Macy’s Lenox Square to host a fashion show featuring Spring trends as available in Macy’s Plus Size department. I used the opportunity to Twitter. (If you aren’t familiar with Twitter, it’s a type of IM/blog. You can see my Twitter text in the far right sidebar.)

There were several hundred curvy women in the audience, all anxious to see Clinton Kelly and his suggestions for Spring. He hit the stage like a rock star–his presence and energy were impressive. He spoke frankly and honestly about What Not to Wear and about the state of plus size fashion. Here are a few highlights of his presentation. I’ll save my take on the clothes for another post.

Behind the Scenes at What Not to Wear

“Looking good is not easy.”

1. It takes one hour of filming to produce one minute of the show. He and Stacy usually spend 30 minutes per mannequin just explaining the rules.
2. The featured contributor spends 2 full days trying on clothes. S/he will try on hundreds of garments to get 7 outfits. Sheer volume creates successful outfits.
3. Every woman gets a bra fitting. Clinton’s suggestion: if you have maintained your weight, a bra fitting once every 5 years should suffice; however, for every 5 pounds gained or lost, a new bra may be needed.
4. The secret of the participants’ success? shapewear and tailoring.
5. Regarding tailoring–no one can expect clothes to fit off the rack. And (painfully for most of us), you may need to go up a size to fit your largest part and have the rest of the garment downsized. (And though I know size is arbitrary and should mean nothing–it does.)

Fashion

1. Color, texture, pattern, shine–try to combine these in every outfit, which includes accessories and shoes.
2. Any given season there are numerous trends–there are currently 20 trends in fashion right not. If you want to follow trends, choose one (or a few) and pair them with classics.
3. Jacket tailoring tip: if you have broad shoulders, have the sleeves of jackets narrowed from the elbows to the wrists to create a sleeker look.
4. Clinton described plus sizes as “marginalized” and said directly, “If you are on the ends of marginalized sizes, your SOL, if you know what that means.” [Yes, Clinton, we do.]

Philosophy

Clinton shared his own experience as feeling like a gawky teen–tall and skinny. He became interested in clothes because “clothes are the great equalizer.” He encouraged the audience: “quit comparing yourself to other people,” because, “you are perfect in your imperfections.” Lovely sentiment that is good for everyone.

Oh, Gabriel Olds, where art thou? Gabriel has a great article in the March 2008 issue of Glamour Magazine. He writes:

But as much as we lust after images of hyper-real beauty in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or even in the apartments or cubicles next door, we don’t quite know how to react when those unreal bodies actually belong to the woman in our lives.

Gabriel found it very difficult to maintain relationships with women who had had plastic surgery. His reasons why and his final conclusions are quite interesting.

The article is available online by clicking here.

Love Your Body Month Tip #9:

Look at images of real women.

Not only are the majority of the images that we see in the media photoshopped beyond recognition, the women in these images represent a very rare body type. Our eye becomes accustomed to just one look–tall, skinny, smooth, and shiny. And if that is not your body type, it is easy to become convinced that your body is flawed and unappealing.

So, where do we find images of “real” women? A great place to start is the Lifetime Television show “How to Look Good Naked” (Fridays 9 & 9:30pm, Saturdays 11 & 11:30 pm, or watch full episodes online). Women of all shapes and sizes strip down to bra and panties, and look awesome while doing it. Never before on television have I seen such a wide variety of female body types placed side-by-side and treated in such a positive manner. (Of course, they feature a commercial at the beginning of this clip with a tall, skinny, smooth, and please note, shiny woman.)

Plus Model Magazine (online) and Figure Magazine (print) feature women anywhere from size 10-18 (Yes, Virginia, size 10 is plus-size in the fantastical world of modeling). For some curvier models, check out the girls on B&Lu.com. There are other sources as well; check our links for many more.

It is a slow process, but we can re-train our eye to accept a broader, more inclusive definition of a beautiful body.

Check back tomorrow for Tip #10.

If you saw the show, let me know what you think. I was moved to tears by the journey to self-acceptance experienced by the first woman featured on the show.

If you haven’t seen the show, look for it on the Lifetime channel. It is replaying throughout the week. Or, if you don’t have Lifetime (or you just can’t wait), you can see the entire episode online at LifetimeTV.com. The show website has some interesting features–click here to view these. I particularly like the feature Where Do I Fit In? featuring the full spectrum of beautiful body types.

Check out my previous post for more on the program and for tips on how to feel good naked.

This is my New Year’s wish to everyone, and I’d like to thank Lifetime Television for helping make this wish come true. On Friday, January 4, (9pm ET), Lifetime premiers the new makeover show How To Look Good Naked.

The entire first episode of the series is available on the Lifetime website (click here for the link). I enjoyed the episode, but I was particularly impressed by the abundance of nearly-naked curvy girls on the show. Here’s a great opportunity to see “real” female bodies portrayed in a positive way on television.

The show is the American version of a successful UK show of the same title. The BBC version of the show has an extensive site, with lots of great curvy women and their stories. I love the article “The Six Stages of How to Look Good Naked.”

So, while the list refers to looking good naked, I say: be good to yourself this year, love who you are, and feel good naked!

The Six Stages of How To Look Good Naked

Stage 1: Face Your Fears
Take your clothes off in front of a mirror and have a long hard look at yourself
For many of our ladies, taking their clothes off in front of anyone had became a massive ordeal. Stripping off in front of a mirror and taking a good hard look at yourself in the first step to facing your fears and building up your confidence.

Stage 2: Change Your Self-Perception
You’re not as big as you think you are
The media bombard us all with unrealistic airbrushed images of women every day. These images of the stick thin, surgically enhanced women aren’t very realistic but these images portray women as beautiful and successful so it’s hard for normal women not to want to be like them. However, most normal women do not look like them so these pictures enforce feelings of negativity and encourage low self esteem.

So, the second stage of looking good naked is to start waking up to the way the media works and stop comparing these images to the way you look. Wake up to the fact that you actually look pretty OK, that you aren’t as big as you think you are AND look at all the women around you – I bet most of them are the same as you.

Stage 3: See Yourself As Others See You
Learn to take compliments and focus on the positive rather than the negative
The third stage is to start focusing on the positive rather than the negative aspects of your body. Do not dismiss compliments. Hold on to all the nice things people say and ignore anything negative that might come your way.

Stage 4: Work Your Body
Wear clothes that make you look and feel good
Your clothes can have a big impact on the way you feel about yourself. Wearing clothes that flatter your shape and emphasize the best bits of your body is the best way to feel and look good. Underwear is also key. Old grey underwear can only make you feel old and grey. Structured underwear will give you more shape with your clothes on. Sexy underwear will give you a boost when your clothes have to come off.

Stage 5: Respect Yourself
Look after yourself
Your lifestyle does matter and it does effect the way your look and feel about yourself. A good healthy lifestyle will pay dividends. You will feel better but the pay off is that you will look better too.

Stage 6: Beauty Cheats
Looking good naked
What ever your size and shape feeling confident is key to looking good – whether your clothes are on or off. So now you are feeling on top of the world it’s time to start taking advantage of all the beauty treatments and products out there. Follow these rules on a weekly basis and we guarantee you will look good in the buff:

So says Stacey London, in What Not To Wear, “Triple Thread.” The show features triplet sisters in need of style makeovers. As Stacey and Clinton watch the footage of these sisters discouraged and broken-down by the fit of clothes, Stacey declares:

“When will women learn to quit blaming their bodies and realize that the problem is in how the clothes are made? Clothes are like trains—if they don’t stop at your station, they’re not your train.”

Amen, Stacey ! Gloria Steinem put it yet another way;

“If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?”

Our bodies aren’t the problem. Clothing manufacturers should be altering clothes to fit women’s bodies rather than women altering their bodies to fit clothes. However, the fashion industry doesn’t seem to care at all about fit and size as it relates to real women. There no such thing as a standard size, sizes vary within the same clothing line, and there is little allowance for shape and proportion differences.

This sad fact of modern fashion is the reason why the women featured on What Not To Wear, regardless of size, often find themselves frustrated in the quest to spend $5000 on a new wardrobe. Big or small, finding clothes that compliment their bodies takes may hours trying on clothes at many stores.

I cease to be amazed by the short-sightedness and downright arrogance of an industry that ignores the basic needs of its customers, leaving women feeling dissatisfied and demoralized by the shopping experience.

As fashion consumers, first, we must learn to disconnect from the power of the size tag and to value fit over size. Second, we must continue to voice our complaints over the failure of the fashion industry to serve the vast majority of us.

To see this episode of What Not To Wear, “Triple Thread”, click here and select “Full Episodes.”

I love this spread in Plus Model Magazine.   Curvy, sexy and beautiful, Anabelle Ursulet, is one of the most striking print models around, at any size.  We need more images like these, images that demonstrate beauty beyond size 0.

“Big booty=big brain” is the alternate title for my previous post (scroll down to read it). The Today Show is teasing this story as “Learning Curves.” Here are some of my other ideas for headlines–I’d love to hear yours:

“Junk in the trunk, junky no more”

“Curvy girl, brainy girl”

“Clever curves”

“Get smarter–eat”

“Fat ass=smart ass”

Here is an extended response to the Leonard Nimoy project from gogopussycat. She moved me to tears.

I read one of the articles about the full body project, I thought it was really sweet that he has become a size activist. The only part that I didn’t like was at the very end of the article they said “while he isn’t sexually attracted to full figured women, he does
think they’re beautiful.”

Like, don’t think you are getting away with being sexually attractive fat women, you can be acceptable, but not sexy. I mean, did they ask him if he finds Jewish women sexually attractive when he did the Shekina project?

At the very least he himself is doing something wonderfully positive for feminism and size awareness, it was just the journalist who had to throw in that traditionally snide, just to keep fat women in their place style comment.

So overall yay fat women! Its always amazing to me to see that and think, how not offensive are their bodies are! Fat women are made to feel that the very presence of their bodies are offensive, like you can’t wear enough clothes to be socially acceptable - and the irony is that they are actually more beautiful naked. ( For one part its due to the horrible plus size fashion selection!)

Im always struck by how much more interesting plus size bodies are, and so organic, it looks much more like a living thing in nature, like a tree, or earthen shape. Which brings me around to fat modeling, like how interesting would it be to make clothes
and have fat models where you could actually see the fat shapes through the clothing,
and not just massive body shapers and corsets (fat women are so threatening they’ve
been sent back in time to the turn of the century).

There are some picts of Velvet on Contraband, where shes wearing a thin Jersey dress, and think no body shapers or underwear, so you can actually see her cellulite dimpling, and flesh folds. And can I tell you how amazingly not unbeautiful nor offensive it is. Everything about the photos were typical to a magazine spread - makeup, hair blown back, soft lighting….and body fat. The last thing you expect to see associated with glamour and style.

It was fabulous.

I felt a whole consciousness shift, like I couldn’t remember why I ever thought that it
was hideous or unacceptable when that would happen to me trying on a dress or pants
where the material was “too thin” or “too tight”.

And that’s the power of an image.

I just received the Nov/Dec 2007 of Figure, and they’ve included clothes by INC International Concepts (pictured above), IGIGI, Carolyn Vaile (Bloomingdales), Jones New York Signature, Ralph Lauren, and others. These pieces are combined with Lane Bryant, Catherine’s, and Fashion Bug pieces, thus more accurately representing how women shop. I have to add, the Charming Shoppes pieces hold their own against the department store brands.

Figure is finally positioning itself to be the brand inclusive plus size fashion magazine that is so desperately needed.

In a previous post I expressed some of my problems with Figure Magazine, particularly the absence of plus size fashion not available through Charming Shoppes (Lane Bryant, Catherine’s, Fashion Bug). Well, with the Sept./Oct. issue of the magazine, my complaint is no longer valid–the magazine features non-Charming Shoppes clothes.

In what has to be one of my all-time favorite fashion layouts “Blue Lines”, Figure featured six “real” women modeling the “perfect” jeans for their body types. Not only did they model Lane Bryant and Catherine’s jeans, they featured Old Navy, Svoboda, and Lee jeans. But what made this layout fantastic was the four-page spread: two full pages with the models shot from the front, then two full pages with the models shot from behind. These women are so awesomely cute with their perfect jeans hugging their bodacious booties!

In my previous post I mentioned my saddness at the demise of Mode magazine, a fashion magazine designed for women sizes 12 and up. “But,” one may ask, “what about Figure Magazine ? Figure is a plus-size fashion mag.”

Ah, yes, Figure Magazine. Figure is a publication that, according to its tagline, is “celebrating the plus-size woman.” I subscribe to Figure Magazine, and I am glad that there is some visual media representation of plus-size fashion for women. In future posts I will no doubt reference Figure. However, Figure is no Mode.

Figure appeared in 2002 as what appeared to me to be a very glossy advertising for Charming Shoppes (Lane Bryant, Catherine’s, Fashion Bug) masquerading as a fashion magazine. Last year, Figure “re-launched,” with a new look and an expanded effort to cover more fashion trends; however, the focus is still on the Charming Shoppes brand. So, while I am glad to have articles about the trends in sunglasses, makeup, and home decor, I still only get to see clothes that are available at Lane Bryant, Catherine’s, or Fashion Bug, a mere fraction of the plus-size offerings available.

So, I must admit that I have a “like/hate” relationship with Figure. Figure Magazine fills a need in plus-size fashion media; however, much more is needed.