The word around “plus size”

My obsession with fashion magazines started at a pretty young age, meaning that from the age of around about 10 I was hit with images of young skinny beautiful models and not really shown any other options of what beauty could be. If you had told 10 year old me that in 10 years’ time she’ll start to see many other kinds of beautiful woman within magazines she probably wouldn’t believe you, even me at this age is still surprised to see the likes of Calvin Klein, American Apparel and Jean Paul Gautier using “plus size” models. It’s a dream come true for every curvy woman but, even with these amazing boundaries within the fashion industry being broken, there still seems to be an issue with the term they are using for these beautiful curvaceous women. Plus size.

The problem with the term plus size starts with this, it just simply isn’t accurate. Yes these girls might typically struggle to find clothes that fit and flatter their shape but they still buy clothes in the same stores the skinner girls go to. You ask most “plus size” models and they won’t consider themselves plus size at all, but just simply themselves. No labels or names, just their own definition of what can be admired and lusted over, because that’s what they are. They bring a new kind of image, proving that there is a larger spectrum of what we can define as beautiful and that there shouldn’t just be one definition of beauty.

The struggle to move from inclusivity to equality in fashion is never going to begin if we continue to isolate curvy girls into the category of plus size. It just means they aren’t ever going to be completely in the model career circle, they’ll still be on the outside looking in at what they could be experiencing. If anything is going to push these girls right into the model world and remove the stigma of plus size it’s going to be the internet. The power of Instagram and twitter is contagious and it just takes one beautiful curvy girl to upload a body positive selfie showing the world her true naked form to then influence and inspire more girls like that to do the same and spread the word that accepting your body for what it is will be purest and best trend the fashion industry can take on.

And don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about neglecting or replacing our typical and beautiful skinny girls, because they can still deal with negativity too. Most aspiring models size 8 or under are told to lose weight till they get “down to the bone” before they can even be considered for an agency which is as damaging if not more as not including curvy girls in their agencies either. This is about bringing forward the need and desire to love and showcase every single body type with no bullshit labels.

The term plus size builds on from the idea that the fashion industry typically only captures one extreme or the other, those extremes being either skinny or fat and not a medium balance. There shouldn’t be a filter on what we see in magazines and runways, diversity and equality should run through the entirety of every fashion company.

I mean isn’t that what the fashion industry is supposed to represent? Those unique and quirky individuals that exist within our society? We embrace diversity and change within fashion design but why not within the men and women that wear the designs? I think magazines can quickly forget just how influential they can be and just how damaging the lack of diversity can be also. Hopefully 2016 will be the year they realise this and that it becomes the year we see the likes of Vogue using our curvy girls on their glossy pages because that change needs to happen. It needs to be the year that “plus size” just becomes “models”.