body issues

Garance Doré Skeptical of the ‘Unhealthy’ and ‘Not Always Flattering’ Plus-Size–Model Trend

Style blogger and girlfriend to Scott “the Sartorialist” Schuman Garance Doré attended the Mark Fast show at London Fashion Week. Fast mixed some plus-size models, including Crystal Renn, in with his cast of mostly straight-size girls. Doré questions Fast’s motives:


“It should not be such a big deal to show women with different bodies, but sometimes it’s treated like a bit of joke, or for shock, like the plus-size models on the runway in the U.K. Fashion Week,” said Doré, who attended the Mark Fast show — amongst others — during LFW with her Sartorialist boyfriend Scott Schuman. “It’s not such a good thing to show plus-size because it’s not really physically healthy and not always flattering to fashion.”

Doré has taken plenty of photos of thin models and seen plenty of them walk in runway shows. Surely she’s heard about all those panel discussions the CFDA has held to address the issue of models who are unhealthy because the industry pressures them to be so thin. Surely she’s heard or read about one or two stories by a top model like Coco Rocha or Doutzen Kroes or Ali Michael about how unhealthy they became trying to be skinny. Surely in her career she’s seen at least one girl with bones protruding so much that they distract from the clothes she’s supposed to be selling. But, she added:

“I think it’s too much and almost naive of the fashion industry,” Doré told Sky News, “because it would be nice in a few years that the idea of different body shapes is normal, but right now it’s not quite there yet.”

That’s true — it’s not quite there yet. But though plus-size models often still feel like a gimmick, they’re not, like, acid-wash jeans. No one will look back on this period and say Dear Lord, what were we thinking?! And that’s why sometimes it’s better for fashion people to never say never. Years ago a lot of people thought they’d never wear leggings or skinny jeans, and look how prolific they are now. Take Karl Lagerfeld: After he cruely shunned “curvy women,” he shot a very voluptuous one for V. As Doré becomes a bigger and bigger deal in the industry, she’ll probably find herself shooting women of all sizes, too.

Non Plus [British Vogue]

Garance Doré Skeptical of the ‘Unhealthy’ and ‘Not Always Flattering’ Plus-Size–Model Trend