So far, all these previews of V’s UBER SPECIAL SIZE ISSUE have done nothing but vaguely offend me… the Jacquelyn Jablonski/Crystal Renn spread I thought was interesting because to me it did nothing other than make Jacquelyn Jablonski look creepily childlike and like, kind of unsexy in comparison — but isn’t the existence of that comparison precisely what is so gross to begin with anyhow? I know it’s supposed to show they’re ‘equal’ but isn’t everyone’s first mental reaction going to be ‘comparison’? (Particularly because the clothes are SO HORRIBLE that we’re all just looking at the models legs’ anyhow to avoid the tye dye neon rhinestone vomit.)
But the second spread — this one, from which the awful other photos above also comes — is pretty much just a flat-out nightmare. It looks like a cheap JC Penney/Land’s End/whatever swimwear catalog — crappy grey backdrop? check. Porn-y hair and makeup? check. Constructed and uninteresting poses? check. Really boring photographs? check. Uninspired suburban 90’s styling and ill-fitting, offensively unflattering clothes? check. Did we mention offensively unflattering clothes? Offensively unflattering clothes.
It’s that same problem we all complained about when Mark Fast sent plus-size models down the runway: it comes off as a sad, sad publicity stunt — let’s use fat girls so people talk about us!! Let’s put fat girls in our magazine so people buy it and we better make sure it’s obvious that they’re, like, fat, and put them in the most unflattering, ill-fitting, cheapest looking clothes we can find that call as much attention as possible to the fact that HEY GUYS WE ARE USING FAT GIRLS, CHECK IT OUT THEY’RE SO FAT, rather than using them in normal editorials that are about beautiful clothes and beautiful women and beautiful photographs that their body size is an afterthought - which to me should really be the point and more accurately indicates “acceptance” of different body types. This kind of fetishization, marginalization to issues or spreads that can be about nothing other than body type or self-esteem, is just kind of… embarassing and sad.
Elle Canada’s recent New Year’s themed shoot — two shots below also — with Crystal Renn, to me, is far, far more indicative of some sort of ‘progress’, because she’s just used as a model, and none of it is about fetishizing how fat or thin she is, it’s just a goddamn normal glitzy fashion spread with a girl who is like, a size 8 instead of a 00, and the point is still the clothes and the photographs and not her hips. And she looks hot and fashionable and sophisticated, and the clothes and styling look great on her and provide viable fashion inspiration or whatever for women who may be sized more like her. And there’s things in the photograph OTHER than her body — like, you know, men, and glitter, and clothes, and furniture, meaning that there’s something to look at and process other than “stomach roll, zomgz let’s talk about it” — and nowhere in the copy does it talk about plus-size or anything. She just looks awesome, and makes me consider wearing those weird wide fishnets I have but never think I can pull off tonight.
