My college fashion design teacher, Corné Coetzee always said “If it wasn’t for basketball and modelling, we’d have a lot of freaks in the world“. The majority of the world tends to be shorter and bigger, so why are we not seeing more ‘plus size’ models on the covers of magazine. The fashion industry has a ever changing ‘ideal’ size, but this size is usually between size 0 to 2.

One Size Fits All – V Magazine

V magazine did this brilliant photo shoot (pic above), where a plus size and a fashion size model were put in the same clothes. Honestly, both girls look gorgeous and healthy, and unlike what most fashion people think they both make the clothes look good. Therefore making the statement ‘skinny girls make clothes look better’ a myth.

Franca Sozani And Vogue Italia

That’s why Vogue Italia editor like Franca Sozzani, have started to embrace a much more fuller size by putting 3 plus size models on the cover and dedicated a whole spread to fuller women. What most people don’t know is that, the girls you see in magazine tend to be teenagers, giving a false sense of beauty. This portrayal of plus size models are a more realistic look at our world and Franca Sozzani knows that this cover won’t change the way the fashion industry thinks, but at least it’s a way to get people to change their perceptions.

Whitney Thompson Wins America’s Next Top Model

Tyra Banks has for a long while supported what she calls the fierce-ly real size since the beginning of America’s Next Top Model (ANTM). What is always hard to watch, is when the plus size model goes for go-see and there are no options for the poor thing to try out. Don’t we know the feeling huh? Going to a store and just not finding the perfect size, always a hurtful experience.

With these small steps, let hope retailers and designers will make bigger sizes for us real women!