The message for the retailer’s #ThisBody campaign is straightforward: “This body is made to be uncovered.”
Yasss!
I’m here for it because fuller-figured models are almost always sporting complete, sometimes frumpy, ensembles that hide every bit of visible skin – except for the face – as if a curvier body is shameful. It’s a subtle hint that not-so-thin is unacceptable and unattractive, but really there’s nothing distasteful about not being able to see rib cages, pelvic bones, and spines.
As a naturally thin woman who’s desperately tried to gain weight amongst a family of full-figured women, I can admit my view is biased. I’ve made comments like, “These women [in magazines] have angles instead of curves!” I’ve even found myself scrutinizing the bodies of a few reality TV actresses who appeared to be much slimmer between their debut season and their return.
And I’ve side-eyed pictures where editors obviously airbrushed midsections and limbs to fit the average model’s mold of a size 0 or 00. They’re sizes that aren’t realistically attainable for most women – not even me – and they surely aren’t representative of the average clothing size, which is nearly equivalent to a typical model’s age: 12 or 14.
Model Precious Lee spoke with People magazine about the #ThisBody ad and how many retailers are simply missing out on underserved “billion dollar industry.”
“I don’t understand why designers wouldn’t be capitalizing on such a huge part of the market,” she says. “People don’t know they actually make clothes in larger sizes, but you don’t see them in campaigns.”
But plus-sized clothing isn’t always fashionable; sometimes it’s just shapeless material constructed for necessity and not necessarily for style. And again, it points to a particular aesthetic that a designer envisions during his creation process, and it’s that of a slender woman. Even most sample sizes are made in a size 2, which can be stitched and pinned down to a 0 for editorials and fashion shows, but rarely can they be extended and draped to fit a fuller woman. It wasn’t until recently that curvier women were invited to rip runways in Fashion Week.
But this SI issue with a Lane Bryant ad is not only major because it targets a practically untapped $17.5B consumer market, but also because the shapely model is a Black woman, making her the first Black plus-size model to grace the swim issue! Granted, our faces sporadically grace conventional magazine covers and runways, but for mainstream media to consciously include a voluptuousness of brown? That’s a fairly new concept. Even Lee didn’t initially catch the significance of the moment.
“I didn’t know exactly what I was shooting for until I was out on set. So I was truly surprised and I wanted to cry but I had to literally walk on set.”