Thanks to the reader who sent me this article on a recent interview done with model Velvet d’Amour. Model she is, but thin she is not. Many women (and men) find her an inspiration in an industry that tends to represent only one type of woman. Here are a few quotes from the interview that I liked:
And I think it’s a positive thing to incorporate women of size wherever media allows, without having it be sort of derogatory. You know a lot of the things I get offered, I don’t take, because they tend to be mocking fat people.”
There’s necessarily a power in beauty. That’s always been the case. Which is why I think that as a society, we can empower ourselves by diversifying how media shows beauty – by being more inclusive. And the more we hold up different, diverse types of beauty, the more people can feel better about themselves.”
Here, velvet is answering the interviewer’s question about why she thinks the Fashion Industry is nervous about incorporating larger models.
It’s like high school all over again. There’s like, cheerleaders, and there’s the nerdy people. And fat people have been perceived as sort of the nerdy people for quite a while now.”
A lot of the designers, or at least the magazines, are certainly dependent on advertisers. And advertisers don’t want to take any risks. It’s clear that people know that fat is unhealthy. However they don’t seem to get that what’s humorous about that whole argument is just the fact that every day we are inundated with images of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Kate Moss, Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie etc…. And so while I’m banned virtually from being in any womens ‘magazines, or in any media, because they say, ‘Well, you know, you weigh so much weight, it would be like sort of like promoting obesity’ – the notion that every single thin person is healthy is utterly ludicrous. I think that that stops the mainstream designers from being inclusive of bigger sizes. Because then it’s going to be purported that they’re celebrating what is perceived as being unhealthy.”
She says much more in the interview so make sure to check it out!
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Is that her in your banner? Whoever that woman is, that is a very pretty photograph & I personally would kill for that dress! How could you feel anything but beautiful in a flower-covered dress like that….
No that’s a different model, Crystal Renn. I think they are both beautiful!
I was thinking about how the main requirement for models is really that they are…tall…
And that’s odd since you can strap a pair of heels on any day of the week and add inches. hm.
This woman is amazingly strong in what she believes despite the industry mad props!