Glamour
Too Fat to Be a Plus Size Model?
This photo has been causing quite stir in the magazine industry. The photo is of plus size model Lizzie Miller- whose size 12/14 body pushes her to the upper limit of the size when it comes to being a “plus size model”.
I was just in Hollywood, where the fascination with plus size is borderline obsessive (think of all the plus size shows on television- From “Biggest Loser” to “More to Love” to “Ruby”) and the belief, even when presented with evidence to the contrary (all of those shows are extremely popular and covers of Essence Magazine with comedian/actress Mo’ Nque are often bestsellers), is that people really don’t want to see “normal” sized women in magazines or television. The strange thing is that often the editors/producers saying this are plus size women themselves (big myth dispelled: a majority of people in Hollywood ARE NOT thin).
Are these “tastemakers” right? Or is this belief perpetuated by self-hatred?
Fashion Mags On Their Way Out?
What: Fashion magazines are the Pink Elephant in the room right now - as everything moves to the World Wide Web and the recession continues to affect retailers, we have to wonder how much life expectancy they really have. The clock truly is ticking for our favorite style rags. The WDD recently reported that ads dropped drastically for upcoming September issues of Vogue, Self, Glamour, and other notable publications. Meanwhile, InStyle did pretty well, and Forever 21 is actually thinking of breaking into print media. Although it’s not all bad, the worst is probably yet to come…predictions for fall are even more depressing.
What They Say:
“Ads will decrease only because most marketers are panicked right now,” said David Lipman, chief of the agency bearing his name.
What We Say: Seems print mags just need some synergy with their online counterparts, and/or should go mobile.
Do you still subscribe to tangible fashion magazines? If so, which ones and why?
Procrastination is So Much Fun: My Virtual Model
One of the most difficult things about shopping online, beside annoying pop up ads asking you to vote for your favorite Destiny’s Child to win a $25 gift certificate to Applebee’s, is the inability to actually try items on before you make the purchase.
Enter My Virtual Model. Look past the corny sounding name and you’ll find a pretty good idea—a body model that you can customize for your height, shape, ethnicity, hair color, that can be used to “virtually” try on clothing items before making an online purchase.
So far, only a handful of companies have embraced the concept like LL Bean and Adidas. Strangely, H&M has embraced the concept even though it doesn’t have an ecommerce site. Magazines, like Glamour, are using the models to give readers the opportunity to try on select items mentioned in their pages.
The service does have a few bugs. For example, according to the program a size 10 APC skirt would look fabulous on my size 16 body, when in reality skirt would really be busting out of the seams. Also, my model looks slightly cross eyed, which in some circles isn’t such a bad thing. Reportedly, the French philosopher Renee Descartes had a thing for cross-eyed chicks. Unfortunately, Sears, who utilizes the service for its ecommerce site, doesn’t ship to France.
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