From V Magazine - photo by Sølve Sundsbø

The current fascination with plus-size models and the introduction of plus-size models on runways and in fashion spreads seems to send a hopeful message: one of acceptance of the female form at any size, from an industry that often seems obsessed with an unattainable thinness that young girls then aspire to achieve.

We applaud when we see a plus-size model on the catwalk, yet one plus-size model in a show or a season does not a trend make. When most of the world looks like that round curvy model, saluting the designer who uses her on the runway and praising him for his bravery seems artificial.

Plus-size models on the runway are nothing new. From Marthae Lagache, Dianne Brill, Mia Tyler and Kate Brill to current darling Crystar Renn, fashion editors will always find their beautiful size 12 girl. But can they ever break the cemented size 2 mold? Every five or ten years I feel like a plus-size model (and when I say plus I mean a normal size 12 – smaller than the majority of the population of the U.S.) rises and attracts attention in the press and fashion world. However the chatter eventually fizzles and nothing changes in the end. It’s almost as if that 15 minutes of fame for the plus-size model makes it okay in our culture to use the unusually thin and unrealistic body types the rest of the time.

From V Magazine - photo by Terry Richardson

A recent fashion spread featured a plus-size model paired with a size two model wearing several identical outfits. These were all by high-end, recognizable and cult like designer labels. For that shoot I am guessing that the designers were asked to make the larger outfits especially for the issue.

From V Magazine - photo by Sølve Sundsbø

What particularly irked me was that in the rest of the spreads with plus-size models, most of the clothing was either something easy like a bathing suit or body suit by a well-known design house or clothing from lesser-known designers that actually might make the larger sizes. These spreads can barely be defined as fashion layouts when in most of the pictures the models are wearing barely any clothing at all. For example in one shot the model is lying down only wearing shoes…is that because of a lack of designer clothing in the larger sizes?

From V Magazine - photo by Sølve Sundsbø

Plus-size models don’t need to fit a mold to model designer handbags, shoes and jewelry, but the lack of high-end designer clothing challenges the idea that the fashion world is becoming more accepting of all sizes of women – or even recognizing that larger sizes are the norm. It is easy to miss, but once examined closely the majority of the fashion spreads used with plus size models use very little high-end labels for the clothing. Sure if a famous fashion editor wants to use a high end designer’s clothing for a specific shoot a request for a larger size can be made, but that is the exception. We cannot make a true example out of one exception can we?