Oh dear, a fatshion rant! And I feel like I’m going to alienate a ton of people with this. But then again, this post has been cooking inside of me for a while, maybe for years. And it rears its head every time any kind of fashion topic comes up, and with it the skinny model debate.
It’s not that I’m NOT nodding along when people call for more body diversity in fashion. I am. But silently, and quite consistently, I have been internally arguing during these debates about - essentially - media, representation of idealized body shapes and beauty ideals, that there is a sort of contradiction, if not cognitive dissonance, in these calls for bigger models, different looking models, models that look like “the average girl”.
On the one hand, I feel that there is space for body diversity, and high fashion is not that space. High fashion is represented in a handful of niche magazines, that not a lot of people buy or have an interest in. It is pretty much for fashion nerds, with a few mags like Vogue jutting into the mainstream. But the rest are for art, design, inspiration, fantasy worlds. They have little or nothing to do with “everyday” looks or “telling you how those clothes would look on an average body”. The latter is a statement that often crops up in these discussions, but I find it quite misplaced when directed towards this segment of fashion. If you look through Numéro you are most definitely not looking for how clothes would look on YOU.
That would be like going through a design exhibition as if it was an Ikea catalogue. Some of the clothes might be practical in some way but the way it is presented and put together is supposed to be an inspiration, not a to-do-list. Almost no one can afford those clothes. It’s supposed to be strange, alienating and unattainable. If that is not what you want from fashion, fair enough. The huge majority of the population isn’t interested in that stuff either. That’s why it’s a niche interest. Not a lot of people are interested in contemporary art either, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a valid part of culture.
The important distinction to make, I think, is between that cloudcocoolander-type fashion, and the fashion that gets translated from those templates into the more mainstream magazines. And here, I absolutely agree it would be nice to see more attainable/average bodies. Because it is more about catering to real women here, with clothes you might as well go out and buy. So I see the need here for clothes that fit various bodies, because it is more about the consumer here, and not the high fashion models, that are basically supposed to be alien creatures with a harsh aesthetic.
[Sidenote: I’m not entirely sure who would want to look like these models actually. I know a lot of girls want to, but I’m not quite sure if they realize how truly awkward their looks translate into real life. They look like worn out giraffes next to normal people. I’m not bodyshaming here - just trying to emphasize that they really look strange in a normal context. And I’m not sure why people necessarily want to look strange. It seems quite exhausting.]
So I have a problem with these discussions because they throw together two things - the fashion sphere that is about the weird clothes hanger models that are not supposed to be aspirational for the average girl, and the mainstream fashion world that is catering to a different kind of customer, and therefore is supposed to present aspirational images to make money.
That any kind of experimental fashion favors skinny bodies is obvious to me, in the sense that you are freed from a lot of work to create a flattering look. This of course presupposes that thin bodies are the beauty norm that you wish to achieve.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that this is the only norm or the right one. If you think it is beautiful to appear big, more power to you. I’m serious: to really, truly not want to appear thin(ner) is the most subversive you could be at this point in time. I’m just sort of questioning how many people really think like that when they get dressed. Don’t people belt huge sweaters and try to create a waist? Don’t they wear black pants and not white ones because it is more flattering (read: slimming?). Don’t people go for hourglass and not muumuu? I’m asking this, because for me this is still part of a certain beauty ideal of wanting to look proportionate, and that’s basically still part of the fashion industry.
That’s what I mean with cognitive dissonance. I see the way most (big) women dress as absolutely an extension of what mainstream fashion and (in part) high fashion is about. So is it really such a big deal if beautiful plus-size models appear in magazines? It is a change for the better, sure. But is it a fuck you to established norms of thinness? It isn’t, I claim. It subscribes to the same aesthetic. If you want to say fuck you to beauty ideals right now, you have to say yes to wonky proportions and unflattering sack dresses. But do you want to? Again, I’m not judging. I’m just saying that saying yes to ugliness (again, this is no value judgement. It’s just the opposite of what is deemed beautiful) is not what most people - fat or not - want to do.
(Source: modelcouture.livejournal.com)
