When Size 4 is Too Big

"When Size 4 is too Big: A Curvy Model's Struggle to Fit In" -- is the title of an article about model Lara Stone in January's Vogue. It begins, "when you're a model, nobody calls you fat. 'What they're saying is curvy, but you know they mean fat'," so says "curvy" model Stone, who stands FIVE FEET TEN and wears a size FOUR. (capitals come courtesy of me.)

Stone's had a hard time being,as Vogue writer Rebecca Johnson says, " a good two sizes larger than the minnows currently walking the runway". According to Stone, stylists whisper about her behind her back, and she very often fears being "canceled" because of her size.

initially, she tried to lose weight, using diet and exercise and briefly, pills, but nothing worked and the pills gave her heart palpitations. eventually, she leaned heavily on alcohol until she'd wake up shaking and in a need of a drink simply to function. Stone checked herself into rehab is now eight months sober and modeling as a size four.

According to Rebecca Johnson, the size zero trend has been "rough on both the models, who find it nearly impossible to maintain that body type past the age of seventeeen, and the magazines that want to show clothes on models who aren't painfully thin." She adds that there is a health initiative to raise awareness about eating disorders, but "some girls remain worryingly underweight".

Johnson continues by saying that designers defend the trend, saying, says Johnson, that "clothes look better on a coat hanger". (i wasn't sure these last two paragraphs really fit into this post, but i HAD to include that quote.)

Johnson suggests that things may be changing in the modeling world, as Lara Stone is actually becoming an extremely popular model with some top designers, photographs and editors. Famed photographer Mario Testino says, "i have never thought of Lara as fat... It reminds me of when i started to work with Gisele, everyone used to think that she was too voluptuous. Look where she is now."

As I read the article, i realized it had no irony. Didn't anyone who read or edited this article before print think that 5'10 and a size four was actually really skinny? It seemed the reader was supposed to read along, feeling that Lara Stone, as Karl Lagerfeld says , has "a gorgeous woman's body" and Vogue editor Virginia Smith who says it's "refreshing" to see her on the runway. And to understand how people thought Gisele was too voluptous. Giselle?

The article ends with Stone saying, "People still tell me I'm fat, but when i look in the mirror, that's not what I see." WHO TELLS HER SHE'S FAT?

Yes, yes, yes, this article raises MANY QUESTIONS and MANY hairs on the back of my neck. Here's one question -- What is this article doing in Vogue, home of the skinniest models on earth? (and perhaps the skinniest editor-in-chief, anna wintour, as well)It almost seems like Vogue is giving lip service, "see we get the problem, and look how open-minded we are -- running an article about a size FOUR model," but then i think they think it absolves them and they can go back to what they really believe, skinny is better. Heck, just turn the page. do i see any "curvy" models in the rest of Vogue? what do you think?

somehow i feel like that size four model(although i'm a size 8) but i'm also Vogue. yes, i say i feel perfect at my good healthy weight. i used to diet and take pills and drink alcohol, hoping to stay skinny. i went to rehab and i'm nearly eight months sober. yes, i know that it's unrealistic and dangerously unhealthy to reach for unnaturally low body weights. look at me, i'm agreeing. but look closer, and see what i'm thinking.