There’s no doubt for a body image warrior such as myself, that the glamour world of fashion & modelling can be incredibly worrying. Lack of appreciation for diversity in size, shape, ethnicity. Very young girls parading in very mature clothes. Older male photographers, underage models. Insidious dieting & weight practices. The list goes on.
Despite all my concerns, it may come as a surprise to some that I do think in some instances that the fashionista’s are trying. There’s a long way to go & I’m not handing out “A” scores yet – but they’re trying & I think this photo below of model Lizzi Miller from Glamour Magazine clearly shows they are.
Pause.
Sigh.
Beautiful.
To me this is one of the most amazing photographs of a model I’ve ever seen. She’s smiling, glowing, natural & totally stunning. A total Goddess.
What is even doubly beautiful about her is all of the joyful comments & responses it has prompted.
While not as impressive, even Harpers Bazaar have made what I consider to be a small step towards more natural & realistic imagery with their recent spread of 90′s supermodels posing in simple clothes with no makeup.
Now, there’s no doubting that I, & I am sure most other women can relate better to Lizzi than Tatjana Patitz pictured below, but I’m still going to throw a little credit to HB for what is certainly a more natural & I think much softer, reflective shoot of models in comparison to the high glossed, makeup rich, tortuous clothes & spiked heels regalia that we so often see & can draw no relation to. Have the images been photoshopped, styled, va-voomed etc etc – sure – but again, I feel it’s a small baby step.
Let’s hope that both magazines & many others pay attention to the comments that their readers are making & don’t make this a publicity grabbing ‘once off’, but rather see it as a collective desire of so many girls & women who want to look at fashion magazines & feel great about themselves & their body image.
Please, please, listen powerful magazine editors. We want more Lizzi’s!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post! I agree completely with your sentiments about Lizzi!
As for the make-up free models … well, I'll give them some credit when they do color photos without make up. Sure, the black and white ones look artistic, but everyone looks better in black and white, since it tends to reveal fewer of the natural "imperfections" in ones skin. I felt kind of like they were just paying lip service to the idea of natural beauty because it's kind of an 'in' topic in women's magazines these days.
I've always been a fan of plus-size models! There's a great site with many images of plus-size models here:
http://www.judgmentofparis.com/
They're all gorgeous. The site's forum also has thought-provoking discussions about body image and the media.
I just sent this post to a bunch of my friends as I agree with most of what you’re saying here and the way you’ve presented it is awesome.
Nadiadmiple – Thankyou! I think Lizzi is amazing and the more people who know about her – the better.