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The ideal body. Does it exist?

The exclusion of size zero models from major catwalks was lauded as a breakthrough in the ongoing mêlée against eating disorders.

Plus-size model Lizzie Miller who posed semi-naked for a page 194 feature in the US edition of Glamour magazine has brought the contentious debate back into the limelight.

Why, you may ask?

The 20-year-old US size 12-14 model is considered 'too large' to represent plus-sized women.

By whose standards? We don't even know.

"It's sad," she says, "in the industry anything over size six is considered a plus-size."

Cindi Leive, editor of the magazine in question comes to Miller's defense, however, saying that the response to the photo has been positively overwhelming. "It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches, but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands."


The picture, illustrating a story which touches on the issue of confidence, poise and being comfortable with one's body, is bound – quite literally – with ads and fashion shots depicting waif-like models.  If we were completely honest with ourselves, such images propagate a false ideal amongst women, men and teenagers alike.

Who is to blame?

Last year we reported about how fashion prodigy Alexandra Shulman, lashed out at some of the world's leading designers for forcing seriously skinny models into glossy magazines despite the outcry over bulimia and anorexia.

The chorus of disapproval is far and wide and in spite of being rejected by plus-size fashion houses such as Marina Rinaldi and Elena Miro (who prefer their models  between sizes 8 and 10), Miller is confident that the recent response to her photo "shows that the world is hungry to see pictures of normal women."






 
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