V The Size Issue: Revolutionary or Reactionary?

Fashion is the extension of our fantasies.  Other worldly fabrics, backdrops, dresses, and of course models that look as if they've just been beamed down from the planet of doe eyed nymphs.

In 2009 seventeen year old Karlie Kloss ruled the runways and the pages of Vogue.  The slim midwestern native with a face that looks straight out of a 1940s mystery was the model.  Yet, perhaps it was not Kloss or Coco Rochas or Raquel Zimmermann that truly captivated the public, but rather the epic mistakes of over photoshopped models at Ralph Lauren and other fashion heavyweights.

Although the 2000s were almost entirely enveloped in the debate of how thin is too thin for models, 2009 seemed a boiling point.

Therefore V Magazine took it upon themselves to start a revolution in the form of a "Size Issue."  The magazine known for its epic avant garde photo spreads began leaking photos from their February 2010 plus size issue.

As the spreads continued to leak questions arose in the fashion industry about the merits of the issue.  Was the issue simply a publicity ploy (a la Beth Ditto shot by Karl Lagerfeld)?  Why were the models at least half naked in almost every spread?  Was it condescending to have a spread where a thin model and a plus size model wore the same outfits side by side?  Does the cover say it all, with one showing breakout Precious star Gabourey Sidibe and the other showing, the now very grown up child star, Dakota Fanning?

The fashion world is torn about the V Size Issue with many calling it a gimmick to up readership.  The reality of the debate is that the spreads are, largely just as stunning and interesting as normal V spreads.  One particular spread pits plus size star model Crystal Renn posing in similar ways and wearing the same outfit as new runway standout Jacquelyn Jablonski.  It must be noted that Renn appears vivacious, sultry,  and truly like a seasoned model in Proenza Schouler.  Yet despite Renn's obvious advantage the spread still comes off as condescending and gimmicky.

Is the image the fashion world wants' to return to the voluptuous images of human perfection we saw in Christy Brinkley in the 1980s and Naomi Cambell in the 1990s?  For young girls flipping through a fashion magazine is it any better to see a busty Victoria Secret model than a quirky seventeen year old from the midwest?

Perhaps the debate the fashion world is embroiled in should focus more on the fact that today's model's by classic facial standards are far outside the norm.  The new look each season seems to go beyond classic standards of beauty to redefine what is interesting and stunning.  In the mid 2000s we saw a sweep of doe eyed angelic almost alien like girls in the Prada invasion (think Sasha Pivovarova).  Is it not the job of parents to look at these images and decide what is truly acceptable for their daughters and then frame it in a way that helps girls love themselves?  Looking at todays models parents should be encouraging that their daughters that the women are interesting and unique--a characteristic that all women possess.

With their heavy handed message the V Magazine Size Issue suggests that today fashion is not simply about beauty in the traditional sense, but rather in the most stunning and interesting way we can find it.  So if this is the aim, women of more varied sizes can be used for true fashion spreads.  Renn and Burlesque dancer Miss Dirty Martini prove the idea that perhaps thin models do not need to be banished, but rather placed next to equally stunning Botticelli beauties.

All images copyright V Magazine