Crystal Renn for Zac Posen Pre-Fall.....

The stunning Crystal Renn, is at it again; this time posing for Zac Posen's Pre-Fall 2011 collection. Despite the lastest controversy over her size (aren't we over that yet?!), she still rocks the fashion world, with the same confidence. She did an interview over at New York Daily News, she talks about the usual, her "size". So if you're interested go check out the link below, if not, enjoy the pics!

Crystal Renn slams "plus-size" controversy; Sez she'd have "binge eating disorder" to be "plus-size".

Crystal Renn for Zac Posen Pre-Fall :

What do you think of Crystal's work with Zac Posen?

Drop me a comment and let me know!

Crystal Renn in Avant Garde Magazine.....

Can you say 'fabulous'!? Crystal Renn looks stunning, in her editorial for Avant Garde Magazine. Crystal just keeps getting better, she has truly grown as a model, I think it's safe to say, we can only expect bigger and brighter things from her. This coming November keep an eye out, Crystal will be featured in numerous editorials, I don't know about you but I can't wait to see them! For more pictures and info visit : http://madisonplus.com/mp-daily/crystal-renn-for-avant-garde-magazine/

Enjoy!

Crystal Renn - Photographer - Phillip Riches

I ♥ Crystal Renn...

I first came across this video in 2007. I was 15, and at this time I was beginning to accept myself.  I was looking for someone who would inspire me, alas I found Crystal Renn. I first saw Crystal when she began modelling for Simply Be, she was featured in the Anna Scholz collection, and I was blown away by her sheer beauty. So I began to search for anything I could find on Crystal, then one day, I found a video of her, and her message was the same as it is today, love your curves!

Crystal Renn - Fashion Gone Rogue- Photographed by Seth Sabal - 2010

Now, before you say :

"Crystal isn't plus-size!!"

I am aware of that, that doesn't change the fact that,  I admire for who she is, and not her size. Yes, she's lost a considerable amount of weight, but she is still a fierce model! How can we, as the 'plus-size community', judge Crystal, because she's lost weight? Aren't we asking people not to judge us about our weight? (just a thought) 

Plus-size or not, she is one of my favorite models of all time and always will be.

Jean Paul Gaultier, I adore you....

It remains to be seen, whether Jean Paul Gaultier used Beth Ditto and plus-models Crystal Renn & Marquita Pring as gimmicks or as true diversity, that the fashion industry desperately needs...

But nonetheless, I'm happy to see Beth Ditto strut her stuff on the runway, she is someone I can relate to, because I am her size, so gimmicks or not Jean Paul Gaultier gets thumbs up from me.

"Is 'fat' really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than being 'vindictive', 'jealous', shallow, 'vain', 'boring' or 'cruel'? Not to me." - J.K. Rowling

Marquita Pring looking fierce

“ Weight isn’t important the way the magazines make you think it is. I know a girl who just looks at her face in the medicine cabinet mirror & never looks below her shoulders, and she’s four or five hundred pounds but she doesn’t see all that, she just sees a beautiful face & therefore she thinks she’s a beauty. And therefore I think she’s a beauty too, because I usually accept people on the basis of their self-images, because their self-images have more to do with the way they think than their objective-images do. Maybe she’s six hundred pounds, who knows. If she doesn’t care, I don’t.”

-  Andy Warhol

We need diversity....

Diversity [dih-vur-si-tee, dahy] - the state or quality of being different or a varied point of difference.

Fashion is diverse or so it seems. With so many different designers and creations being catapulted into the fashion industry, you would assume there would be a wide variety of models too. If you look at the catwalks, the fashion editorials, and the fashion magazines, you typically only see one type of model. Sure this model comes in different shades of colors, but nonetheless it is the same model in essence. She's the tall-rail thin-elegant-long-legged beauty, that so many girls aspire to be. While I am aware, that fashion is more about the creations than the models, I can't help but feel that models are now receiving more attention than the clothes themselves. Models were once only the canvas, now they are apart of a designers creation.

Throughout history we have seen plus-size models being featured on catwalks for shock factors and gimmicks.  Shouldn't the fashion industry be past these antics? Yes they should, but the sad reality is, they aren't. Many of us are aware of how the fashion industry feels about not only plus-size models, but plus-size women in general :


Karl Lagerfeld - "No one wants to see curvy women. You've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly."

Scott Schuman aka The Sartorialist - "It's not such a good thing to show plus-size because it's not really physically healthy and not always flattering to fashion."

Muccia Prada refuses to sell garments past a size 10 because it would make her "clothing look hideous." ( How ironic, because Prada's A/W 2010 line was inspired by the "curvier" silhouette )

It's time for diversity ...

We're in 2010, and it's getting old seeing the same model. I want to see a wide variety, I want to see different shapes and sizes, heights, ages, colors, and abilities.  

Cycle 13 of ANTM - The Short Edition

Heels & Wheels

All Shapes and Sizes

Sisters - Laura (size 14) & Courtney (size 10)  Wells 

" Cosmopolitan Australia  had a family reunion of sorts in its August issue, bringing together two sisters kept separate in fashion mags due to their different sizes. Both Courtney and Laura Wells are models, but Laura is plus-size and usually relegated to special spreads. In this editorial, both girls show off the season’s trends on their slim and curvy bodies. " - Huffington Post

Many believe Fashion is Art...

Art has no limits,

So why does Fashion?

Your thoughts?



Crystal Renn for Look Magazine...

Photographer : Peter Buckingham

Behind-the-scenes with Crystal Renn...

Crystal Renn recently modelled the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection for Evans! LOOK magazine held a exclusive photoshoot, and here are some of the behind-the-scenes photographs :

She is just amazing!

Is size 14 the new "Perfect" size for women?

I came across an article on Msn.co.uk, it peaked my interest, because apparently being a size 14 is the new trend. However, as we all know, trends come and go, so I wonder how long will a size 14 will be the new "it" size. The article has two arguments, one argument says being a 14 won't make you happy, and the counter argument says why being a size 14 is fabulous. So I've summed up both arguments and here they are :




Why being a size 14 won't make you happy


" This size 14 survey should be filed with the rest - in the rubbish bin. The road to happiness does not come with being a size 14. Contentment does not come with dress size, it never has done. As long as you're in the medically acceptable weight range for your height and bone structure, that is what is most important. I was a size 14 once and a photograph of me at this weight caused Lorraine Kelly to exclaim live on GMTV :


'You're not yourself there, are you?'


That was because, I was on the air to talk about how I had been seriously ill with a thyroid problem - and my weight had ballooned and overwhelmed my 5ft 3in, small-boned frame. During my size 14 phase I was lethargic, depressed, and unhealthy. When I got my physical condition back on track, my state of mind improved immeasurably. The smile returned to my face - at a size eight.

Imogen Lloyd Webber at size 8

Everybody is different. Being to curvy for your frame is as bad for your health as being too thin. America spent $147 billion on health related problems of overweight Americans last year. Some of those will have been petite women who were a size 14 and too big for their bone structure.


Contentment comes from exercising. Getting that heart rate up a few times a week and also walking as much as possible so that you are fit to conquer everyday life. Exercise provides a natural feel-good high, as well as the figure-related benefits. Of course, nobody is advocating spending every waking hour in the gym, everything is best in moderation. " - Imogen Lloyd Webber


Click here for full article : Why being a size 14 won't make you happy




Why size 14 is fabulous!


" Special K has announced that the happiest women in the country are, in fact, a size 14. These women are most satisfied with their jobs, friends, and family - and most significantly their appearance.


I'm not hugely surprised to be honest, but I'm certainly happy to hear it. Having worked in the fashion industry since the day I left university, and now living in the land of physical perfection (Los Angeles), I've watched friends and colleagues develop ridiculous, negative attitudes to food, weight, and body image. In Los Angeles, it's all about the latest fad diet, weird and wonderful fitness regimes and comparing oneself to unfathomably skinny celebrities. Everyday becomes an obsessive calorie count, which ends with each person feeling like crap about themselves, because they will never be thin, tanned or toned enough, no matter how much effort they put in.

Louise Roe

It's not about going nuts and overindulging all the time, it's about society starting to realise that there has to be a balance.  Women are actually happier if the image projected from fashion magazines, red carpets and TV shows is a healthier, curvier one. The media needs to realise that women DO take those images as a cue, as an impression to follow, and that there's a huge responsibility on their shoulders to support a normal body image.


Mad Men's, Christina Hendricks 'Jessica Rabbit' curves are making huge waves on the red carpet, British designer Mark Fast sent size 14's down the runway at London's last Fashion Week, while Marc Jacobs is planning a plus-size line to add to his collection.


Take heed from these positive messages from role models and trendsetters, and before you start that crash-diet in time for the summer holidays, or before you look in the mirror and decide that you must lose five pounds, just give yourself a break, and think twice. In the words of  plus-size supermodel, Crystal Renn :


'Beauty? It's not a pant size.'


It's much better to relax and have a good time, this is your life, so you might as well live it." - Louise Roe






Click here for the full article : Why a size 14 is Fabulous!


Article courtesy of Msn.co.uk








My Response :


Both women have interesting views, and I agree with both of them.


I agree with Imogen, in regards to moderation, I believe everything is better in moderation, indulge once in a while, just don't go over board. She also has a fair point, in regards to weight vs body frame, if a petite woman was overweight and at a size 14 there would obviously be health risks and concerns, but if that woman was happy with how she is, who is anyone to tell her otherwise? Imogen's strongest argument, is moderation, and her main focus was on women who were petite, she didn't mention anything about women who were average height or beyond average height, so I would say her argument is biased, as she is a petite woman who was a size 14, she is basing her argument off of her own personal experience. As she rightly said, everyone is different, so just because she was unhappy at a size 14, doesn't mean all petite women will be.


I agree with Louise in her belief that you should be happy with who you are, it's your life and you have the right to live how you please. Her main argument is to be happy with yourself, but to also take care of yourself. She works in the fashion industry so she has first hand experience, of how harsh the fashion world can be. I also agree that the media has a responsibility to promote a healthier body image, as they dictate what is the latest trends, news, and fashion. I think the media has put so much pressure on women, to become something that is unattainable, which in result damages a woman's self-esteem and body image.


I personally believe in healthiness at any size, as long as you eat right, and try to exercise regularly, then don't allow your size to dictate your happiness, whether you're below or above a size 14. Life is much more than our dress size, and life is too short to constantly fret about how much you weigh or what size you are, let go and live life!

Your thoughts?

Crystal Renn : Losing her "Curves"?

Crystal Renn is undoubtedly a beautiful woman, however in recent events women are concerned that she is no longer “curvy” enough. Crystal was featured on the Glamour cover alongside Alessandra Ambrosio (Victoria Secrets) and Brooklyn Decker (Sports Illustrated), many thought that Crystal was “photo shopped into oblivion”. So the million dollar question is, has Crystal lost her “curves”? In my opinion, no. Has she lost weight, most definitely. Although many were happy to see Renn on the cover of Glamour, they also felt disdain, because she has lost a considerable amount of weight. I think a lot of curvier women are feeling that they can’t relate to Crystal anymore, perhaps its because she is currently a size 10-12; but whether she is a size 6 or 16, she is still an icon, and in my personal opinion, created the pavement for curvaceous women.


Over at Glamour.com, there was a debate on “"How "Curvy" do you have to be , to be "Curvy"?", essentially the debate was about being a “real woman” based on body types. I reiterate, what editor in chief Cindi Leive says, it doesn’t matter what size or shape you are, a real woman comes in different forms. A skinny woman is just as much of a real woman, as a plus-size or curvier woman. Another thing that was discussed was labels, and this has been playing on my mind for awhile. Why do we label ourselves? I mean why do we separate skinny from fat, or curves from no curves etc. Why is so important to label ourselves? I think we find comfort in labels, we belong to something instead of feeling alone, I just think there need to be more positive labels for everyone, not just plus size women (we really need to find another term, ergh I hate the term “plus-size”).


However, I do feel the mainstream media, needs to promote ALL sizes, not just stop at a size 20. Every size and shape needs to be celebrated, after all if we all looked the same the world would be such a boring place! I think slowly but surely the media is accepting curvier sizes, but there is still a long way to go. I'm hopeful that someday, EVERY shape and size will be admired, and celebrated and praised, instead of being put down and receive negative reactions.


So my questions are, can you still relate to Crystal? What is the definition of “Curvy” to you? And do you think that society and the media will ever accept anyone larger than a size 20?



LaCara

Slimmer Crystal...

Was this the Crystal you related to?

Curvier Crystal....

Inspiration : Crystal Renn

Its undeniable, Crystal Renn is an inspiration to every curvaceous woman in the world. From her charisma, to her extraordinary beauty she is continuously breaking boundaries in the fashion industry. She is the only “Plus-Size” model to be on the cover of Haper’s Bazaar, and appearing in four international Vogue editions. Crystal is definitely paving the way for curvy women in the fashion world. So here is a little dedication to Crystal.