“Beth Ditto is a fat lesbian. She’s also a fashion “icon”. Hilarious, isn’t it? I love fashion people, I really do. They’re so… how do I put this? Stupid? Yes, that’s it. They’re so stupid. Here’s what happened: stung by criticism of their unhealthy obsession with rexy supermodels, they hit back by lionising a pathologically exhibitionist 16 stone woman from Arkansas. Clever, huh? That’ll get the feminazis off their case. How can anyone say they only promote thin women when they are so enamoured of a porker like her?” Alex Bilmes, Features Director of British GQ, causing quite the stir on their blog
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 2:11PM
It's so true. So very true. I'm all for phasing out the "rexy" models and promoting healthy images, but Beth Ditto is just so extreme. I'm not someone who believes you have to be a size 2 to be healthy, but she is just flat out obese. What will the fashionistas do when she drops dead from a heart attack at 35?
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posted by nycshoegal
Jun 12, 2009 2:20PM
daaammmnnnnn ! i think i love him.
i do think it'd be fair to have included the paragraph that followed:
"The fact that Beth Ditto is morbidly obese, and therefore arguably just as bad an example to young women as a girl ten stone lighter than her, seems to have escaped their notice. Meanwhile, girls who fall between the two extremes - pretty much every vaguely healthy woman on the planet - are still routinely dismissed as being not interesting or beautiful enough to be photographed for a women's magazine."
applause.
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 2:29PM
This article came out last month - same kind of feeling but obvi not as mean - http://blogue.us/2009/03/19/beth-ditto-fashion-darling-or-fat-friend/
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posted by sugarshock
Jun 12, 2009 2:32PM
wow, does someone have a chip on their shoulders?
I don't see the fashion world's love for Beth Ditto as any stranger than their love for Lady Gaga (although Gaga has more style, in my opinion). Both Ditto and Gaga, with their flamboyant personalities, could be characters in John Waters movies.
The love of Ditto isn't any kind of calculated statement on the fat/thin issue – the fashion world loves nothing more than eccentric personalities.
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 2:43PM
Kudos to #5 for stating what no one else seems to want to. The Gossip sucks. I consider myself a bit of a "musicphile" (for lack of a better word), but I see no musical value in the Gossip. I just don't get the hype. All that woman does is scream at the same time a band plays mediocre-at-best melodies. I'm over the whole "We'll-pretend-to-like-her-because-she's-fat-and/or-plain-a la-Susan Boyle" effect.
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 3:12PM
"fashion" blog blogue, guest #8, is run by a trashy older woman whose husband threatened that he and "claw" would kick a pregnant woman in the stomach (samantha from missbehave.) I just wanted that lovely bit of info to be known if you are going to link to that trash.
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 3:13PM
"fashion" blog blogue, guest #8, is run by a trashy older woman whose husband threatened that he and "claw" would kick a pregnant woman in the stomach (samantha from missbehave.) I just wanted that lovely bit of info to be known if you are going to link to that trash.
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posted by grammyweezy
Jun 12, 2009 3:16PM
hmmm no. 11 has an interesting point. although i also agree that the fashion world's interest in her smacks of condescension. also, don't you sort of make out with hot dogs whenever you eat them?
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posted by astralgirl02
Jun 12, 2009 3:28PM
Wow, #14 & #15, have hate much?
I don't have a problem with people not liking the band (granted, I like "Standing in the Way of Control" and "Heavy Cross," but that's about it), but I think it's really cruel and douche-y to attack Beth Ditto for being gay and for getting some sort of notoriety in the fashion world, albeit as a plus-sized figure.
I think it's a double standard: everyone looooooved Karl Lagerfeld when he was fat just as much as they loved him now that he's anorexic (ha). Alber Elbaz is just as obese as Beth Ditto, and his high-water pants look with no socks and cankles is a dubious fashion statement, IMHO. Donna Karan was overweight for a long time, and I also seem to remember that Anna and her cronies tried to make the Rodarte girls lose weight as a "profile" for Vogue (so glad the sisters told Vogue to shove it in their own special way).
I'm sad for the demise of the days where EVERYONE was invited to the party. Do you think that if they were coming up now, someone old-school like Willi Smith, Anna Piaggi, Diane Pernet, ALT, and others of their unique ilk would be as welcomed into the mainstream world of fashion? Gareth Pugh is one of the few I can think of right now... anyone of color? Anyone that's plus-sized? Disabled?
Personally, I think not-- when I go to fashion events and galas, all I see are miles and miles of THE SAME: the same long glossy blowouts and six-inch heels, the same snooty editors in similar editor uniforms, the same old blah vanilla socialite BS. It's now a business of making women and men look the SAME, instead of celebrating creativity, cutting edge and diversity.
So I celebrate seeing someone like Beth Ditto in magazines wearing custom made pieces for her plus-sized frame, even if it's an pittance or an excuse for editors to keep on churning out more super-skinny Eastern European models doing the same old couture poses. Hell, at least it's something different to look at...
I'm glad this is up, I definitely welcome the debate!
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 4:50PM
You know, I don't believe for a second that people don't like fat people because they're "unhealthy", they just don't like them because they're fat.
I'm a fat person and I'm fabulous. I don't feel bad about it, I don't apologize for it, and I don't hate on skinny girls cause they're skinny. I just wish skinny girls could do the same.
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 5:24PM
#22: I don't care what people weigh. I care about health. I'm all for loving your body, but the "I'm fat and I love the way I am" only works for certain body shapes (hour glass figures). Beth Ditto is not one of them. The amount of weight she carries around her mid-section is just dangerous. I have known too many women who have dropped dead from enlarged hearts, etc and who were much smaller around the waist than Beth Ditto.
So, you may love your body, which I commend you for. But just please drop the "skinny girls are unhealthy and don't accepts themselves" bullshit. Yes, skinny can be dangerous. But the long-term and short-term health problems associated with high BMIs outweigh those associated those of being underweight.
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posted by bastylefilegirl
Jun 12, 2009 5:33PM
While he may have a point it's masked in douchiness. Seriously calling someone a "fat lesbian" is just not cool. And the fashion world promoting either extreme is so stupid.
After seeing Beth Ditto for the first time today, I started wanting to watch all my John Waters films again...and I'm now longing for Divine!
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 5:58PM
I never said anything about skinny girls or if they were healthy or not. I never said skinny girls don't accept themselves. Basically if you aren't in my family or close to me, it's none of my business what you do with your body and if you choose to engage in unhealthy behavior, that's you. It may not be wise but I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. And I'm also not going to call fat girls or skinny girls negative names. I'm too busy tying to love myself to spend time trying to make somebody else feel bad about themselves.
But this comment section is full of hate for fat people, if it were about health then why all the nastiness? And, to be honest, you don't really seem to care about health as much as you seem to care about people not knocking skinny people. Being overweight is unhealthy. Being underweight is unhealthy. Why spend so much time arguing about which is worse if they're both bad?
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 6:35PM
I can't stand Beth Ditto. I think she has the right to live her life as she pleases, and I don't believe that celebrities have any obligation to be "role models", whether they're fat or skinny.
HOWEVER, it's bad enough when skinny women run around naked and strip to their bare butts for magazines, but I'm sorry, naked obese flesh is just not attractive unless you have a fetish. It's just inconsiderate.
Plus, while we're on the topic of accepting people "how they naturally are"...some girls are naturally thin (not that all models are, just an observation from all the thin, normal-eating women I've known), and some girls are naturally chubby, but I don't know anyone who is "naturally" 250 pounds overweight and eats normally.
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 6:58PM
I have a problem with plus sized models (since we americans can't seem to ditch the cheese burgers and plus sizes have become a must). Ditto especially. She truely makes my stomach turn. She's ugly as sin. While beauty isn't the most important characteristic to being a model, it certainly doesn't hurt to have a face (or body) that people don't mind looking at. When I first saw her spread for "LOVE" I thought for sure I would vomit. It's disturbing that women now have to exploit thier (unhealthy) obesity because the over-indulgent lifestyle has forced us to accept them as "normal"
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posted by ohkino
Jun 12, 2009 7:37PM
I won't deny that obesity is unhealthy, or that Beth Dito is obviously overweight, however, this does not gurantee that she is a walking heart attack.
For all the models and fashion stars we see chain smoking, checking into rehab, undergoing crazy amounts of plastic surgery, being underfed, and performing other bodily harmful feats of greater or lesser extents, I think its odd to single out Beth Dito as a degenerate and unfit fashion icon.
I think there are deeper motives for people's dislike of Beth Dito, and I question the moralistic concern of the people saying they don't like her as a model simply because her weight is unhealthy.
If health was really all it came down to, wouldn't we expect all our models and designers to go to bed by ten?
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posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 8:50PM
its not becuase she's overweight that i don't like her. its because she wears her overweight-ness like some badge of honour.and because she's a loud mouth who likes to shove her beliefs onto other people. and because her band sucks.
and i agree that the fashion world's sudden gain of conscience towards is her is extremely condescending and phony and wont last too long. this guy is totally right on and just said what everyone else is thinking.
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posted by etoilee8
Jun 13, 2009 1:19AM
I hate all the negativity in general. I hate when Kate Moss gets blamed for every problem under the sun. You can't rely on celebrities to be perfect role models and raise your children (what a ridiculous notion). Goes the same for Beth Ditto. She's doing her thing and trying to be happy. Why can't people just let her do that? She'll do what's right for herself in the long run (because we either survive or we don't, that's the name of the game in the human race). I just don't like seeing people get picked apart. Especially when it's someone who contributes no negativity to this world. What has Beth done to people to deserve this sort of wrath? Absolutely nothing that I know of.
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posted by austinsamuel
Jun 13, 2009 7:36AM
Since when was it okay for the comments section to turn into a big massive burn book. When I rip on someone at leat they know I'm joking, but you're all just MEAN GIRLS. Cold hard shiny plastic.
I love Beth Ditto. And I think it's great she gets invited to all the parties. I mean, it's not like they're pool parties or anything....
If you only knew how mean you really are,
Beth is probably reading this.
I'm just really upset, especially at you Peter, you fucking gap toothed bitch.
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posted by Signature9
Jun 13, 2009 8:43AM
The tone of his article was completely unnecessary, but the following paragraph was spot on. And it's really a cop out to try to pin this on some "just trying to help" crusade against obesity. No one's started campaigning against coke, smoking and yes, sometimes anorexia with all of this faux concern. And while obesity vs. anorexia will constantly be debated (both can do serious heart damage), regular use of coke and smoking are without a doubt worse than regularly eating a cheeseburger and fries. If it's about health, focus on real health issues in fashion.
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posted by formerlyknownasguest
Jun 13, 2009 10:56AM
Alright, well who pissed in his coffee. Poster #1 seems to be the only sensible person here. While I don't enjoy Beth Ditto's music or image I don't think I would malign her the way this editor has. This editors tirade is so gauche and gratuitous.
And seriously, British GQ doesn't seem to champion healthy female figures I mean with all their past cover girl selections and all, so really what is this all about?
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posted by guest
Jun 13, 2009 1:03PM
oh man, the comments on this post are ridiculous. you stupid people don't hate beth ditto because she's unhealthy. its none of your business if she's healthy or not. you don't hate smokers because they smoke, and smoking is just as unhealthy as being 250 lbs if not more. you hate her because she's fat and you were taught by anna wintour that fat people cannot be beautiful. you hate her because you are prejudiced against fat people, especially fat lesbians who aren't ashamed of what they are and don't feel like they need to apologize for it.
Beth carries her fat like its a badge of honor because it kind of is. its part of who she is and who she is is fabulous. Its HER BODY, she can do whatever she likes with it and it is none of your fucking business. You might not want to be fat yourself but why does it matter to you that she is?
look I know most of you are teenagers, and I went through my ana phase in high school because I was impressionable and emo and stuff, but seriously GROW UP.
Also she sort of considers this whole fashion thing to be sort of an art project and her body to be the walking installation. Look at all the mindless hate and stupidity she has stirred up just on Fashionista - can you imagine how hilarious it must be to watch fashion people try to make nice with her at parties?
that quote is seriously shitty. It hates on fat people (which you know, I realize y'all think is acceptable), it hates on feminists (wtf??) and it definitely has an air of homophobia (how is that acceptable at all?). FASHIONISTA WHY DID YOU POST IT? DO YOU THINK IT IS A SWEET QUOTE?
SERIOUSLY I THOUGHT YOU GUYS WERE LIKE PAST 30 OR SOMETHING. SHOULDN'T YOU BE MORE MATURE THAN YOUR TEENAGE READERS?
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posted by RashomonRebel
Jun 13, 2009 1:32PM
That's really cool that #37 likes Beth. This is for you Austin
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posted by guest
Jun 13, 2009 1:33PM
42, dont tell us why we dont like beth ditto. and for all of the people here complaing about say mean things about her, have you ever heard what comes out of HER mouth???? i realize that two wrongs dont make a right, but she is no innocent girl just trying to make her way in a world of big meanies.
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posted by guest
Jun 13, 2009 4:45PM
I'm so glad someone pointed this out. As a lesbian myself, I thoroughly resent Bilmes use of the word in a derogatory manner, but he does have a point about Beth Ditto. My main problem is that she is idolized simply because she's an anomoly in the fashion world. She causes a stir, which we know the press loves. She is not fashionable. She is not attractive. And ever since she came out on the cover of LOVE i wondered why the hell she was a darling of the fashion world. I'm glad someone has their head screwed on straight, even if they may have a chip on their shoulder (rejected by hot lesbians too many times Alex?).
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posted by Jac
Jun 13, 2009 4:53PM
maybe we hate her because she's overindulgent? i try not to be a bitch about people's weight. but to me, it seems like people hate her because her fat represents extreme overindulgence. the models go without (which is really a lot more difficult than eating too much) and she has what she wants and doesnt exercise. On the one hand, I dont think women should feel this enormous pressure about their weight/looks. On the other, beth doesnt seem to have to do any of the "work" the other fashion people do. We're rewarding her for laziness/ having poor self control.
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posted by astralgirl02
Jun 13, 2009 7:14PM
Wow, #47... don't put your issues with "self-control" on anyone else. That's just stupid bullshit. Self-control has nothing to do with anorexia OR obesity...
Plus I'm glad that someone else mentioned the homophobia that the GQ writer clearly demonstrated. I hope that he gets shit-canned for that... I definitely will write a letter suggesting just that.
And like commenter #37 said, I'm sure Beth really gives a crap about what anyone else thinks. That's why she's waving at you from inside the VIP area with Karl, Kate, and the other fabulous people she's working with, and all of us are stuck on our laptops only talking about a blog post. Yeesh.
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posted by Jac
Jun 13, 2009 11:50PM
Anorexia has EVERYTHING to do with control. That's a key part of the disease. Don't imply that I'm stupid, clearly you have some reading up to do. Im not saying I support the idea either, just that its a possible reason as to why the anorexic/unhealthy models are nto demonized as much as ditto. Because their issues with control swing the other way. Obesity has to do with control also. Not really sure how anyone could argue that control has nothing to do with those two diseases. Not saying they can be helped (certainly not in a lot of cases), but control is a factor.
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posted by guest
Jun 14, 2009 8:26AM
He is completely right. Instead of trying to showcase healthier girls in general, they picked one fat girl (clearly not healthy weight either) to be a "fashion icon". And yet thinner-then-ever Natasha Poly & Anna Jagodinska were getting every high-fashion campaign.
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posted by guest
Jun 14, 2009 11:22AM
lol astralgirl, obesity has nothing to do with self control!? are you kidding, you must be, because it has everything to do with self control. i have been on both ends of the eating disorder spectrum, and i'm not hating on beth ditto because she's fat, its simply because i can't stand a word that she says, oh and she just had to pose nude.
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posted by nycshoegal
Jun 14, 2009 3:23PM
oh my word. OK class, settle down!
First off - homophobia? where did you see that? in the statement that Beth Ditto is a "fat lesbian"? i believe that's just a fact. fat? yes. lesbian? sure. I don't really think he was hurling a homophobic insult here, just stating the obvious. I honestly think that the commenters who are offended by GQ calling Ditto a lesbian are the ones who are truly homophobic.
Second... I myself (and i'm pretty sure the GQ editor is right there with me) don't hate on Beth Ditto because she's fat. Actually I could care less about Beth Ditto. But I do hate the fact that I was forced to look at her naked obese flesh on the cover of LOVE - and sorry, the whole "if you don't like it, don't look at it" just doesn't work when the media is shoving it in your face left and right. Trust me, I tried really hard not to look! my eyes still hurt.
So, i'm not going to go on about how unhealthy she is. She can eat herself to death for all I care, but can we just please not glorify it by saying that's the new "it" bod?
I just find it disturbing that having a nasty persona and a body of a whale that can't keep the appropriate (or any) clothes on somehow apparently gets you the title of a "fashion icon". I mean, what has she really done that has anything to do with fashion?
and since speaking your mind gets you "hate comments" around here, go ahead, bite me.
xo
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posted by soilikethelike
Jun 14, 2009 9:59PM
lol to the quote! and for those of you who do support ditto, you can now wear her naked self on a shirt brought to you by marc jacobs http://www.marcjacobs.com/#folder=/specialitems just scroll over a bit! lol again...
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posted by guest
Jun 15, 2009 12:19AM
Beth and I were in the same social circles a few years ago, and while I can't claim to know her well, I'd always been struck by how vulnerable she was. The truth is she worried, and did as many self-destructive things in regards to her weight as the dancers and models I know. Weight is an ultimately personal thing, and just because someone is naturally one size doesn't mean she's not troubled about it. She's a talented girl and a troubled one. I can only wish that the fashion friends she's made realize this.
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posted by louis
Jun 15, 2009 1:11AM
I absolutely LOVE when others cast opinions on someone else's weight. That is SUPER FUN.
I'm sure everyone here is on one side of the too thin or too fat line.
I'm sure you would LOVE to have one poke at your body and tell you what you're doing wrong. Beth can tell you. Kate Moss can tell you.
Just SHUT THE FUCK UP and stop the hate.
I am sick of so much fucking hate. Just be fucking indifferent. Don't listen to her music. Don't read about her in magazines.
Just be indifferent. Like I am to all of you right now.
I am Indifferent.
God. When will people learn?
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posted by Jean Voltaire
Jun 15, 2009 1:20AM
I feel sorry for Beth Ditto - I truly do. Not for her weight, obese or not, but for the simple fact that she is the laughing joke of the fashion industry. I think putting her on the cover of the FIRST issue of LOVE was a complete mistake. God bless Katie Grand and her creative mind but "Icons of our Generation"? Really? Beth Ditto, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Pixie Geldof? And then Courtney Love, Kate Moss and Anjelica Huston? I think not.
If anyone uses the whole argument that you don't need a superthin model to sell a magazine these days a la LOVE, that is complete rubbish. It is the first issue of one of the most exciting new magazines to come out of England in years, afterall.
And my last point is the Fendi party. Karl Lagerfeld does NOT accept fat/heavy/obese people - who are we kidding! What makes you all think he made an exception for Beth Ditto?
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posted by guest
Jun 15, 2009 1:32AM
louis, its kinda hard to be indiffrent when she's constantly being shoved in our faces as this wonderful, beautiful being. and you can't constantly being taking your clothes off everywhere and not exppect people to comment on it obviously your not too indiffrent otherwise you wouldn't have even bothered to post.
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posted by guest
Jun 15, 2009 6:22AM
Commenter 50 is stupid.
This "she doesn't care what you think" argument always comes up in situations like this but it is totally irrelevant.. nobody ever claimed she DID care; people are still entitled to their opinions and whether or not the celeb in question cares is totally irrelevant.
50 and a lot of other commenters really need to chill out.. I really doubt the guy who wrote this is a homophobic, sizest, woman hater.. people are taking these comments far too seriously and literally. Do American magazines not have jokey, delibrately provocative material that is meant to be more entertainment than serious commentary?
get over yourselves, all you people who seem to love get all outraged and worked up.
posted by guest
Jun 12, 2009 2:01PM
I hate to say it, but I kind of do agree with him. (I'm just not as angry or positively rude about it.) Both extremes are unhealthy, and the fashion world is putting on a show by endorsing Beth Ditto. I've never felt the enthusiasm for her was ever true or authentic; it was just a ruse against the painful emaciation most models go through.
This guy was a complete ass about it though. Firstly, he called her a lesbian as if it was a slur. That's downright rude. He also displayed his opinion in an angry rant as opposed to a well-thought out argument, which basically turns his opinion into stupidity. All in all, he has a point, but he's an absolute douche.