Magazines, People Are Talking, People We Like, Slideshows
Does Size Matter?
By Abby Gardner
Nope.
We know we’ve been talking about this V shoot for a while now, but luckily after taking a look at just a few preview shots we can happily say we are not disappointed.
Terry Richardson shot Jacquelyn Jablonski and Crystal Renn in the same looks (the Proenza is an early favorite) illustrating that, in fact, size doesn’t matter when it comes to beautiful clothes and beautiful girls. Hooray!
Sad as it is that this needs to be pointed out, we’re glad that someone is making the statement. And kudos to all the fashion houses that created samples in non-sample size for the shoot because there’s no way a lot of this stuff had gone into full production by the time this was shot.
Let’s do this more often, people! Seriously. If you can look at this and tell us that clothes don’t look good on a girl that isn’t a twig, then we just don’t even know what to say.
Tags: Crystal Renn, Jacquelyn Jablonski, Terry Richardson, V
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I’m a thin woman, and would LOVE to look like Crystal Renn. She has womanly curves and looks sexy – I think us skinny types leave a lot to be desired. I wish the fashion industry would stop putting so much stock in starving models. Nobody likes it! When will they get the message??
I think this is a great start but I think it could be even more powerful. Here we have your typical skinny model and a “plus size” model (aka size 8 average woman). I’d like to see them pull this off with real plus size women. Make a REAL statement.
Leese women of any size can be beautiful – don’t beat yourself up, plenty of people like it! :)
I agree with Leese. Renn looks amazing and in my opinion better. She’s does those clothes justice.
http://vinesteet.blogspot.com/
I’d love to say that Crystal Renn has been one of my favorite models since her edit with Hilary Rhoda in Vogue’s 2007 shape issue. Unfortunately, the next time I saw her in print was in People magazine a few months ago, touting her book, Hungry. The girl can’t seem to get a job. And I think she’s beautiful. I know there are certain young women whose thighs have the girth of a swimming noodle (my best friend’s younger and anger-inducing sisters), so no offense to them, but Crystal just looks so much healthier than Jacquelyn! And she has an ass! An ass! I miss asses. With so many porny fashion mags out there you’d think the next time Purple wants to have an impromptu titty party they might invite some well-endowed women to join in on the fun. In all seriousness, I really hope that women of all shapes and sizes are included in fashion, sooner rather than later. Beauty isn’t restricted to seventeen-year-old Eastern European tree girls and I’d love to hear my girlfriends stop calling themselves fat. Or just in general bringing up weight, fixating on it, freaking out about it. I don’t know who you are, internet blog commenter who might be reading this, but I’m pretty sure you’re beautiful and I’m damn sure you’re not too fat.
I wonder if the images are PhotoShopped?
Sean – are you kidding? Crystal Renn can’t get a job? She’s been in U.S. Glamour, a huge edit in Canadian Elle, and was in Europe last week doing a shoot for Italian Vanity Fair (at least if you believe Fashionista). Not to mention V. She’s been all over lately.
Hm…I actually like it better on Jacquelyn.
MOST of this looks better on Renn, which is amazing. I feel bad though, because had they used a better model, perhaps like Raquel or Anja, the “skinner” girl would have at least put on a worthy fight. I mean, if you’ve seen the picture where they’re both wearing a black top with a visible bra… It’s not even fair. Renn looks so much more comfortable and BETTER than Jablonski, by miles and miles. I applaud this shoot!
Am I the only one who HATES this?
As far as I’m concerned the underlying cultural problem is that a woman’s worth is tied up in her appearance – exchanging one ideal for another doesn’t solve a damn thing.
Love the concept but the editorial itself is pretty boring to look at. They really could’ve spiced things up a bit, instead of using a simple white background.
I agree with commenter 10. I don’t like that a “skinny” girl is pitted against a “curvy” girl. Why is a woman’s worth put on her appearance/weight? I hate the saying “Real women have curves.” Does that mean a woman who is petite and thin is not worthy of being called a woman? Both women are beautiful. Calling a woman too skinny and saying it’s not sexy and not what a man likes is as wrong and biased as calling out a woman for being overweight. As long as you are healthy and happy, no matter if you’re a 0 or a 14, that is what matters!
The thinner model looks better. Sorry.
Guest 12 – the problem is that all we see is skinny women. Skinny women don’t represent 100% of the female population. Size 14′s like fashion too! It sucks that statement even needs to be made. Why can’t we just have a fairer representation of all women?
in the end, it’s about selling products, and what ultimately sells is aspiration. a size 2 is harder for most women to achieve than a size 8, so it’s held up as an example of beauty to make us buy things. and then, every once in awhile, the mind-trip of “no, you over there, you’re okay too!” is tossed out to keep people mollified (and to keep people like commenter 1 on their toes, too).
it’s cruel, but it clearly works.
I think Crystal looks better in these clothes for sure. She’s PERFECT.
Wow, regardless of what you think about whose body looks better, I don’t think you can deny that Crystal is WORKING her face so much better than Jacquelyn.
Why don’t we ever discuss height when it comes to models? I mean it is much easier to change ones size than height. How about some shorter models then! (At least my dreams wouldn’t have to be completely crushed :))
yeah i agree with 10. in the end, whether a size 0 or a size 10, we’re all just pathetically obsessed with the way we look. the curvy vs skinny debate really irks me. there is so much more out there than those two things. some women have big hips, big boobs, small boobs but big butts, thin legs, big necks, big ears etc. it’s one thing to be called overweight, but it’s pretty damn insulting to be told you look unwomanly or boyish if you don’t have curves. these “go curvy!” people look just as foolish as people who obsess over skinny models.
agree SO much 18! i’m 5’3, and when i hear people call sasha the short one, i’m like really? i would love to be 5’7!
All the skirts are too short to really look good on Renn.
Guest 12 all the way. It’s just like (and I apologize in advance for bringing this into the arena) the backlash against our last president at the end of his term. Granted, he was pretty awful, but the extent to which he was demonized was, in many ways, just as ignorant and polarized as the man himself. Jumping from one extreme to the other is not a sound approach to important matters, whether they be politics or body image. Editorials like this are great for perspective, but like someone else said, the whole “REAL women have curves” thing does tend to sound a bit like wounded pride.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but, in most cases, aren’t emaciation and obesity BOTH unhealthy? I won’t argue about aesthetics; it’s too subjective a point for any judgment to be considered “valid.” So, instead of trying to define the undefinable, why can’t we just focus on health? Healthy girls, with healthy eating habits and healthy bodies?
Oh, and my comments are directed towards the weight debate in general, not the V story, except where it’s mentioned.
how is saying big girls are better by default any less patronising and shallow than saying skinny girls are?
Im no im not really alloud to say it but perfection would be Jacquelyn’s legs under Renn’S upperbody. And if that isnt possible. I would like to say that Jacquelyn won sorry. Renn’s legs are just a tad to fat for me.
@17, i actually like jacquelyn’s faces better. i thoght both looked basically the same, like twins almost
Not a fan of the Renn pics. They do NOT make me want to buy the clothes she’s wearing. Sure, the clothes don’t look bad on her, but these silhouettes aren’t exactly hard to pull off. Notice they don’t have her modeling harem pants or skinny jeans. My biggest problem, though, is that she doesn’t look healthy – she just looks fat.
can someone explain to me when being bigger became synonymous with being curvy? i know plenty of bigger girls who have no ass or no hips (i.e. sherri shepard when she was bigger). just because you’re bigger, doesn’t mean you’re curvy and just because someone is skinny doesn’t mean that they have no curves. it’s the shape of the person’s body that matters imo.
I agree with 10. Ok so now it’s skinny vs fat? All women are beautiful and we should all love our bodies. Why are we constantly trying to please people other than ourselves and convince ourselves that our body type is the right type? And if I may add, the thin model in the spread makes her poses more ‘fashion’ while the bigger model looks like she’s waiting for a guy to grind up on her in ever single pic. Come on girls, life isn’t about pleasing men! Love + respect yourself!
Jacquelyn looks much better
Crystal’s legs look too thick when compared side by side with Jacquelyn. The shoot’s a nice idea, though.
i kind of hate this photo shoot. i’m barely looking at the clothes, i’m just scrutinizing the bodies of both girls, mostly comparing their legs. i couldn’t help but think that renn would look better if she lost like 15 pounds. and i think some of the clothes just don’t look good on bigger girls, especially renn since her legs are so thick. and that’s why models have to be thin. most clothes look good on tall thin people. it’s ridiculous to say that emaciated-model thin is solely what our society promotes as its beauty standard. people in hollywood are thin, but they aren’t model-thin. renn went from like 110 pounds or something to 180 pounds. i understand that 110 is seriously unhealthy, but for someone who makes her living off her appearance, i just think that 150 or 160 pounds would just look better.
The skinny girl is only “pitted” against the plus-size girl if that is the preset of the viewer. This could be viewed as an equilibrium of aesthetically good looking people in designer clothes, instead of one vs. the other. But we’re all so obsessed with that concept, hate it as we might, that we can’t get over the battle of the waistlines.
That aside, I agree with commenter #15 – aspiration sells. I don’t get excited about fashion when I see mediocre people. I want to get excited when I open magazines, not nod indifferently at happy mediums and equal opportunity for all women who want to model, whether 90 pounds at age 13 or overweight, 5’2″, 45-y-o, missing limbs, etc.
This story is beautiful, I love it!
I think they both look good depending on the outfit.
As for those people who said Renn is FAT. I don’t think she is FAT. She is voluptuous. If you want to see FAT go to the mid west and you’ll find FAT.
They’re both beautiful.
ive gotta agree with 14. i hate how magazines display super skinny models that look like theyre happy while theyre really starving themselves to get another gig. renn looks healthier, and happier, and represents the other half of the world [the not super skinny people]that has not been out of their hiding place for a while. i feel that the fashion world should take a turn for the unexpected, and instead of coming out with a new look in clothes, come out with a new look for models. we should make women feel comfortable with their weight, instead of constantly reminding them that the world wants skinnier women. although ive gotta disagree with all of the comments made about skinny people not having curves. about every thin girl i know has better curves than the fat ones. and i think that you have to be slightly overweight to have good curves. being really overweight adds curves in all of the wrong places.
I think Crystal is a lot prettier than the thinner model. They just aren’t fierceness equivalents. Looks good on both of them, but Crystal’s got the attitude.