Comments on: Nina Garcia, You're My Only Hope

By: Big Fat Deal » Marie Claire thinks fat people are gross

Big Fat Deal » Marie Claire thinks fat people are gross — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:01:41 +0000

[...] back when Glamour had the Girl on the Bottom of Page 194 Lizzie Miller? It seems that we take two steps forward and three steps back when it comes to the [...]

By: Big Fat Deal » Glamour Said They Were Gonna

Big Fat Deal » Glamour Said They Were Gonna — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:31:51 +0000

[...] in August, the big news was the Woman on Page 194 of Glamour magazine–Lizzie Miller and her beautiful belly and her regular thighs, looking [...]

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:19:01 +0000

Thanks ChloeMireille for point that out. Also, being a plus sized woman or model doesn’t just have to do with weight. It considers height and body build as well. It’s very probable that Lizzy is a tall woman. Judging by what I have seen, I think she appears pretty tall and bigger built in her stature.

By: M

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:15:11 +0000

I don’t remember now if I left this comment on here or another blog, but I think magazines are trying more and more now to bring in/keep readers by playing both sides. They know that body positive messages will please people, but they also need to keep people insecure enough so they can still bring in ad money; how could they still sell all the “slimming” clothing or diet products if we – the general we – stopped caring about that?

It said that she’s 5’11″ and 180 lbs. That’s barely overweight according to BMI charts. I feel like the number 180 is meant to be somewhat shocking, but people forget that 180 lbs looks very different on someone that tall vs. someone much shorter.

By: dia

dia — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:33:06 +0000

I don’t think this is the beginning of anything. By next month’s issue, the media will have forgotten all about her. I’d love for there to be more size variety in magazines (and race, and taste, and just more variety in general!) but I’m not holding my breath. I think it’s just a fluke.

By: ChloeMireille

ChloeMireille — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:03:13 +0000

In an issue of arguing semantics, let me say this.

Lizzy may not be a plus-sized woman, but she is a plus-sized MODEL. The two are neither the same, nor are they similar enough to be interchangeable.

When you look at the demographic you’re dealing with, you have to change your definition. Most people start plus sizes at a 14 or 16. However, the modeling industry takes (and generally prefers) plus-sized models as small as a 40-30-40, which is noticeably smaller than a size 14.

By: SJL

SJL — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:16:12 +0000

I like the picture of Lizzi, and it is refreshing to see someone outside of the size 0 standard in a positive photo. But really, the job of fashion magazines like Glamour is to sell women clothes and beauty products, and until they start using women like Lizzi, or even larger and/or more diverse, to fulfill their central mission, its not much of a sea change. It’s more like a concession, a little tip of the hat to what many of their readers actually look like, done only in the “safe” context of body acceptance.

and the CNN guy who asserted that women still want “Aspirational” images really annoyed me. Another man with the armour of self-appointed authority sweeps aside the reactions of piles of actual women to tell us how we really feel.

Frankly, fashion mags are completely useless to me primarily because of their asinine articles about pandering to consumerist expectations and the male gaze, and a close second because their fashion spreads with extremely thin women provide no help whatsoever in informing me about how those clothes might look and fit on me or anyone I know in real life.

Really, my only reliable source on what clothes look like is either trying them on myself or going out in public and looking at other women. Maybe fashion mags should seek to replicate this valuable experience.

By: Bianca

Bianca — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:14:52 +0000

Obviously, alot of us don’t consider the model plus sized, and that calling her pooch a tummy is laughable, but I do think it is a step in the right direction. I think there are alot more women who can relate to the body that Lizzie Miller has, than the body Jennifer Aniston has.

However, the problem is that magazines need to keep taking more and more steps in the right direction. Show me someone with back fat. I can relate to that. Show me an apple shape with stretch marks on her belly. That’s what my body looks like.

The chances of that actually happening though, are slim to none (no pun intended).

By: lauramich

lauramich — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:34:58 +0000

After losing ~140 pounds, I wear a size 8-12 (depending on the type of clothing and the manufacturer). So technically, I’m smaller than Ms. Miller. But thanks to being older (35, as opposed to 20) and saddled with the loose skin that comes with a triple-digit weight loss, my tummy is still way bigger, flabbier, and saggier than hers.

I think my body image is reasonably sane, but I’m still coming to terms with the fact that this is my body, now, and I can’t change the fundamental shape of it short of surgery.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:16:35 +0000

“Arenâ€™t all living women real? Some may not be natural or may use other means to change their look or shape, but they are still real people with feelings like anyone.”

Yes they are, and I can’t tell you how passionately I am against using the term, period. All grous or individual women deserve to be called real women, no matter how “uncommon” their weight or proportions are.