Weekly Writing 2

1. Eric Wilson, in his article The Triumph of the Size 12s (New York Times, 01/13/2010) writes about Crystal Renn, a size 12 plus-size model who has been very successful in the fashion industry as of late, booking spreads in Baazar, Vanity Fair, Glamour, and Vogue. Wilson attributes Renn’s popularity and the recent proclivity of high fashion magazines to include spreads or entire issues featuring plus-size models to the public outcry against “alarmingly thin models”. These magazines have been encouraged, says Wilson, by positive reader response to such features. According to Wilson, plus-size models are often criticized for being smaller than the average woman (a size-14) and often retouched to look larger. Crystal Renn, in her book, Hunger, complains that normal is the new overweight and professionals in her industry are often telling her that she doesn’t look fat. Stephen Gen, the editor of V, the most recent magazine to devote and entire issue to plus-size models, remarked to Renn that she “doesn’t look big”. Wilson closes with a quote from Renn’s book, “I’m fighting for something,” Ms. Renn said. “I believe fashion can be a place of diversity. It’s not going to happen overnight, but do you want it to?”



2. In Eric Wilson’s article, The Triumph of the Size 12’s in the New York Times, Wilson writes about Crystal Renn, a size 12 model who has become quite popular in the fashion world. Renn, like many other plus-size models has gone from starving herself to fit into a size 2 to being celebrated for her crossover to mainstream modeling in publications like V, Glamour, and Vogue as a size 12. Wilson is correct to assess and address this phenomenon in his article. The fashion world has recently made such a fetish out of plus-size models that plus-size models’ photos are often retouched not to make them thinner, like thin models or celebrities, but appear larger or more curvaceous. It is a “perverse reality” in the fashion world that plus-size models or those with visible breasts or hips are fetishized. Wilson is right to argue that Renn is triumphant. She is the first plus-size model to break out into the mainstream. Even with the retouching, a healthy model is a better example than one that is unhealthy. Continued coverage of this issue, especially following the prevalence of anorexic-looking models, can only positively influence the public and the fashion industry.

3. In Eric Wilson’s article, The Triumph of the Size 12’s in The New York Times, Wilson argues that Crystal Renn, a size-12 model has become very popular due to a backlash in the fashion world against size-2 models and as a response to a call for diversity in fashion magazines. Wilson assumes that the inclusion of plus-size models is a turn toward acceptance of larger-sized women by the fashion industry and a turn towards diversification of the modeling industry. The fact remains though, that each magazine that includes a photo spread or devotes an entire article to plus-size models does so under the pretense that they should be celebrated for the risk they’re taking. They do so, not because these models are being accepted in the industry, but to make a point and sell more issues. Renn is only one model who is being accepted and shown off so that the fashion industry can congratulate themselves on how progressive they are.


4. The rhetorical situation: The author is a reporter for the New York Times. The author was prompted to write the article as a response to the recent conversations surrounding plus-size models and especially as a response to the issue of V magazine featuring only plus size models. Wilson writes under the constrains of the New York Times, a liberal leaning though very reputable national newspaper. The audience is readers of the NYT, and especially the readers of the Styles section of the NYT. Because of the publication in which this article appears, it’s expected that it will be largely representative of the situation and the dialogue surrounding an issue.
Crystal Renn is featured as a representation of a larger movement and perhaps the forbearer of that movement and Wilson brings up the issues surrounding her popularity, the fact that plus size models may feel pressure to do things like wear padding or expect that their photos will be retouched to make them appear even larger. This article appears at a time when the fashion industry appears to be at a crossroads, there are two sides, the older fashion community who believes that plus-size models are a fad and should not be a part of a clan where anything outside of sample size is not acceptable. The other side of this argument comes from a new movement that is striking out against unhealthy models. This side argues that models should be representative of the real population, of a healthy weight, and of diverse shapes and sizes.