More and more I’ve been reading about how plus size models and industry people are asking for the word “plus” to be taken out of rotation. As someone who has been in the industry for many years, it makes me wonder why the sudden push to fade out the word “plus” has been introduced in so many conversations.
On the one hand we have people who believe that there should be no distinction between the models, and that this would open up doors for more “plus size” models. They believe that the word “plus size” makes the models “less than” and that with the word “plus”, they are not afforded the same opportunities as their straight sized counterparts.
I can understand why “plus size” models, especially those that are on the smaller side of plus, would not want to be called plus size models – since they are not plus sized women, but isn’t that the reason they tell us when we ask “why is a size 8 and 10 considered plus size”?
The plus size modeling industry began as a response to a growing industry that clothed plus size women in sizes 12/14 and up. In years past the clothing for plus size women was very mature and not stylish – most young girls either made their own clothing or suffered through their school years, because the clothing was not age appropriate. The models were also bigger, size 16 and 18 worked sometimes as much as size 12 and 14, and Wilhelmina’s plus size division called themselves Wilhelmina 10/20, which they changed last year to W Curve. Models like Taylor Bartoe, Jessica Lavoie, Charlotte York and Lisa Scott were visibly plus sized and working regularly.
Plus Model Mag -- Daily Venus Diva.
Why is there a “Plus Size” for women 14 and up and not a “Less Size” for women 10 and down? Maybe size 12 should be called the” normal size” as both Plus size and Less size claim it… We are Women not a number it is time we drop all labels.