If the average American
woman (and clothing consumer!) is a size 12, why is
fashion photography filled with size 0 models?
It's an interesting question, and one that has only recently begun to be asked.
In the days of Rembrandt, Reubens and Renoir, larger women were seen as glamourous and beautiful. Today they're nearly ignored by the fashion industry with the exception of a few progressive designers.
Did larger women suddenly stop being beautiful? Of course not.
Tastes changed, relative to what a small number of people (the fashion industry) thought. This change, filtered through another small number of people (the advertising industry) heralded the end of Marilyn Monroe curves and brought in the age of Twiggy and ultimately today's crop of eating disorder fighting size 0 models who look like a burlap bag full of antlers. This of course brought in the age of predatory medicine and nutrition, developed with the sole idea of using insecurity and poor self esteem to sell everything from creams to exercise gear to mumus. It's all kind of creepy.
Efforts like Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty and other market-based approaches are helping. So are art projects like Leonard Nimoy's Full Body Project and Jen Davis' self-portraits.
FrozenRhino Photography wants to help by showing the beauty that exists in women with real-world bodies, figures, faces and skin. We're not out to change the world. We just like to take photos of beautiful women who happen to be larger than a size 8. Or 12. Or 20.
If you're interested in doing a shoot, please take a look at the About the Photo Shoot page and check out the Our Portfolio page. That will give you an idea of the type of work we do.
Lastly, a huge thank you to anyone coming over from my shot on File Magazine. I'm flattered and honored to have my work there amongst exceptional company.
Updated 23 March 2008
It's an interesting question, and one that has only recently begun to be asked.
In the days of Rembrandt, Reubens and Renoir, larger women were seen as glamourous and beautiful. Today they're nearly ignored by the fashion industry with the exception of a few progressive designers.
Did larger women suddenly stop being beautiful? Of course not.
Tastes changed, relative to what a small number of people (the fashion industry) thought. This change, filtered through another small number of people (the advertising industry) heralded the end of Marilyn Monroe curves and brought in the age of Twiggy and ultimately today's crop of eating disorder fighting size 0 models who look like a burlap bag full of antlers. This of course brought in the age of predatory medicine and nutrition, developed with the sole idea of using insecurity and poor self esteem to sell everything from creams to exercise gear to mumus. It's all kind of creepy.
Efforts like Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty and other market-based approaches are helping. So are art projects like Leonard Nimoy's Full Body Project and Jen Davis' self-portraits.
FrozenRhino Photography wants to help by showing the beauty that exists in women with real-world bodies, figures, faces and skin. We're not out to change the world. We just like to take photos of beautiful women who happen to be larger than a size 8. Or 12. Or 20.
If you're interested in doing a shoot, please take a look at the About the Photo Shoot page and check out the Our Portfolio page. That will give you an idea of the type of work we do.
Lastly, a huge thank you to anyone coming over from my shot on File Magazine. I'm flattered and honored to have my work there amongst exceptional company.
Updated 23 March 2008