Welcome to Liverpool Confidential
Reset Password
The Vote
You are here: Liverpool Confidential › The Vote.
Is size 14 too big for a model?
A designer used size 14 models at London Fashion Week and the stylist walked out in disagreement. Who is right?
| Yes: |   - 24% |
| No: |  - 76% |
Last week was London Fashion Week, 'the spectacle that sees 16-year-old Lithuanians galloping down the catwalk' according to our catwalk-side correspondent, Ingrid Jackson. And she does have a point. Gone are the days when five particular models were admired for their slim yet sturdy Amazonian frames. Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington are widely regarded as the original supermodels long before size zero existed.
And then came along a 14-year-old by the name of Katherine Ann Moss, better known as Kate Moss.
Moss ushered in the waif look that was to dominate the 90s and carry through to the size zeros of today. Speaking about the trend, Moss once said: "It was a swing from more buxom girls like Cindy Crawford. People were shocked to see what they called a 'waif'. What can you say? How many times can you say 'I'm not anorexic'?"
Fast forward to this year's London fashion Week and designer Mark Fast who took the size matter into his own hands, vowing to feature size 12 and 14 models in amongst the zeros.
His bold decision caused chaos behind-the-scenes, and resulted in his stylist walking out. His larger sized models, Hayley, Laura and Gwyneth took to the runway to model his knitwear designs, as planned.
Fast's managing director, Amanda May, said she was "so happy we stuck to our guns over the casting". Fast's decision to shake up the skinny world of modelling is part of a bigger revolution whereby some fashion houses, editors and models believe the narrow vision of beauty offered by the fashion world needs to be changed. Vogue magazine reportedly requested larger-sized clothes from designers for some of their photo shoots, earlier this year.
With several incidences of frail and fatigued models collapsing, suffering from anorexia and in the most extreme cases, dying, it's no wonder Fast is being hailed the 'size hero'. But aren't we missing the fundamental rules of advertising which unfortunately don't include getting people to make nice, empathetic rational decisions?
Of course, most women will say they want to see a woman they can identify with on the catwalks and in the magazines, but is a woman with a muffin top really going to sell clothes in the same way as a slimmer girl who has a figure that society (or at least the fashion world) deems more attractive? The proof will be in the figures – the sales figures.
Whilst the original supers ought to be resurrected, it could be argued that Mark Fast has gone too far in tipping the scales the other way, possibly for publicity purposes. Or maybe Fast's actions were drastic for a reason. Often it takes such action and bold statements to make a real difference, and Fast certainly has got people talking....
Do you think size 14 is too big for a model? Vote on the Liverpool Confidential homepage.
Like what you see? Enter your email to sign up for our newsletters which are chock-a-block with more great reviews, news, deals and savings.
26 comments so far, continue the conversation, write a comment.
Latest Rants
Voting is irrelevant if it comes down to money, no one seems to know what is important art, culture…
Read moreDid you do applications in the same elegant and well composed style you've used here?
Read morewatch next time you see the government in parliament on telly, some are asleep and some are pissed
Read moreif the muppets in downing street stop shutting firms down there would be plenty of jobs. ive…
Read more
I like ladies to have delightfully quivering orbs, not xylophone ribcages reminiscent of Belsen newsreels.
Those girls in the woods have 'lucky legs' - they're lucky that they don't snap in half and stick up their arses.
I went off Sophie Dahl when she unconvincingly pretended to eat a single morsel of her childhood favourite food whilst Nigel 'what a tw*t' Slater sucked up to her on his rubbish television programme last year.Mind you, he puts me off anything.
My meat juices are perfect for mopping up with a single little gem lettuce leaf
Nigel Slater's face is perfect for repeatedly punching, whether ot not it produces meat juices.
It's the way he always slags off his parents as if they were cruel to him when he was young. They gave him a better standard of living than I had or anyone I know had, but they had the temerity to serve him the same food everyone else in a lower middle-class household had in this country at the time. For this he subjects them to a public hate campaign whenever he has the opportunity! I hope they haunt him.
Size 14 is way too fat if u r modeling. Who wants to see love handles in the magazines. Noooone is gonna buy your clothes. I'm in an 8 and I work hard to stay that way and why shud fat woman laze around and be made to luk gud when it aint true
you cheeky bitch fuck you
you cheeky fuck im a size 14 and im not a lazy cow u judgemental anrexic shallow fucking bitch get fucked
nik16 , because your a size 14 or 16 doesnt mean your lazy. my day start at 7 am and i dont stop till i go to bed,you have a very negative attitude am am glad am not your mate!! so your saying if your a size 14 you cant look good, well am a 16 and i no i look good!!i bet iv had more compliments than you.v had hot dinners!!
She's never had a hot dinner by the sound of it.
nik16 buy a dictionary and look up t'ick model
size 14 is way to fat if u r yodelling
What's wrong with keeping in shape. Clothes don't hang right on overweight women.
Not if they're proper clothes and they fit, that's the point of fashion. And since when has size 14 been 'overweight'?
The fashion industry is run by misogynists who are happy to see women feeling faint and looking like malnourished children.
I have no comment to make on this, it's just that the alert function on my mobile goes off like the klaxon on a submarine about to dive anytime somebody types "Yodelling" on the internet. All the bedroom lights are on in the street now. Who was it? But while I am here Mrs C is a size 16 and proud of it. Mind you her other foot is size 9 which is probably why she keeps walking in circles.
i would rather see a size 14 / 16 modeling than a 8/10. i would hate to wake up every morning looking like a lampost.. straight up and down. big girl are beautiful!! and sean clothes just hand on skinny women and look bloody awful!! think you need a real woman somethink to grab hold of. yer can get ribs in the butchers anytime!!
Nothing wrong with the larger lady, except when they're wearing a short skirt or leggings.
"Larger lady" Dig? Surely you mean 'normal' lady? Fashion models are undernourished freaks.
Undernourished freaks? I bet you wouldn't say no if one offered to take you to bed.
I'd imagine it's a lot like sleeping with a man, going off their proportions anyway, so I can see how you'd be attracted Dig ;)
Imagine it! It would be like an act of beastliness with a pile of coathangers!
Who are you calling a hooker?
Can't say I've even imagined it, let alone be attracted to it Anonymous. But now Stanley Street has mentioned it I can't stop thinking about rolling around on a pile of coathangers. Ouch.
The appallingly dim Sophie Dahl was on Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall’s team on Channel 4’s ‘The Big Food Fight’ last night. She was so terrified of gaining weight she didn’t even taste the mystery food they had to identify, she just pushed a fork around in the bowl for a while hoping people wouldn’t notice.