Traditionally, modelling agencies scout for new models in areas that draw in young svelte ladies. Places like the high streets, malls, stores, shops, and festivals. Most of them will be over the moon when scouts pick them out from dozens of other beautiful girls with the silhouettes that they require for the fashion industry.
Plus-size models were rare. Only a few women had the confidence to even think about becoming models. However the modelling industry required plus-sized women to showcase large-size apparel. However, they had a way of working around that challenge. They never gave large and full-bodied women a thought anyway; obviously, they fared well without them. Not anymore. Things have changed.
Today, the modelling industry appreciates the fact that they must scout for and employ full-bodied women as models. Now, scouts seek prospects in fast food restaurants like Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Subway with the belief that larger women eat junk foods. And there are many beautiful big-bodied women in those fast food joints.
Plus-Size Modelling Industry Tricks
How did modelling agencies work around the challenge of showcasing plus-size clothing? They use what can be referred to as “modelling tricks”. Whenever they require models to showcase their plus-sized clothing creations, fashion designers prefer to stick to the use of skinny women.
Padding tricks:
When fashion designers use fat suits to make a size 10 model appear like a size 16, it is called model padding. Padding is done to get the required curvaceous silhouette typical of curvy plus-size models. And to turn a woman four sizes up takes just a few minutes. Pads cut out of foam are used to fill out hips and bottoms, creating full curves in all the right places and without the flab.
An increasing number of models are padded as a quick way of showcasing plus-size creations on the runway. Hear one model say, “I was advised to get a padded undergarment that adds a couple of inches to your bust, waist and hips, a fat suit, so to speak”.
The good news is that the fake-fat look is fast becoming unacceptable. After all, we all find it hard to believe there are no full-figured curvy women out there who aspire to be in the modelling profession. Those who design and retail wear for plus-size women now realise that they don’t need thin models clad in fat suits to showcase their creations and goods.
Photoshop tricks:
It is no news that models get photoshopped using photo editing software. Photoshop tricks changed fashion advertising, turning young willowy size 6 women into size 14 robust curve models.
From glossy fashion magazines and brochures to billboards and brand websites, photoshopped advertisements with extremely altered models create unrealistic body images. Hear Dr McAneny, “in one image, a model’s waist was slimmed so severely, her head appeared to be wider than her waist. We must stop exposing impressionable teenagers to ads portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software.”
The ability to alter body-shape details in an image has raised a question from plus-size apparel consumers, “Isn’t this deception by the fashion and modelling industry?”
Good News for the Plus-Size Modelling Industry
The good news is that there has been a rapid drive towards regularising the appearance of models in fashion showcasing. This means that skinny models now model skinny clothes and plus-size models showcase fashion for the big-sized woman. Women come in all shapes and sizes and you need the right representation for each.
The time is here for realistic fashion campaigns. They must eliminate fat-suit padding and fake air-brushed effects. Just like we now see in current fashion magazines, plus-size modelling tricks should be unacceptable methods in the modelling industry.