Nicola Formichetti worked with this non-skinny model.

W Magazine recently sat down with Nicola Formichetti and the newly installed Mugler creative director, frequent Lady Gaga collaborator and celebrated stylist ruffled a few feathers with a quote that seems to imply he’s in the Limited Creativity Club of designers, stylists and fashion types who just can’t figure out how fashionable clothes can work on a non-sample size body.

“I was only used to dressing models and skinny kids. And I turned up and it was, like, three fat guys. I just left. That was the last time I tried to work with fat people. I think one of them was Ali Gâ€s brother. It was so ghetto,” he said, recalling his early styling days.

So there’s that, and the slightly annoying reemergence of the term “ghetto” for situations that really don’t seem to be.

There’s no clarification on that, but Formichetti did take to Facebook to challenge the “I don’t work with fat people” portion of the W quote. Formichetti posted several photos of “non-skinny” people he’s indeed styled since then, including plus-size models from V magazine’s infamous size issue with a number of captions that suggest there may have been more to Formichetti’s quote than was included in the article.

“dont [sic] believe all what you read on line..heres another favorite photo i created with beautiful scottee scottee for dazed. no matter if you are fat, skinny or whatever, we’re all born this way.” {Nichola Formichetti Facebook page}

Perhaps Mark Fast can offer a few words of advice

We weren’t sure that it was entirely necessary for Jean-Paul Gaultier to broadcast his use of models with varied body types in his last runway show, but it looks like the grand gestures are necessary for certain segments of the fashion industry.

Refinery 29 reports that Maayan Zilberman of lingerie brand The Lake and Stars wanted to cast straight size (0 to 2 on average) and plus size (typically size 4 to 10) models, but agencies were “horrified we’re putting girls from plus division in with [skinny girls], and some agents said flat out they wouldn’t put their ‘good girls’ with plus sized models.”

In 2009, Mark Fast encountered similar disdain from his show stylist for casting plus size models. In the end Fast stuck to his guns, but the stylist quit. {Guardian}

While it seems like passing the buck when we hear magazine editors complain that they can’t cast larger models because designers won’t send larger samples, it’s even more disturbing to hear that agencies and employees are actively discouraging designers when they do want to see their clothes on a variety of shapes beyond the standard size 0.

We give a little more artistic license to designers: if your clothes and design aesthetic are only flattering on one body type, it is what it is. Great designers should be able to create garments that flatter body types that don’t exactly match a garment form, but there are good designers who can’t, and still do pretty well. For the designers who want to be great, and have a wider vision (no pun intended) of style, narrow minds seem to be more of a stumbling block than narrow bodies.

Americaâ€s Next Top Model

Among the things she said were that Karl Lagerfeldâ€s acceptance of plus-size models as the photographer for the plus issue of V is phony because he previously denounced full-figured women as irrelevant to fashion, and that plus-size models are not truly becoming a part of fashion just because a few select girls have been able to land a limited number of magazine covers and runway slots.

Fair enough, Whitney. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a plus-size model – or anyone for that matter – calling out fashion leaders for using full-figured girls as a spectacle and declaring plus-size is in when size 0 is still the norm.

Hereâ€s what weâ€re more concerned about. Check out this line she fed The Huffington Post:

“It’s infuriating because we have to be excited, we have to be thrilled that there’s one issue that has girls who eat.”

Not okay, Whitney. We understand that anorexia is a serious issue among many models and that poor health and body image among models is something of concern in the industry. That does not mean that every straight-size model does not eat. Some women are naturally very thin. They do not starve themselves or exercise obsessively or regurgitate everything they eat. That is just how their bodies are naturally formed, and it is beautiful and every bit as real as curves.

Standing up for equal treatment and inclusion for girls who are above a size 2 in the fashion industry is perfectly fine, but there is no need to put down women with those size 0-2 body types while you are doing it.

A fairly recent blog post over at the gloss could not have put this more perfectly. Check it out here. And think twice before declaring another woman unreal or unhealthy based on her body type, no matter what it is.

This week, it was reported that Jean Paul Gaultierâ€s Spring 2011 runway show invitations promised a collection that would “explore the contrast between XXS and XXL.” The Gossip Lead Singer Beth Ditto, who is a reported size 26, opened the show, which also included size 10 Crystal Renn, who has become a Gaultier favorite over the past few years. {Fashionista}

The Renn we have seen lately is as gorgeous as ever, but debatable in terms of actually being full figured outside of the fashion world. Letâ€s put that aside though, since models who are anything but size 0 are still a rarity on the runway.

Fashionista points out that few critics mentioned the inclusion of Renn and Ditto in the show. Crystal Renn walked Gaultier’s runway years ago when she was heavier, and the designer has had a diverse cast of models. Variety isn’t anything new for the designer, but we think Gaultier himself should have followed the critics’ example.

By announcing in advance of the show, on the invitation, that everything from XXS to XXL will be included – as if it were some sort of novelty or main feature of the event – Gaultier only furthers the idea that bigger women are more spectacle/trend du jour than a real part of fashion. Because if it were completely normal to see women in a range of sizes in any given runway show, no one would mention it anywhere at all.

Since size 0 models are the current norm, perhaps it’s a necessary ploy to inform plus sized shoppers that Gaultier offers designer fashion options beyond a size 10.

If the designerâ€s goal was to make a statement about the widespread use of size 0 models exclusively, he would have done better to just put a size 26 model and a size 10 model in his show and shut up about it.  We applaud the action, but if more designers let women in a wider range of sizes walk the runway without saying a word of it, it could be the true start of a new norm.

Here is some potentially good news in follow up to our recent post about the rise of anorexia in men with the advent of the skinny jean: muscular male models with serious washboard abs are no more appealing than average or chubby men in advertisements.

According to a new study, the truth is you don't need them!

Phillippa Diedrichs, the study leader, showed mock jeans, skin care and cologne ads featuring muscular and average men to more than 600 students in their late teens, and the ads with average men were rated no less effective than those with hard bodied men.

If young males are no more drawn to muscular types than average types, perhaps super skinny male mannequins and models will also prove no more alluring or likely to inspire men to be unhealthy.

The Sydney Morning Herald hopes the results will fuel the debate about unrealistic body types in media images.

Diedrichs said some of the participants in her study ”may have attributed the models’ muscularity to vanity or homosexuality, characteristics which they may have found unpleasant or discomforting…The average-size male models [may have seemed] less concerned with their appearance.” {The Sydney Morning Herald}

We think it might just mean that most men are not as concerned with their appearances as previously thought.

Some bloggers noted that for every study there is another that yields opposite results. For example, Deidrichs conducted a 2008 study that found plus size female models were no less effective in selling products than super thin models, but a University of Arizona study discovered plus size models in ads sold fewer products than skinny models, so maybe those concerned with manorexia shouldn’t get too excited just yet. {The Cut}

Our only concern with the results of this study is that the male students rated ads that showed just the product with no model to be most effective. This could show that men prefer not to see any image to which they are bound to compare themselves, meaning young males are still susceptible to body image issues after all.

Like Vogue Italia’s Black issue, it’s nice to see underrepresented entities get a starring role in editorials, but that spotlight often stops at a single issue, and very rarely makes it over into the area that truly counts – advertising, which is a proxy for the creative direction of a label (aka the designer). As we were reminded by grotesquely photoshopped images from Ralph Lauren in 2009, impossibly thin is still the standard for many campaigns.

As could be expected, the post generated the usual faux concern about the models’ health as it relates to their weight, but the more interesting comments – while supportive, raised questions about the execution of the concept.

Some reactions:

“The fashion world gets called out for not using black models, so they do an all-black issue. They get called out for using rail-thin models, and so they feature plus-size models in another. They’re pretty, but they’re one-off gimmicks, no matter what grand statement they’re purported to make.” – TheCheese @ the Cut

“I’m trying my hardest to keep optimistic about the issue, and hell, maybe they’ll surprise me, but this demonstrates a lack of creative effort on their part. And as a high fashion magazine, they should have shown the same kind of forethought and attention to detail (to the clothes, backdrops, concepts, etc) they’ve consistently given to their size 0’s.
This would be a much better issue if they just treated them like they weren’t different, instead, because of the aforementioned neglect, like somebody before me said, they just keep screaming, “HEY LOOK AT THESE FAT GIRLS.” – JonGarciao @ the Cut

“Whatâ€s next V? If you really support ‘curvy†women, then I will expect to see more curvy women in next V edition, and not only this spread.” Erwin @ Models.com

What do you think; is this a novelty or an early indication of more diverse body types in fashion?

Read more {the Cut}

Read more {Models.com}