New Interview with Plus-Size Model Crystal Renn
GlamChic recently did an interview with plus-size beauty Crystal Renn, where they talked about promoting healthy bodies, future projects and style icons. Here’s a part of it:
How would you describe the typical model’s fashion week diet?
Whether or not you have a weight problem during fashion week it’s a mental game that is imposed on these girls and so people in fashion week eat less and they believe they’re natural, however I don’t have to do such things.We we’re pleased to see that Glamour has recently been embracing plus-size models and applauded British Vogue’s Alexandra Shulman’s case against too skinny models, but are there any other woman’s magazines out there that you think convey a healthy body image to young women?
Let me just tell you something about Glamour, they were the only people who ever called my agency and said this girl has a problem. They are all about health and promoting women’s issues. There is a growing interest in healthy bodies and I have seen that even in Vogue. And the fact that I have done Vogue and been able to do it is a sign of change. I commend them for using me. Glamour, I have to say is one of the leaders of the pack. I remember I was completely ill on that shoot when my disorder got worse and they called my agency and said something is very wrong with her.Were you angry?
At the time I was really embarrassed because someone had figured me out. They called it and brought it to light. I wasn’t only not only not pleasing my agency but I wasn’t pleasing Glamour. When I became a healthy model like I am now, they were one of the first people to shoot me at this size and that says something. I am happy to be associated with them because there message is the same as mine. They really care about their readers and you can tell.What’s next for you?
My goals would be to continue speaking about body competence and telling women they don’t have to look just one way. What’s naturally next would be to design a clothing line of some sort because I don’t think my taste is out their for curvier women. I have rock n’ roll taste that should be available for size 12 and above. I would love to go into the beauty industry and be the face of a makeup brand. It’s what women want to see. I love makeup and I find it very cool and it’s an arena I want to experience.
Check out the rest of the interview HERE!
Okay they have SKINNY models, PLUS SIZE models..
And yet they’ll NEVER have average weight models! Or even average weight! its either too thin, or too fat
*average height i meant to say!
plus-size models ARE average weight
a regular model ranges from emaciated to skinny. a plus size model means fat in the fashion world, but in reality it means average weight….like a size 6, 8, 10, or 12 (keep in mind a size 12 is VERY different on a 5′10″ model than it is on a regular 5′4″ girl). not too thin, not too fat. but normal. that is why you’ll never see an obese plus-size model.
Actually, with most agencies you would not be able to get a plus size model contract with a size 6. It’s considered too small. So most plus sized models are size 8+.
The average women’s size in the world is a size 6, so a size 8 would be considered plus size.
America’s average women’s size is 12-14, but you have to remember that 60% of America IS overweight, which pulls the average up from the true average. Just because that is the average doesn’t mean that the majority of women are healthy at that size. It depends on individual bodies.
I agree with this. I remember on ANTM (sorry for referencing that over and over, but that’s my where all my [very...eh, extremely limited] knowledge of models come from) Tyra has repeatedly told several girls, size 4-6, I think that they fell in between of “traditional” thin models and plus-size, and needed to either gain weight or lose it.
Also, to keep this in a frame of reference, the average American woman IS a size 12-14, but she’s also 5′5″ and under. Whereas the models may be a size 10, but 5′10.
A size 10 in someone who is 5′2″ is likely going to look very different than a size 10 who is 5′10″.
The 5′10, size 10 might have a normal BMI while the 5′2″ size 10 might be considered overweight.
Um…this season of ANTM anyone? Comprised of all women 5′7″ and under.
the average woman (in America) wears a size 12-16
…she said HEIGHT.
“*average height i meant to say!”
However, most of the contestants are 5′5″ and over, whereas the average woman in North America is 5′4″ or 5′3″ with the majority of them being UNDER that height.
weird. She’s 5′9″ and 165 lbs and a size 12; 32in waist
I’m 5′9.5, 155 and a size 4/6, 27 waist . How can there be that much discrepancy? Body types must really vary indeed!
I just read that her weight has been 173 recently (11 stone, 8 lbs), which actually puts her a little bit above the “healthy” range for BMI (at 25.5). If that is true, it just means that plus-size models have the same weight pressures as every other model, just in reverse because they have to keep on enough weight to be plus-sized!
Not really pressure to keep the weight on, plus-size modeling actually starts at size 8 or 10, not exactly a “heavy” weight
IMO, they would face less pressure because “plus size” is such a wide range of sizes(from 8/10 to, well, in the 20’s or more), where as “straight” models are limited to size 00 to 4(sometimes 6?).
Why is it always black or white in the fashion industry when it comes to the weight of the model? Either she’s skinny or she’s chubby. Sorry, but that’s what she looks to me. She doesn’t strike as “healthy looking girl” with that tummy :/ She looks fine in the first photo though.
And that’s not curves. Why do ppl associate curves with large breasts or being “plus sized”?! I thought curves were the curves of your bonestructure, not wheither you have a few extra kilos on the scale or a big cup size?
I’m sorry, but i don’t really get the concept of “plus sized” models to make girls/women feel comfy about their weight. Does that mean that everybody are a bit chubby? Why can’t there be models that are more attractive to the eye than skinny and plus sized?
I’m sure there are goodlooking plus sized models, but there should be a healthy standard. I’m sorry if i’m offending anyone, but i sure don’t have that tummy – and i’m normalsized for my height and bodytype.
yep, that’s just what I was thinking when I wrote my reply just before yours.
I pretty much agree with everything you said.
Letting yourself eat what you want until you’re borderline overweight, and banking in on your good genes that make you gain all over, as opposed to the 90% of the population who simply gets thunder thighs or shelf guts – this doesn’t qualify as a role model to me.
Where is my ideal? It’s not the skinny narrow hipped lithe models, and it’s not these so called average women either.
Why can’t we have ATHLETES as role models? Why not yoga masters. I mean, my idea of a ROLE model is something you look up to. Someone who tries really hard to reach an ideal. Not someone who looks like you, even if how you look like isn’t ideal. That’s counter-productive.
As for purely aesthetics – what about a toned, fit body instead of emaciated OR chubby? I wanna look at a pair of tight pants and not see bones poke out OR fat giggle. I want to see an elegant strong muscle line. I wanna look at a chick and say – damn, this chick isn’t going to get diabetes at 40 OR break her hipbones at 55 due to starving-induced calcium deficit.
I wanna look at a model and think – damn, this chick is gonna be flexible, and strong and fit well into her 60s and probably give her grandkids a run for their money.
stajjny and suzushii said it all, I COMPLETELY agree 100%!
Personally I don’t wanna judge ANYONE nor think DAMN this chick is anything but a wonderful person. Feel sorry for you! Maybe you should reexamine your idea of what a role model should be and any of you that agree with her.
i hate that she’s considered a “plus-sized” model. she’s an average woman!!!! she’s beautiful & normal.
if i were a guy, I would date Crystal Renn over Miranda Kerr or the Victoria Secret Angel’s any day. Crystal is actually very proud of herself and won’t stick her finger down her throat for anyone
I know that sounded harsh, but it’s fact people.
but she DID used to starve herself; she hasn’t always been as confident as she is now, and who’s to say those girls have eating disorders because they’re thin? Who’s to say that Crystal has a healthy lifestyle because she gained weight?
I’ve always been a fan of plus-size models! There’s a great site with many images of Crystal and other plus-size models here:
http://www.judgmentofparis.com/
They’re all gorgeous.
The site’s forum also has thought-provoking discussions about body image and the media.
This is really getting repetitive with the plus/skinny size model interviews.
i agree, and everyone allways has the same comments too. Yet to see the day when we can all be neutral about the whole thing… Or will it ever come.
To be honest, looking at those pictures of her does not make me want to buy the clothes. At all. Because there is no way that I would want to look like that (and please don’t go off on me, I know there are people that want to look like her, but I am not one of them and this is my opinion).
I do like slim models (not anorexically skinny, but VS-style model size). They make me want to buy clothes. And I agree with the above posters who were saying we should have actually average sized, fit, athletic models. They would probably make me want to buy clothes too. But Crystal Renn, to me, leaves nothing to be desired aside from her sweet and honest personality.
Crystal Renn is just overkill for me.
You are pitiful too! What a shame.
Excuse me, but why am I pitiful exactly? Because I have a certain preference for slimmer and/or more athletic figures that is perhaps contrary to your own?
I’ve just reread my post and I can’t see anything in it that should be offensive to anyone, except maybe Crystal herself. I didn’t call her fat, nor do I think she is fat. I didn’t call her ugly. I just said she doesn’t make ME want to buy clothes.
Are you perhaps taking my post personally because you look similar to her? I didn’t mean to put down anyone by that post. That above post is my opinion about this particular person and what body types I idolize.
If it is any consolation to you, I will share a piece of advice that took me years to learn. For every person like me that doesn’t like Crystal’s shape, there is another who will go, “WOWEE she is hot!” That’s because there are 6 billion people in the world, and research studies have shown that the only thing that most of us agree on in terms of beauty is facial symmetry. And even that has exceptions. So you can be assured that there are people that think this woman is sexy. I am just not one of them, and I don’t have to be, and that doesn’t make me pitiful.
I don’t think there was anything wrong with your post but it’s probably because I agree with it, for the most part. This model doesn’t do it for me either. I think she’s beautiful but her body type is not my preference. I like slim and athletic as well and I wish the fashion industry would feature more models with that body type.
I am actually 5′6 and 130 pounds so I am neither like her nor like you apparently. The fact of judging her in any way and needing to post it is what is pitiful.
I just happened on this forum and sure enough read exactly what I expected to find.
oh come on, this entire site is about judging people’s bodies, no matter what size or shape they are. Call it a guilty pleasure or what you will, but allow people to voice their opinion. And calling Casey “pitiful” just because she prefers slim models or calling people like Instant “envious” for not prefering super-skinny models is just as judgemental as saying “I prefer this or that body type”.
Soo, it’s not OK for Casey to (civilly)judge a person’s body, but it is OK for you judge Casey’s opinion?
Hey, I’m not in agreement with Casey’s opinion, but she did put it out there in a nice manner and explained herself, so I don’t see how she deserves to be called pitiful or have her opinion attacked(and if you’ve ever spent time on here, you will know that I’m usually up in people’s faces on here when they present an “opinion” I find offensive and/or insulting
).
You didn’t seem to call any of the people pitiful who said they liked Crystal Renn’s look. Isn’t that judgment also, just a positive one? Because you have to look at her, evaluate her look, come to a conclusion, and post?
I admit that in the past I may have made some comments that were actually offensive to some people, or they could be taken personally. But people called me out on it and I’ve stopped that, because I don’t like offending people and my intention is not to make people feel bad about themselves. I can talk about Crystal Renn because I highly doubt she’s going to come on this thread, and read what Casey wrote, and get hurt by it.
Regardless, this is the last time I’m posting on this particular thread. If you still think my comment is pitiful, I cannot change your mind. All I can tell you is you’re going to find comments A LOT worse than mine if you stick around on this site.
i find it interesting that magazines don’t seem to photoshopped plus sized models AS much as normal models. It’s almost as if they want the big girls to look bigger and the small girls to look even smaller…very odd. at least apply equal opportunity photoshopping to all your pictures!
I think women like this appeal to the middle age generations more than anything. I mean, she’s nice looking but her body detracts from the clothing. Not something a fashion model should habe.
IMO, that same argument can be used for ANY woman’s body type: Too skinny, and OMG look at her bones! Curvy, and all people can talk about is how curvy she is. Athletic, yuppers, look at her MUSCLES!! Plus size, OMG she’s fat! Ruler/straight up and down, wtf are her curves?! Big breasts, look at them knockers! Big butt, holy cow baby got BACK! And of course, little to no breasts, flat chested wonder/mosquito bites, needs to have bigger breasts.
Sorry, in a silly mood right now
Seriously though, we need to get over the models’ sizes, let them be healthy at what ever size that is for each individual woman, and designers should learn to work with the models’ bodies again instead of forcing them to all be the exact same while disregarding their health and the message that sends to us regular folk.
>gigit – “Who’s to say that Crystal has a healthy lifestyle because she gained weight” – I believe that the woman herself said it, as well as her doctor’s, and the modeling agencies.
for those folks who think that THIS woman is not right for whatever reason (yeah, it’s a generational thing – I’m 45 and when was a teen there was never a size “00″ – sorry, it actually really can’t exist, if you REALLY think about it – that means you are less than ZERO in size??)…
Please read article on SERENA WILLIAMS, those who commented about being FIT, ATHLETIC, HEALTHY – and see that people call her FAT, FAT, FAT. Guess that sort of blows THAT whole idea out of the water about being ATHLETIC, huh?
Please look at RENN when she was below 100 lbs – she looks like a zombie, her agency was concerned about her, she had dead eyes, was incredibly un-healthy – read excerpts from her book, which she has spoken about at length in a number of interviews and how sick she was at that weight….
YES, I agree that HEALTHY=attractive. Someone with muscle tone is more attractive than someone who is stick thin with zero muscle tone, no curve/muscle in arms or legs, has the outline of a skull instead of a face with tone to it…
I have worked with too many women who have DIED from eating disorders, watched a beautiful mind get destroyed because she didn’t “fit” into a “00″ at 5′8″ – I have pictures of her that are terrifying, all she “ate” was coffee, that’s it…she, sadly, looked like someone from a concentration camp in WWII.
“Obese” people – someone who is 30 lbs. above the U.S. FDA guidelines for height, weight and age of that person – does need to make themselves healthy – but for their sake of HEALTH – not because of what the HEALTH & BEAUTY industry wants us to suck down and believe is true, so that THEY can make a FORTUNE selling everyone make-up, clothing, diet pills, miracle drugs, milk-shakes for food, carb boosters for muscle mass, THE perfect hair product, moisturizing product, tooth-whitener – omg, the amount of money just spent on ADVERTISING for these products could actually cover the cost of Universal Health Care in the U.S.!
My body has never been “thin.” 15 years ago I decided to “get healthy,” and did so by a strict regime of exercise, diet, and strength training. At 5′8″, I got to 125 lbs. after 1 & 1/2 years of INTENSE workouts, Nordictrack x-country ski machines, 2 hours daily of fast-walking, 260 various crunches, alternating upper and lower body weight training 1-1/2 hours daily, while going from 1,800 cals, to 1,500, to 1,200, then 1,000 and eventually lower, as my metabolism has STOPPED and I became “exercise anemic.”
A year later I had: lost my gall bladder; had knee surgery; started the first of FOUR spinal operations; was diagnosed with breast cancer and had bi-lateral mastectomies; and became diabetic.
And FOR WHAT? To get to that “magical 125 lbs?” Yup, I did that, and now I’m partially paralyzed, have no breasts, can make a map of connect-the-dots with all the scars I now have – but, hey, at least I “got thin and healthy,” right?
Every year the FDA comes up with yet another thing that used to be “unhealthy” for us and changes it’s mind, now it’s healthy. And vice-versa.
Trying to keep up with it all is almost impossible, as it changes within a few years. Those here who are “younger” than I am will soon discover this as you get older and can no longer fit into a size 1,3,5.
Oh, and when you get to 30, your ENTIRE body changes, and you actually have to do MORE, eat less, just to stay at the same weight. THEN, watch out, cause heck, mid-life hits you with menopause, and then you’ve HAD IT – you gain 10 lbs a year doing the exact same thing you’ve done for years, but now the body can’t adapt.
So “we” have to adapt for it. If you are eating 1,200 calories and burning that off with exercise? Well, you’ll have to do TWICE the amount of exercise or cut your calories in half.
Go talk to an actual nutrionist – not someone online, not watching a TV show, but a doctor, a real life honest person who can explain what HEALTHY means, and what needs to be done to keep oneself “healthy.”
BTW – do you know that Marylin Monroe wore a size 12 dress? Same as Crystal Renn….
BLESSED BE, HARM NONE …. PEACE….
her face kind of reminds me of Monroe. I think it’s the eyes and the poses. Anyways, this girl is beautiful.