i-D Spring 2022 : The 'Out of Body' Issue

[dior_couture1245]

It's a bit hard for me to explain here, because I feel like it's common sense. There is nothing wrong with knowing your strong sides and weaknesses, why do we want to find jeans that make our butt higher and perkier, legs - longer and leaner, waist - slimmer, why do we choose a haircut that compliments our face shape? Why do we have to put focus on the imperfections (what is up with this exhibitionism?) , when we can present ourselves in a better way? Why do chubby people like to, say, wear super thin stretchy fabric that emphasizes every roll, instead of getting more structured pieces that will sort of gather them and create a nice shape? Btw fat does not = curvy, curvy is about proportions, but nowadays it's a politically correct term used for bigger woman for some reason. Shouldn't fashion and styling teach us how to embrace what we have and get the most out of our looks? My whole life I genuinely want people to look nice, but I feel some just purposely want to put their worst foot forward. We don't see such models dressed properly because : a) it's harder to dress someone who is not slim (and borderline impossible if you are obese), b) stylists don't know what to do with it, c) clothes are done poorly. Have you seen recent Vogue Russia by any chance? I think softer, rounder body is captured so much nicer in comparison to this shoot.
I don't know if anyone is being ridiculed these days, I see big women around carrying themselves like they are beauty pageants, and they should be confident of course. I guess it depends a lot on where you were brought up, what is considered normal on American market, is not normal, say, in Eastern Europe or Asia, and it's not because people are different, it's because there is no culture of healthy eating. To me (and I am not a doctor here) Paloma doesn't look very healthy, especially given how young she is, if I have to be honest with you. We can go back and forth discussing standards, confidence, shame, etc, but we will agree on one thing: people should be comfortable in their own skin, no one should make a comment about how you look, but the point I am trying to make here is 1) I see the side where body positivity is used to justify one's primitive reflexes, 2) challenges any reasonable criticism and is actually harmful for some people in a long run. I think society nowadays doesn't want to be challenged in any shape of form in general, it's constantly asks for approval "Tell me it's ok, tell me I am alright". And lastly, I don't think models should look like regular people, it loses the whole point of the profession, with a real model you don't have do this acrobatics with make-up artist, photographers, stylist, Paloma is a pretty woman for real life, but she is just so awkward on the runway or in most pictures

Another excellent post! I love it and so well said.

It really is true. We live in a time now where people are hellbent on tearing down every last standard in decent society to accommodate their bad behavior and to relieve them of their guilty conscience…they think “if only society will stop STIGMATIZING me, I won’t feel so bad about doing or being X, Y or Z!”

Everything now must be de-stigmatized…but what’s the cost? And why? And scarier still…where does it end?

We all look back at pictures and films and paintings of the past - we see the remnants of the magnificent architecture, we see the breathtaking artifacts and relics, we see the beautiful clothes, we hear the beautiful music…and then we look around us and wonder why we don’t live in a world like that anymore.

We live in a world of so much ugliness now. Blatant, nasty, shoved-in-your-face ugliness. And we wonder how it happened? Is it really that hard to guess? We’ve torn down every expectation, standard, norm, every measure of excellence…and all to accommodate whiney, self-centered people. And now, with standards at the bottom of the barrel, we turn around and wonder how we all got in the pig sty…

 

[Deleted member 141309]

I honestly cannot grasp how someone can look at Paloma here and make a decision that she looks healthy. A lot of fat models these days are labeled healthy, which is completely bonkers to me, since this is not only false, this actually encourages people to be fat.

Fashion is the most snowflake-driven industry of all. All this movement for large people to be accepted? Who did not accept them before? It is not like they were haunted down akin to redheads in medieval times, let alone glorified in the times of Rubens.

I completely understand the notion that it should be accepted and not frowned upon, but I actually don’t see anybody doing this in real life, the vast majority doesn’t give a damn if you are a large English-Chinese translator or an obese front end IT specialist. But this is fashion and beauty industry, stop with this constant destruction of standard simply because fashion is riding on media and is easily and widely accessible. Why not tell Apple to hire more fat product designers or something? Because nobody cares?

There were/are plenty of magazines and outlets for big sizes, bringing this into the untouchable territory every month is a little too much. I can’t imagine someone like Candice Swanepoel or Gisele being sincerely okay with this, when they worked their as$es off to look how they look, and now all Paloma has to do is have three Big Macs a day to be a “model”.

People complain about Meisel being in the studio, M&M doing party shots, Edward recycling the same aesthetic, VP and VI becoming nondescript, the collections being less exciting and less risky every time. This is what happens when lower standard is accepted and you allow the very core people in the field to be lazy. And here is the epitome of lazy being celebrated on the cover.

 

[penny609]

I personally like Paloma's work as a print model (not so much on the runway but that's the very same as with "standard" models, some are better on the catwalk, others in print). I've seen a bunch of pictures from this issue on Instagram and there are some great shots for sure. This being said, I agree with SweetRus that Vogue Russia's recent take on plus-size fashion is far more interesting that this as a whole.

But. Because there is a huge but. I may like Paloma, Jill, Yasmin (Geurts), Sabina, Devyn and other plus-size models, I like them for their faces, charisma in print etc. Just like with any other model. I'm really glad the super-skinny days are gone, I'm really glad the all-blonde casts are over (I've worked in the scouting field some time ago and one aspiring model once asked me why her hips are too wide, why her eyes were not blue and her skin got suntanned too fast...) but models should never be ordinary people.
They have to be photogenic first, to express something and bring some aesthetic statement to the table. If I want to indulge with ordinary faces it costs me 4.60 euros for a 24h bus ride. I think today's message (in magazines etc.) is wrong. Everyone can be beautiful in everyday's life but fashion is about something else.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

Yikes at the fatphobia in this thread

 

[mikel]

We all look back at pictures and films and paintings of the past - we see the remnants of the magnificent architecture, we see the breathtaking artifacts and relics, we see the beautiful clothes, we hear the beautiful music…and then we look around us and wonder why we don’t live in a world like that anymore.

What about all those Rubens and Renoir paintings with full figured curvy women???

We live in a world of so much ugliness now. Blatant, nasty, shoved-in-your-face ugliness. And we wonder how it happened? Is it really that hard to guess? We’ve torn down every expectation, standard, norm, every measure of excellence…and all to accommodate whiney, self-centered people. And now, with standards at the bottom of the barrel, we turn around and wonder how we all got in the pig sty…

Oh poor us, having to deal will all the ugliness in the world. All the body positivity, all the inclusion, all the racial equality, all the wokeness, all the political correctness. Such a struggle to deal with it all.

 

[vogue28]

Cover #5 with Binx Walton by Amy Troost:

 

[mikel]

Beautiful cover.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

I like Binx's because it's a classic i-D cover.

 

[Deleted member 141523]

In some people eating disorder are so evident, but sometimes, if you're so thin or curvy, doesn't mean you're sick. It's metabolism. In my case I have been thin since I remember, and people (including me) thought that I was sick, I had something, but once again, it was fast metabolism. One of my biggest frustrations in life is that can't gain weight, I can't be thick, big as the guys on TV (now instagram). And I feel like s*th when someone during a date says "well, I like small thin guys", when nobody asked.

 

[dior_couture1245]

What about all those Rubens and Renoir paintings with full figured curvy women???

You're not seriously going to compare Rubens to the quality of artistic output we have in the 21st Century, are you? LOL.

Oh poor us, having to deal will all the ugliness in the world. All the body positivity, all the inclusion, all the racial equality, all the wokeness, all the political correctness. Such a struggle to deal with it all.

Well? The world is a very ugly place right now. That is really not up for debate. It's objective, quite frankly. Buildings are ugly, music is vulgar, celebrities are crass, fashion is trash, movies are unimaginative, television is mindless, magazines are worthless, art is insulting (a banana taped to the wall????), cities are becoming filthier and filthier, day-to-day dress is basically a small notch above pajamas, everyone is addicted to social media...I could go on.

I'm not naive - life is always hard, always has been, always will - but you cannot, CANNOT, look back at the past, both near and far, and not have pangs of sadness that what we live in amounts to basically squalor and misery.

 

[vogue28]

Cover #6 with HoYeon Jung by Colin Dodgson:

 

[dior_couture1245]

That cover is horrible.

 

[Sweet rus]

It really is true. We live in a time now where people are hellbent on tearing down every last standard in decent society to accommodate their bad behavior and to relieve them of their guilty conscience…they think “if only society will stop STIGMATIZING me, I won’t feel so bad about doing or being X, Y or Z!”

stop reading my mind!

look guys, we are not some monsters here, people come in all shapes and forms, they fall in love, have successful careers and live happily ever after, but fashion industry should be held up to a higher standard than our day-to-day life. You should all watch more of Ricky Gervais, I don't know, and stop taking everything so personally and so seriously, Fat is not offensive, it's descriptive. You know that 39% of adult population on this planet is obese, right? You can call it fatphobic if you will, because that's how we have discussions these days: calling names if there is any criticism or invitation to have an alternative dialogue, right?
But let's focus on something else., and possibly way more important. Don't you all feel that this whole inclusivity and diversity is used like a carrot, like some kind of a gimmick. They throw an unconventionally beautiful person or a woman of color, for example, but have no concept or no story behind it. They try to manipulate you by tickling your ego, but they don't really invest into the idea and creativity and have nothing to say. Everything is lazy and uninspired. Everything in life takes effort, discipline and hard work, but nowadays everything moves so fast, and it seems no one cares about the quality, so we are left with these sad magazines, I can't even finish scrolling through the images anymore, everything is boring, ugly or inspiring. I genuinely am sad, fashion doesn't inspire me as much anymore

The last cover doesn't feel right, would be better without a prosthetic eyeball

 

[guimon]

Happy to see Hoyeon. Love her cover!

I also love Hunter, but her cover is probably my least favorite. They could have done so much more with her, what a waste.

 

[Zorka]

In some people eating disorder are so evident, but sometimes, if you're so thin or curvy, doesn't mean you're sick. It's metabolism. In my case I have been thin since I remember, and people (including me) thought that I was sick, I had something, but once again, it was fast metabolism. One of my biggest frustrations in life is that can't gain weight, I can't be thick, big as the guys on TV (now instagram). And I feel like s*th when someone during a date says "well, I like small thin guys", when nobody asked.

Offtopic: as someone who has spent more than two thirds of her life at a gym - according to our precious @dontbeadrag, working my as$ off! - I responsibly claim that nothing is impossible! However, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that - instead of fast/junk food which is, in fact, the fastest weight gainer, but only in the form of (extremely dangerous to health!) fat deposits - you focus (assuming that your financial situation allows it, since these things - at least not in my country and according to the local standard of living are not cheap at all!) on weight and mass gainer supplements, as well as MANDATORY training, so that all those things go to the muscle mass and not, as I said previously, unnecessary fat!

 

[Deleted member 141523]

Offtopic: as someone who has spent more than two thirds of her life at a gym - according to our precious @dontbeadrag, working my as$ off! - I responsibly claim that nothing is impossible! However, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that - instead of fast/junk food which is, in fact, the fastest weight gainer, but only in the form of (extremely dangerous to health!) fat deposits - you focus (assuming that your financial situation allows it, since these things - at least not in my country and according to the local standard of living are not cheap at all!) on weight and mass gainer supplements, as well as MANDATORY training, so that all those things go to the muscle mass and not, as I said previously, unnecessary fat!

My point is like maybe, Paloma isn't a sick person (like me in terms of body ) because her shape. Maybe she's more healthy than anybody here, or not, it's personal aspect of her. Her massage could be taken in a good way (inclusion) or bad way (promoting -not her case of course- unhealthy habits, remember Kate Moss and media taking about heroin chic and pointing her as a bad role model for young girls). It's good that her and Precious are doing covers, editorials, campaigns and fashion shows. In the other hand, even I find positive her presence, I'm not a fan of her skills as a fashion model. I don't find the "wow factor" or "it factor" in her, but that's my point of view. Sometimes I find her pedestrian. She's not a bad model as Hailey or Kendall, but every time I see Paloma I forget her. She needs to focus on being a fashion model too, not only an activist. Ashley Graham is a good example that curvy models can be actually good.

 

[KoV]

FIVE very slender cover models and still all these comments focused on tearing down the ONE curvy/plus size model. Can a b!tch live?

 

[JPineapple]

Well said @KINGofVERSAILLES

 

[Deleted member 141523]

I still think we should talk about modelling skills and not about other's person body. I wasn't talking about this particular cover. But at the same time I noticed that people talk about her as a sick person, and this is not the case at all. Pointing someone as "unhealthy" can be so direspectful. I thought in some point that we were going to discuss the body theme in some Vogue thread, because it can be polemic, but this is the magazine that took the attention and put the discussion on the table.

 

[tigerrouge]

FIVE very slender cover models and still all these comments focused on tearing down the ONE curvy/plus size model. Can a b!tch live?

I do think that i-D cover story deserves some tearing down because it adds NOTHING new to the representation of larger people in fashion, it's just another half-nude editorial, because they're too lazy to find ways of properly styling people to look great, but they'll make out it was a deliberate decision that somehow adds something of value to the situation.

People want to wear clothes to look good and feel great. People of every size deserve to be able to wear clothes that make them feel good. Endless fashion editorials where the person is naked or under-dressed is not helping people. People don't go to university or work or the supermarket half-naked. People trying to get taken seriously as political representatives are not being helped by fashion magazines constantly depicting larger women as half-naked as standard.

This is something that Edward gets right - his use of larger models sees them inhabit the same fashion landscape as every other model. They can be seen in the same shoot as Karen Elson. They appear in editorials where they keep their clothes on from start to finish. He gives them covers where they are shot in the same way as every other model. Tess McMillen, Precious, Paloma. He has been a big supporter of these girls, and while he might be using them for clout, he has never treated them like a freak show.

Given that i-D has offered us an alternative cover where a teen is made to look like trade, the level they're working at here is not about sophistication or helping the human race to progress.