‘Vogue Curvy’ – Italy embraces the voluptuous woman

Vogue may be all about aspirational high fashion, but they know a hot topic when they see one. Hot on the heels of the so-called ‘rise of the size 16 supermodel’, Vogue Italia has dedicated a whole section of their website to women like us: Vogue Curvy.

So far it seems to be relying on two tried and tested topics – models and celebs. There’s a gallery dedicated to Crystal Renn, complete with behind-the-scenes pics you might not have seen before, and one for America Ferrera. Model Sindy Gourland gives style advice, and the ‘curvy blog’ covers the Mark Fast show…

Debenhams start using size 16 mannequins

If you walk past Debenhams on London’s Oxford Street in the next few days, you might spot something a bit unusual. They’ve just added two size 16 mannequins to the display, with a board below reading “I’m a size 16. Do you want to see more of me?”

This is part of a trial by the retailer to see if customers would like to see these mannequins rolled out across more stores. Traditionally, Debenhams use size 10 models, but with 42% of sales coming from size 14 and 16 garments, these new mannequins represent the average customer far more…

ASOS to launch plus size range – ASOS Curve

The wonderful girls from ASOS broke the brilliant news on Twitter today that ASOS – the folks responsible for the fab (non plus-size) items above) will soon be branching out into the plus size market with new called ASOS Curve. It’ll cater for sizes 20 – 26 and they’re currently looking for fit models, so if you’re a Big Girl who fits the criteria, you could be one step away from ensuring an almost custom-made collection…

Once-fat Karl Lagerfeld has another anti-fat rant.

Karl Lagerfeld has once again conveniently forgotten that he used to be fat and decided to moan about the use of normal women in magazines. “No one wants to see curvy women,” said the designer, on hearing the news that Brigitte, one of Germany’s top-selling magazines, was making a move to include ‘real’ women on its pages rather than professional models. This isn’t the first time the Kaiser has whined about bigger women, either. When he created a line for H&M, he complained about his clothes being made up to a size 16, stating he designed only for slim women. Well, Karl, we seem to remember you cosying up to Beth Ditto at one of your shows not so long ago…