Plus-size model Crystal Renn's star has been on the rise for a while now: She's done runway shows for Mark Fast in London, graced the pages of the super-insidery fashion bible V Magazine, and poses in a sizzling swimsuit on the cover of our June issue alongside fellow beach babes Alessandra Ambrosio and Brooklyn Decker. But today she took her career to a whole 'nother level, walking in Chanel's 2011 Cruise Collection in St. Tropez--is it one small step for Crystal, one giant leap for model-kind?
The debate over how thin models should or shouldn't be has been raging in the fashion world for what feels like ages, and it seems like we're finally making progress towards showing women on the runway who aren't all 15 years old and a size 0. Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa is reportedly looking to women who are size two and four instead of the label's usual waifs; Mark Fast has been incorporating "plus size" (usually 12s and 14s) models into his shows for a couple of seasons now, and magazines like ours have made major efforts to include more body types all over our pages (it all started with "The Woman on P. 194" and has continued with our aim to represent as many types of beautiful bodies as possible). With a major (and majorly directional) design house like Chanel now embracing the inclusion of plus size models, are we finally headed in the direction of some real progress?
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I'm dying to hear what you ladies think about this--are you excited to see a gorgeous, size-12 girl like Crystal on the runway alongside the expected faces of models like Natasha Poly, Heidi Mount, and Abbey Lee? Do you think other designers will take a cue from Karl Lagerfeld and start giving more careful consideration to their castings? Is this a sign of even more positive changes to come in the fashion world? Discuss!
PLUS:
- Crystal Renn covers fashion week: The fall 2010 looks that made me giddy
- Body confidence secrets from plus-size model Crystal Renn
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