There’s an unwritten rule in the media, and it’s this: you can’t end an interview opportunity with a woman in fashion, particularly one who wears “larger” sizes than others, without asking her for her feels on the “plus-size” label.
Ashley Graham says she’s not here for it, and the headlines circulate, and then come the headlines that by Melissa McCarthy agrees with Ashley Graham on that tip.
No matter how much women tell us they don’t want to be dumped in one category or how much women might take pride in various labels, several women as of late have been airing their thoughts on the “plus-size” label. Some want it, some want to get rid of it.
Categories. Are they divisive things that defeat the body positivity cause? Badges of honor that make you feel a part of something that no one should take away from you? As annoying as black flies in chardonnay? Can’t we just all knock back some chardonnay? Anyway, here’s a timeline of sixteen women talking to the media about their feelings about the term “plus-size” starting with the most recent.
For our decision to use the word curvy, please see our long letter to you. Let us know what you think in the comments. We want to your voices to be heard. And what should we be talking about instead of labels?
1. March 2016
Karolina Kurkova, talking to Style Code Live:
“I don’t like to call them plus-sized because I don’t think they’re plus-sized. I just think they’re beautiful, curvy women, women come in different shapes and forms and I think we should celebrate it.”
2. March 2016
Clementine Desseaux speaking to the Cut:
“In the U.S. some models prefer not to use the term “plus-size.” Do you not like the term? To me, it’s just another word to put you in a box. But I mean, whatever you want to call me, I don’t care, honestly. I’m not going to get offended. I just would rather us not need any labeling, just in general. Like, you don’t have a black model page. You don’t even need to.”
3. March 2016
Melissa McCarthy speaking to E Online:
“I think chip away at it and stop making it a thing. I’m trying with my line. Every time someone says you make a plus-size line, I try and correct them and I say I make clothes for women. I’m not making a plus-size line. If a plus-size store or if a store of certain sizes buys those, that’s what’s going in there. But on my website, on HSN, I’m just making women’s clothing.”
Tess Holliday via Instagram.
4. February 2016
Beth Ditto, speaking to the Independent:
“I think that I don’t care at all,” she replies when asked for her own opinion of the term. “I’ve always been really comfortable with the word fat. I don’t really give a s**t about the word curvy. I understand why people use it but that’s not anything that I’ve ever identified [with]. I’m not a road, you know? Fold, foldy? Roly poly? One of my favourite things I ever read about myself, because I don’t read much stuff, but I remember that it was headlined on – maybe in a gossip column that you couldn’t avoid – it said ‘rock’n’roly poly’. And I thought that was amazing! It’s so creative and smart. I think it’s all on how you look at it. I think the point is that we shouldn’t be an extension of the norm because we are all human beings.”
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 17: Beth Ditto walks the runway at the Marc Jacobs Spring 2016 fashion show during New York Fashion Week at Ziegfeld Theater on September 17, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs)
5. January 2016
Tess Holliday, speaking to PAPER:
“I think the whole thing is actually very silly, because the term has never been used in a negative way. It’s never been used as hurtful, it’s something that’s basically just for women to kind of find where they want to shop, I guess. I do think it’s very important, especially for young women who are kind of coming into their bodies, and older women who are becoming more OK with their bodies, to have terms for being bigger. When plus-size women look online, or look in magazines, they see that label, or see that term, and they feel like they’re not alone. They have something to identify with. I’m really a firm believer in calling it what it is. And I don’t really see anyone losing sleep over the fact that they’re called plus size.”
6. January 2016
Nadia Aboulhosn, speaking to PAPER:
“Some people feel excluded, some feel empowered by it. I’m not ashamed to be labeled plus-size at all. That’s not the issue. I’m frustrated that I’m boxed into a category and now when I want to go work with someone like a high-end designer…they don’t want to work with me. I want them to work with me for the bigger picture to normalize what beauty is now. So if you have a blond-haired, blue-eyed white girl who is a size 0, that’s what the beauty standard is. [But] it’s changing slowly with people like me and other fashion bloggers and models, but I want it to be normal for girls who look like me to be in Victoria’s Secret or Calvin Klein or whatever. With that label I’m getting boxed in and so are so many other people. I just don’t feel it’s necessary. What’s so different? I’ve pushed for brands to come out with full-range lines with me and they won’t do it, they only put me with plus-size lines.”
7. January 2016
Ashley Graham in Shape
“When it comes to the word ‘plus-size’, I’ve been called a plus-size model for the past sixteen years. I hear it, sometimes I say it– it’s a slip of the tongue. But at the end of the day, it’s a label. You can say, ‘Yes it’s a negative thing’ or ‘maybe it’s not a negative thing’…but why would we want to be labeled something? Why do we want to be put in a different category than all the other types of models? No one says ‘skinny model’, so am I wrong for not wanting a label? I don’t think so. And you know what, this younger generation of girls that are bigger and curvier, do they want to be called plus-sized at age 13 when they go to school? No. You just want to be a girl. I think it’s about getting with the times.”
March 2015 in her Ted Talk Ashley Graham, in her TED Talk “Now the fashion industry may persist to label me as plus-size, but I like to think of it as my size.”
And to RunwayRiot
“Just call me a model, just a model.”
8. December 2015
Dascha Polanco on the term “sample size” with RollingOut:
“It was very frustrating at the beginning. It was really disappointing, and I was like ‘I’m depressed.’ And [frustrated noise] I want to wear color when I have shoots or …. what am I doing? I like to show a little bit, you know? I want wear color, I like neon colors, I like white. I hate that term ‘sample size.’ We’ve gotta come up with a different term than sample size. Not everybody’s going to have the same body type I have, and I’m not going to look like somebody else. So I think we have to celebrate that.”
9. October 2015
Rebel Wilson talking to E Online:
“To me, getting an A+ in school is better than getting an A so I don’t mind being called plus. I kind of like being curvy and eating dessert every second night so that’s kinda why I am the way I am.”
10. October 2015
Denise Bidot talking to i-D
“There is such controversy with the term plus size. I personally don’t mind it one bit. I was accepted into an industry I never knew existed, and it was through being a “plus size model” that I found myself and my voice. Call me whatever you want, I’m a model and I’m proud of being a curvy woman.”
11. October 2015
Meghan Trainor with Elle.com
“I’ve always hated the word “plus-size.” It bugs me. When I first signed up with FullBeauty, and I talked to them. I was like, “I don’t want to be labeled as this plus-sized girl coming in,” and they said, “Absolutely not, we don’t like that term either.” Which is why we like to say “full beauty” [and] why I was immediately excited to work with them. Everything Melissa said is completely accurate. [They’re] a big part of our society, women who are size 14, and how are you going to criticize us? The word “plus-sized” should be gone.”
Olivia Campbell via Instagram.
12. September 2015
Olivia Campbell in the Guardian
“There are some who object to the term plus size, but I am happy to be working for this market. I understand that I fit a certain specification. It’s a bit unrealistic to expect the big catwalk brands to regularly use plus size models given that they don’t sell plus size clothes. But I do wish fashion was more diverse; there are always makeup and accessories campaigns and other areas I would love to see plus size models appear. As well as size, the industry is still racist – you look at the books of any model agency and the proportion of models of colour is nowhere near representative.”
13. March 2015
Stefania Ferrario via her Instagram
“I am a model FULL STOP. Unfortunately in the modeling industry if you’re above a US size 4 you are considered a plus size, and so I’m often labelled a ‘plus size’ model. I do NOT find this empowering. A couple of days ago, @ajayrochester called the industry to task for its use of the term ‘plus size’ by making the point that it is ‘harmful’ to call a model ‘plus’ and damaging the minds of young girls.
10.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – FEBRUARY 28: Actress Rebel Wilson attends the 2016 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Graydon Carter at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 28, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
14. February 2014
Robyn Lawley speaking to Cosmopolitan:
“Personally, I hate the term plus-size. It’s ridiculous and derogatory — it puts women down and it puts a label on them. Sports Illustrated asked [what I wanted to be called]. I said “Don’t call me plus-size” and they didn’t – that was the media.”
15. March 2014
Isaac Mizrahi on Huff Post Live
“I don’t want to speak to a plus-sized woman differently than I speak to a woman,” he said, adding, “I don’t like segregation, I like incorporation, I like integration. If you’re going to do clothes, you need to do them in a whole size range.”
16. December 2013
Tyra Banks speaking on Huffington Post Style:
“I don’t like the label ‘plus-size. I call it ‘fiercely real.’ On Top Model, we call it fiercely real. I don’t want to use the term ‘plus-size,’ because, to me, what the hell is that? It just doesn’t have a positive connotation to it. I tend to not use it.”
Extended Cut:
17. April 2016
Amy Schumer speaking on Instagram
I think there’s nothing wrong with being plus size. Beautiful healthy women. Plus size is considered size 16 in America. I go between a size 6 and an 8. @glamourmag put me in their plus size only issue without asking or letting me know and it doesn’t feel right to me. Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool glamour not glamourous.
