Medical Association Criticizes Plus-Sized Models, Says They Celebrate Obesity

Brad Frankum, from the Australian Medical Association has criticized the use of overweight catwalk models saying they “celebrated obesity” and sent the wrong message about healthy weight, adding fuel to a debate about a recent Sports Illustrated “curvy” swimsuit fashion show.

Describing the show as “irresponsible”, Soraiya Fuda, an Australian columnist, said the fashion industry should not only seek to stop using underweight models but should avoid using all women with an unhealthy body shape.

Yaaas @sportsillustrated for showing the diversity that is needed on the catwalk pic.twitter.com/r9L9RefIzh

— Caterina Balzano (@catabalzano) July 23, 2017

“It seems to me the women who appeared to be approaching the sizes 20-26 on the catwalk are less representative of the average woman but are representative of a big underlying societal problem,”

she wrote in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“Parading and glorifying size 20-somethings on any runway promotes an underlying and irresponsible message that doing nothing about your weight is OK.”

MJ Day, the editor of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, who has been described as a “curvy woman herself”, said she wanted to show that women of all sizes could be considered beautiful.

“We’ve made a very positive statement that beauty is not one size fits all and now we’re carrying through with that in our new line.”

The line is designed for a range of body types ranging from runway lean to curvy. Every woman is a REAL WOMAN. https://t.co/9GtAWWQkZt

— MJ Day (@MJ_Day) July 26, 2017

The magazine’s editor MJ Day said:

“Some people in the audience were moved to tears because they saw themselves represented on the runway, which they never thought they would.”

Responding to the debate, Brad Frankum, the head of the New South Wales state branch of the Australian Medical Association, said the fashion industry should avoid “celebrating extremes”.

 

Susan Marasco, fashion director at Bloomingdale’s, said:

“I think now more than ever, with supermodels promoting body diversity on Instagram a younger audience is expecting more trends to become available for everyone. I think the trend is only going to get stronger.”

This is really positive. Big, bold and beautiful mamas don’t have any reason to hide at the beach. Get your swimsuit and show off your body!