Daisy Lowe Calls Karl Lagerfeld Out in Asos Magazine: "Fashion Needs More Curves"

Daisy Lowe and her adorable curves are giving me everything I need on the cover of Asos Magazine! I need those jeans to survive!!

Inside, she offers some poignant commentary about the fashion industry's love/hate relationship with curves. On Karl Lagerfeld and Crystal Renn, she says: "My friend was working with Crystal Renn and said she thinks she’s only got a 38-inch hip. Karl Lagerfeld said he was going to embrace her womanly shape and then he just put her face on the ad campaign."

 

I applaud her for speaking out because I was totes thinking the same thing. Since Crystal Renn was chosen as the curvy model muse du jour, it seems said curves have disappeared. 

Check out her book cover and her walking in Chanel: where'd her body go? I'm all for dieting and slimming down as one sees fit, but I hate to think she did it to get more work in the modeling industry, especially since designers claimed to love her for her womanly shape.

Do you think Lowe has a point in regard to her face only appearing in Karl's ads? Do you think the designer, who infamously shunned curves, is really embracing womanly figures like he claims?

Discuss, and check out the rest of Lowe's shoot for Asos below:

Kisses,

Coutura

Paris Fashion Week: Plus-Size Phenom Beth Ditto Walks in Jean Paul Gaultier Show

We already talked about how celebrities took over the catwalk during New York Fashion Week, and you know Paris Fashion Week would not be upstaged! (Paris is the better Fashion Week anyway, but I digress...).

Where NYFW showed thin celebs (Jaslene Gonzalez at Laquan Smith, Cassie at Laquan Smith) and sometimes curvy stars (Amber Rose at Indashio, Beyonce at Tom Ford, Serena Williams at Laquan Smith, model Crystal Renn at Z Spoke by Zac Posen), Paris brought out plus-size phenom, Beth Ditto, at the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2011 show. Wow - now that's a statement!

The beloved lead singer of Gossip and designer who pens an amazing line for Evans (that I recommend for any full-figured Glamazon with style!) stormed the catwalk in a laser-cut silver dress adorned with strips.

The rest of the collection was just as bold. Gaultier showed biker jackets, palm-print dresses, nautical patterns, lingerie and accordion pleats that were bursting with personality! A metal breastplate even made its way down the runway. If that's not funky and futuristic enough for you, how about attendees were given 3-D glasses for viewing the runway show?

While several publications cite that "it was all over the place," one constant was rockstar wigs inspired by icon, Joan Jett (below).

 Here's Joan Smalls working the look. HOT!

Another motif that tied it all together was the resounding, all-encompassing message: live out loud. The collection is for daring, outrageous fashionistas who bask in the spotlight...kind of like Beth Ditto, who walked the runway at the finale performing a capella. Yes, Jean Paul Gaultier put on a show!

Check out the line below, also modeled by Crystal Renn, Anja Rubik, Coco Rocha, Karlie Kloss, Sessilee Lopez, Joan Smalls and more. What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kisses,

Coutura 

 

New York Fashion Week: Z Spoke by Zac Posen Spring 2011

Zac Posen must have been in a vibrant mood when designing for Z Spoke. The designer, who is showing his eponymous line overseas, is one of the few to drench a collection in bold and decadent color this season. The result? A breath of fresh air among Spring 2011 lines that have been overwhelmingly rooted in neutrals and whites.


With punchy colors from red to yellow, Zac Posen took a lively and spirited approach to design---perhaps, a sign that he's courting a younger customer with diffusion line, Z Spoke. Imaginative prints like cartoons (created by Daisy de Villeneuve) and fruit energized the front of dresses and jumpsuits. Colors like orange, red, turquoise, yellow, brown and green were purposefully mixed together, making for an exuberant fashion statement.


While the collection was fun, it was still steeped in femininity and sex appeal. Dresses were flouncy with high hemlines and low necklines. Jumpsuits were belted at the waist, accentuating a womanly figure as only Zac knows how.


Lace was brilliantly weaved into the collection with lingerie peeking out of plaid dresses. Sheer panels bared the midriff, giving little black dresses a flirty sensibility.

Even the accessories managed to be both youthful and mature with cartoon prints and bold color-blocking adorning chic handbags. But the final gown was a sleek black number with cut-outs that was all woman.


Check out the collection, modeled by Crystal Renn, Sessilee Lopez and Rose Cordero, below.

Kisses,

Coutura

MAGAZINE GLAM: Models on the Cover of Glamour Magazine! (And One Has Curves)

This just in.

For the first time since 2006, Glamour Magazine will feature models on their cover for the June Swimsuit issue.

And not just any models: Brooklyn Decker, Alessandra Ambrosio and Crystal Renn. Crystal Renn being, as you know from V Magazine's Size issue, one of the best curvy models in the business.

The ladies tweeted these pictures from their shoot in St. Bart's. Gorgeous!

I'm so excited for the new cover, shot by Matthias Vriens-McGrath, and for Glamour's decision to embrace models (so tired of celebrity mag covers) and curves!

Of course, not everyone is as excited as I am. ABC News said, model Alessandra Ambrosio bears a "closer resemblance to a pre-pubescent teenager than a 29-year-old mother" via WWD. Ouch!

Ambrosio, pictured above, countered by raising an interesting point that the media "should be more responsible while covering the model size debate." I agree. Because shouldn't sensitivity toward size go both ways (for plus-size models and thin models)?

Ambrosio told WWD: "If I'm two pounds heavier, I'm fat. If I'm skinnier, I'm sick. It's ridiculous." It has to be hard for a model to endure constant criticism of her weight, whether thin or curvy.

I think a healthy body weight is ideal, and we, as media, should promote 'healthiness' in a tactful, socially responsible way. In other words, we don't have to attack thin models to embrace plus-size models.

What are your thoughts? And are you excited for the new Glamour cover?

Kisses,

Coutura

Vogue Italia Launches Vogue Curvy and Vogue Black

Curvy women and black culture are officially en vogue.

Vogue Italia has relaunched their website to include channels for Vogue Curvy (for full-figured women), Vogue Black (for black women) and Vogue Talents (for up-and-coming talents).

The site, which is available in English, boasts video interviews, photo galleries, articles and images---all the features fashion lovers spend hours dissecting on the web.

Vogue Curvy currently features an interview with plus-size model of the moment, Crystal Renn, while Vogue Black offers an exclusive talk with model/mogul Tyra Banks. Vogue Black also includes a profile on Grace Jones and an article "Know Your Fro" by amazing beauty blogger and friend of The Glamazons, Afrobella. Vogue Talents presents an interview with the Rodarte sisters, Kate and Laura Mulleavy, and footage from their Fall 2010 Fashion Show.

The content is pretty exceptional. The concept, on the other hand, has caused quite the controversy.

In general, everyone agrees that it's great that Vogue Italia recognizes that curvy women and black culture are worth celebrating. But some argue that presenting them on separate channels is still divisive. It's like saying 'You deserve attention, just not on our main channel. Here's a section just for you.'

Similar complaints were made during the launch of the Vogue Italia All-Black issue and V Magazine's Size Issue. To some, it perpetuated separatism. Instead of incorporating women of color and women with curves into these magazines on a regular basis, groups are given an issue where it's all about them...one month out of the year. They're celebrated, yes, but still marginalized.

On the other hand, people are arguing that ESSENCE Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Latina Magazine, Sister 2 Sister Magazine, etc. are just as separatist, focusing solely on a particular ethnic group. Sure magazines like Ebony were created as the answer to exclusion from the mainstream, but now those magazines have set the tone for what "inclusion" means. It seems Vogue Italia is just following suit using that same, proven formula.

Which leads me to my next question...can a wide range of cultures, sizes and ethnicities be represented (regularly) in one book? Is it even possible?

Judging from some unfortunate comments about the Vanity Fair controversy, if a magazine is not overtly associated with a race, people believe it should be assumed that it's a "white magazine." Which presents the need for a "black magazine." Perhaps, that's the thinking behind Vogue Italia's separate channels.

When will the pages of a magazine, or the screen of a website, be big enough to fit all of us? Do we even want it to? Discuss.

Kisses,

Coutura

V Magazine To Feature Plus-Size Models on January Cover

Glamazons, isn't a beautiful thing when thin-obsessed fashion industry leaders start acknowledging the rest of the world?

Such is the case with Stephen Glan, editor-in-chief of V Magazine. In an effort to recognize beauties of all sizes, Glan is featuring a plus-size model on the January cover. "Big, little, pint-size, plus-size -- every body is beautiful. And this issue is out to prove it," he said via NYPost.com.

V Magazine, which has featured Kate Moss and Lady Gaga (below), will include beautiful plus-size supermodel, Crystal Renn and shoots by Terry Richardson and Karl Lagerfeld (in an attempt to clean up his comment about plus-size women, I suppose) in January's issue.

Though it will be a welcome change to see full-figured women featured prominently in a major fashion magazine, I have to point out that plus-size still starts at size 8 (and yes, that's illogical. baby steps) and I think using plus-size models regularly instead of just in a special issue will have more of an enduring impact on the industry.

As the January issue comes on the heels of V Magazine's controversial shoot featuring model, Sasha Pivovarova, in blackface only two months before, many believe the plus-size angle is a not-so-subtle attempt to clean up the magazine's image. Do you agree?


What do you think of V Magazine's effort to include women of all sizes? Will you buy the magazine? Do you think it's a great stride toward accepting plus-size women in Fashion?




Kisses,

Coutura