Famed plus-size model Crystal Renn will be walking in the Chanel 2011 Cruise Collection in St. Tropez. Crystal Renn started modeling at 14 after being approached by a modeling scout and told that she could have an extremely successful modeling career if she lost 9 inches from her waist. She rapidly developed a serious eating disorder, which she chronicles in her memoir, Hungry. Crystal had a mildly successful modeling career, got several foreign covers, and sank deeper and deeper into illness. She eventually sought treatment and chose health over modeling. However, after finally beating her eating disorder, Crystal did the unthinkable; she returned to the fashion world that had damaged her so to become, arguably, the most successful plus-size model ever. If that weren’t enough, Crystal has slowly, yet determinably, broken down barriers ever since. She has walked the runway for Mark Fast in London, modeled for a huge spread in W magazine, and is on the current cover of Glamour (alongside Brooklynn Decker and Alessandra Ambrosio- pic above). However, most notably, she is now walking the runway for CHANEL! Why is this such a breakthrough?Karl Lagerfield (head designer for Chanel) has been quite outspoken for his preference for extremely thin models. Karl was quoted as saying “”No one wants to see curvy women,” “You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly.” Karl believes that fashion is about dreams and illusions and that clothes look better on rail thin models. Has Karl changed his tune? Is the fashion world starting to embrace “plus size” modeling?
Or maybe, Karl saw this spread in W magazine: “Plus Size” Crystal posing in the same outfits as “normal size” Jacquelyn Jablonski. Let’s just say, his argument is moot.
Oh! And just for reference. Here is Crystal when she was a “normal size” model:
Now tell me, what’s the beautiful truth here?
The Beautiful Truth 