The Sartorialist Calls Woman 'Curvy,' Faces Commenter Backlash

Jezebel points out that Scott Schuman a.k.a. "The Sartorialist" faced a bit of commenter backlash on his namesake website after posting photographs of fashion blogger Angelica Ardasheva along with the adjective "curvy." You can see the images here.

Schuman wrote, "I loved that she's a bigger, curvier girl than most of the other bloggers who you see in the press and tend to represent the genre," adding, "The subtle thing she achieves so successfully in these two looks is to complement the sturdy but beautiful shape of her legs with an equally strong shoe."

The entry garnered over a thousand responses, such as:

Your patronising comments on her style, calling her 'bigger', 'curvier' and back handed compliment on her dress sense just serve to further alienate readers who are not a sample size, which I would assume is the larger portion of your audience.

I find the words chosen to describe this obviously fit and slim woman inaccurate, rude and offensive. You wield enormous influence in the fashion world and on women's perception of what is or is not the norm. Please, choose your words when describing people's shapes and sizes as carefully as you choose your subjects.

regardless of her size, i find it unnecessary for you to comment on it. i have never seen you address how some tiny little waif did a kick-ass job of camouflaging her protruding clavicles.

On the other hand, there were a bunch of readers who didn't see an issue, leaving remarks like:

if a duck is a duck, you call it a duck. scott did not write anything offensive here.

i am a woman with a very similar body type, if not more curvy, and find it hard it exhausting how badly everyone is taking your comments. i don't see what you said as offensive, if anything i think the fact that you said you loved it is being overlooked. it must be hard to comment on a woman's body type at all with all of us feeling constant personal evaluation.

Schuman eventually added an update to his post reading:

A number of the commenters are upset by the word "curvy." They feel I should have used the word "normal." However, normal is relative. There is a young lady on my team who is 5'0", and another who is 5'9". Which would be "normal"?

[...]

Remember, curvy is a body shape, not a weight. To be honest, you can't really see in these photographs most of the curves - chest, stomach, hip - this woman has.

And the woman, herself, seemingly had no problem with it, writing on her own blog: "i just can say that i never felt hurt.i think i have a normal body neither fat nor thin,curvy is ok,of course my body was pretty different fro the other girls where around there,wheter they are models,editors,bloggers of whatever,I was taller and more...curvy! but I did not mind at all."

So if she doesn't mind, should we?

Read the rest at Jezebel.

Comments

[Carla Sosenko]

05:45 PM on 03/31/2011

The problem is that she's only curvy compared to the types of women the Sartorialist is used to seeing and photographing. This woman is THIN. Gorgeous and thin. And not anorexic. And so he's thrilled to see someone bigger. Well la di da, isn't that nice! I think he meant to be complimentary and flattering, and that's fine. The problem is that a woman of this size would illicit the kind of flattery it did. "Look how great you look, you big girl!"

[damanique]

09:49 AM on 03/31/2011

It seems many parties are entirely missing the point: there is nothing wrong with curvy OR skinny. The real issue is that 'curvy' is seen by some as an insult - because god forbid a woman has fat on her body. And the real issue is ALSO that people are defending 'curvy' by demonising thin ("I want a real woman with meat on her bones!") Let's go for the acceptance of more than one body shape. Curvy's okay, skinny's okay, thin's okay, and god forbid - fat is okay.

Description of a woman's body, no matter what description it is, no matter what shape her body is, can apparently always be considered insulting. Somehow, when one woman is complimented, other women should be envious, angered or shamed. When one woman's body is ridiculed and shamed, other women should be happy, assured, and feel more confident.

Let's stop making women's self-esteem synonymous to the shape of their body all together.

Radical, I know.

[Inimitable 1BC]

09:04 AM on 03/31/2011

Curvy women are 'HOT' -'HOT' - 'HOT'.

I love roaming on the mountains, peaks and in the valleys.

In other words give me Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana,

I'm NOT at all interested in women who are as flat as Nebraska.

[papallugeteam]

12:30 AM on 03/31/2011

I used to read Jezebel's articles, but invariably the comments turn into a gripefest. And I consider myself a feminist (yes, there are forty-something feminists), but some of their posters look for things to complain about.

That said, however, why does a woman's body shape require comment at all? Do we constantly scrutinize every man's fitness or lack thereof? I know the Sartorialist is a fashion expert, but wow, we don't really need to personalize his opinions! If you're curvy or straight, assuming you are healthy, it's all good. Male fashion gurus are not the place to go for positive strokes about body image. Too bad it took me so long to figure that out.

[usamade]

07:29 PM on 03/30/2011

So what's wrong with curvy? I wish I were curvy. I still have the body of a 12 year old boy and I'm a 48 year old woman. I'd love to be called "curvy".

[EAPrince]

04:44 PM on 03/30/2011

Not sure what the fuss was about. Nothing demeaning in what he wrote, I checked out the blog itself to read the whole post. To me, a 'curvy' woman means more of a natural figure. As opposed to the skin & bones look you see from many models. Women are naturally curvier than men, and that's the way it's supposed to be, isn't it? Some people are a bit too anxious to find insult where none is intended. Just my opinion.

- Erik

[Shantee]

01:59 PM on 03/30/2011

Curvy is good! I would feel complimented if someone referred to me as curvy. Having always been thin I yearn to be called curvy, please someone!

[usamade]

07:29 PM on 03/30/2011

Me too.

[pgurlatl]

11:42 AM on 03/30/2011

I don't get it. She is curvier. And she looks FAB-U-LOUS. I wish I could look like that.

In the south they'd say she was thicker than a snicker.

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

11:31 AM on 03/30/2011

Some people are just too thin-skinned.

[Yam716]

10:53 AM on 03/30/2011

I think 'curvy' is a compliment!

[Doug Hatt]

09:47 AM on 03/30/2011

I thought "curvy" was a kinder, gentler euphemism for fat.

[MsVella]

10:28 AM on 03/30/2011

No, curvy means curvy. Its more to do with shape.

The woman in the picture is curvy.

[Edo33]

02:53 PM on 03/30/2011

There are a lot of very slender women with deep curves. Wouldn't it be apt to use the word describing them, too? Of course.

[Exene]

09:29 AM on 03/30/2011

I'm surprised he published negative comments. I used to read his blog, but if I posted anything besides "OMG, she ROCKS that look! Excellent photo, Sart!" it would be screened out.

[IsabelRingin]

09:03 AM on 03/30/2011

What's the big deal? Curvy is a compliment. Although I disagree with what he's saying. Her legs are great and I like the shoes. But I still think thick clunky shoes with skinny pants makes for the Lil Abner effect.

[Christopher Koulouris]

08:39 AM on 03/30/2011

Ultimately we have to ask ourselves why is the fashion industry so loathe to address what really passes for 'real' fashion, real bodies and real behavior instead of appropriating extreme images of preferred images and utopia which requires an incredible dieting stamina and the redundancy of a media to appear offended when it so often plays along with the charade?

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/03/blogger-calls-another-blogger-curvy-and-the-blogging-world-goes-awol/

[SunEarth]

08:28 AM on 03/30/2011

The word "Curvy" is a compliment. "Big" and "Sturdy" is not. It is a better description of her shoes than her body. She does not look big nor sturdy, but healthy and beautiful.

[Exene]

09:32 AM on 03/30/2011

I agree. I was shocked when I actually saw her picture. She is curvy, but big? She looks like a size 2!

[copelli21]

10:33 AM on 03/30/2011

That woman is gorgeous and curvy.

Much ado about nothing. He didn't say anything offensive.

[pgurlatl]

11:44 AM on 03/30/2011

Exactly. And IMO, that's what makes her body super amazing.

She's thick yet tiny. If she could bottle up the formula to sell, I'd be her biggest buyer.