Franca Sozzani: I Don't Think Plus-Size Models Will Get The Same Work As Straight-Size Girls

The Cut tracked down Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani to talk about the glossy's June cover, which features a trio of plus-size models. Sozzani told the site, "All [who work] in fashion are victims -- the media, even myself, even the runways -- of the beauty of the moment," which is, typically, the skinnier the better.

And although she's considered a champion of bigger girls, Sozzani remains (unfortunately) realistic about their future:

Do you think plus-size models will ever get the same work and at the same rate as straight-size models?

No, I don't think so, because for the moment -- and we never know, you know? -- but for the moment I don't think we'll see the same proportion [of plus-size models as straight-size models]. Just like we don't see the same proportion of white and black girls. They use curvy models sometimes, like a provocation, but it is just to show something different, which I don't like honestly. I loved for example Prada, the winter before last she used three or four girls which were curvy girls. So not everybody will embrace that, I don't think so. But I think in a way we will stop to think, do you really want to go on with all these skinny girls? If this is the only question that comes up, for me [the issue] will be a big success.

Sozzani is used to posing those types of questions, most notably with the all-black issue she put out several years ago:

With the black girls now it was two years ago that this happened, and I see on the runway more and more black girls and more and more beautiful black girls. This kind of provocation makes a change; it could not affect everybody, that's for sure. But I don't want it to change the world. I only would like that instead of skinny girls, that they should have real women -- like the moment of the supermodels.

Read the rest at The Cut. And check out what one Vogue Italia's most recent cover girls had to say here.

Comments

[Helena Cesalova]

09:04 AM on 07/06/2011

Lola, beying overweight is not healthy but neither is being underweight or anorexic. I agree with you that NORMAL SIZE would be great as a new trend.

[LolaP]

04:44 AM on 06/09/2011

Ok, being overweight is not healthy and shouldn't be encouraged - the world is getting too fat as it is and it's killing people (way more people than anorexia is). Campaigning for plus-sized models is like saying obesity is not a problem and should be accepted. Being too skinny is not healthy either - so is anyone going to encourage healthy, lean, normal size models soon???

[Fudgefase]

02:49 PM on 06/09/2011

I don't think she's advocating overweight - I am assuming that a 'plus-sized' model is a girl whose dimensions are normal, and not underweight in the way that the more typical model is. Grown women of six feet should not really have the same measurements as a girl of aged 12.

[Nina Edlund]

09:59 PM on 06/08/2011

There is a distinction that many people aren't taking into account: high fashion vs commercial modeling. Whenever there's one of these kind of interviews, it is always from someone who is involved in high fashion which is more about art then selling to the public and their perspective is coming from that place. People complain that they want to see more normal sized models, that they want a more truthful representation of the average woman. High fashion designers really couldn't give a damn about what the general public wants because the general public isn't who they are catering to. Couture is exaggerated and extreme and the model wearing those clothes is part of the 'art' being created. Compare runway and fashion spread models to those used in advertisements and catalogs -- the former tend to be odd looking and painfully thin while the latter will be at least be a vaguely realistic athletic ideal. I think when someone like Franca Sozzani says that plus-size girls won't get much work, she's saying this from a high fashion standpoint as I do think there really is an widening market for curvier girls in more commercial areas (no pun intended!).

[deborahehill]

02:05 PM on 06/08/2011

I know that plus size clothing cannot possibly be modeled by women who are too thin to fit those sizes. Having that more than reasonable and practical demand makes the plus size division a logical choice, but one with less demand as there would be less work to go around. I am 5 feet 4 or 5 inches tall yet do not shop in the petites department, therefore the 5 foot 9 or taller models must be enough for me to feel like the fit of a garment won't be too drastically misrepresented. We all know that this isn't something short, larger than size 10, or simply older and less thin and leggy women actually require when looking at magazine ads or photo spreads to help us shop or feel like shopping. The height and weight requirements have always been the same since the 50's and are a condition of employment for models. How else could sample sizes be adequate if all the models were different sizes? I'm sure that would be more hassle and expense than actual improvement for the industry.

[Annette Gallagher]

05:10 PM on 06/09/2011

But the sample sizes have changed. In the 80s and early-mid 90s, pre-Kate Moss, the samples were 4-6, which is what Cindy Crawford was. Today they are 00-0-2. The editor of British Vogue wrote an open letter to the fashion industry BEGGING them to make samples larger and they refused. They are in control, plain and simple, and for whatever reason, they want to dress swizzle sticks. As for thin women modelling plus size clothes, they do it every day - one of the complaints about plus size catalogs and websites is that you cannot, as a plus size shopper, possibly see how clothes might drape on a plus size figure because the models are too thin. I read one so-called plus size model, a size 6 or 8, who had to use PADDING on her derriere for a plus size shoot.

[maskedblogger]

01:33 PM on 06/08/2011

With the world going to hell in a hand basket, do we really have to worry about what size models are? Who cares? Woman of all sizes are beautiful. You skinny wenches get over yourselves and you that are overweight.....love yourself. Stop buying into all this media garbage about weight. I have friends of all sizes and for the most part the thinner ones have all the medical conditions, the heavier ones are very healthly. So who knows what it's all about. People are people, all shapes, sizes and colors.....and when you come down to it, none of that should really matter. What matters is what kind of person you are....the rest is smoke and mirrors.

[Comeplayinmyreality]

01:33 PM on 06/08/2011

Its just not the fashion world who love to attack women's weigh, but the entertainment industry as well. You always hear about how so and so has gained weight or hasnt lost baby weight or what stars look like without makeup. What really pisses me off is it always the female entertainers be it actors, singers, models or whatever. Never do we see an article about some male entertainer asking does his weigh affect his ability to get work, or sing or make money. Ageism is another thing that attacks women, an older beautiful women has a hard time in the industry getting work, but her male counterpart seems to work forever no matter what he looks like. How is that fair? The double standard is complete BS! Another side note, why is it we see men who have women who are way out of their league, but it is never the reverse? It is all over the television and movies, so now regular guys wont even try and talk to regular women anymore, all they seem to want is that skinny supermodel type of girl.

I know I went on a bit and vented off topic, but I feel better now. :D

[Fudgefase]

02:53 PM on 06/09/2011

If the media didn't print it, they'd stop doing it....

[jaslyn]

01:04 PM on 06/08/2011

Although as women, we want to see better,healthier models, we are more drawn to the thinner ones, because their shapes and thinness are unatainable. This emotion is part of looking at these magazines, it's more of a fantasy. If you had normal sized models, you'd look at what they wore and flip right through . It's a dichotomy for sure, but there's a reason this doesn't change.

[tuliehowller]

08:54 PM on 06/08/2011

Try eating healthy and exersing....

[exhiliration]

11:25 AM on 06/08/2011

you need to come to ghana and you will see so many huge bootays, you will think you landed in your idea of heaven.

[jmartinlegal]

10:48 AM on 06/08/2011

Once again, the fashion industry does not cater to the African American male who likes a woman with a big ol' jiggly hind end. Our idol -- our goddess, Michelle -- is what we wanna see: yards and yards of fabric covering a big bootay.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

09:08 AM on 06/08/2011

How about a woman who is a size 6, 8, 10? How about an average size woman, like most of the women I see walking around various cities in the U.S.? I think women would love models they can identify with. Better yet, make her short. I'm 5'3", and there's a heck of a lot of ladies out there my height or a little taller, and not that many who are 5'9" or 5'10" like those anorexic looking, wasted models they usually portray. Plus sized models don't represent the average sized woman either, but there's a lot more ladies in the U.S. who are a size 14 or 16 and 190 lbs. than 5'10" and 120 lbs.

[Annette Gallagher]

05:12 PM on 06/09/2011

The average american woman is 5'4" and a size 14-16. The average American MODEL is 5'10 and a size 0 or 2. They are 19% taller and up to 30% thinner than average. It is unattainable no matter how much you diet or exercise.

[Cherylanne Farley]

12:36 AM on 06/08/2011

If I were an investor wouldn't I want the best ROI? Going to malls you see plus size women OUTSIDE the stores, purses closed and walking past the majority of stores. The stores themselves have one skinny bored teen working inside a basically empty store. That is cash-money walking away not because of too many choices but because of NO choices. The tiny world of fashion/magazines has created a fashion culture that is so narrow, oddly focused and in denial about the real needs of consumers that in these troubled economic times, why ANYONE leaves money with them to invest amazes me.

[chris722]

11:43 PM on 06/07/2011

The bottom line is that fashion magazines are fighting for their legitimacy and relevancy. Particularly with the onslaught of fashion blogs, many of which are by laymen for laymen, and not from the fashion industry itself. Give it another 10, 15 years, things will change.

[BittyBittyChangChang]

05:36 PM on 06/28/2011

Screw that! I need a fierce outfit for a 4th of July party this weekend!

My only saving grace is that I know how to sew and have developed the skill to copy any outfit I see into my size (22). So now the only fashion label I wear is my own.

[Callyson]

09:56 PM on 06/07/2011

I loved for example Prada, the winter before last she used three or four girls which were curvy girls.
-----------
And *I* love knowing who is moving forward on this issue. Not that I can afford much from Prada, but next time I feel like splurging I'll look in their store, along with anyone else who is using women of various sizes. If enough of us vote with our pocketbooks, the fashion industry might finally wake up...

[Paul1963]

08:31 PM on 06/07/2011

Wow. Some real bigotry here.

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/04/23/ashley-graham-model-lane-bryant-commercial/

Ashley Graham is a Plus sized model, not unlike many plus sized models, who quite frankly are sexy and not promoting obesity. Give me a break.

[syds180turn]

07:21 PM on 06/07/2011

I think the Fashion industry as well as the Entertainment industry is hideously biased in every way possible. They discriminate against every type of person. They encourage unrealistic ideals about what constitutes beauty. They promote anorexia, body dysmorphic disorder, purging, eternal youth; you name it and if it's dangerous and hazardous to one's health, they're all for it. But, as women, it's our fault. Why do we have to buy these clothes from designers that don't respect us? Why are we spending our hard earned money on magazines that don't represent us? Why are we following Hollywood idiots with all of their pseudo-diversity that will not hire us unless we fit some superficial image invented by some sleazy Hollywood player who only wants what he envisions a fantasy woman should look like? It all boils down to this, we either accept it and shut up or we voice opinions and hit them in their bottomline. Afterall, businesses only hear you and understand what you're saying if their profits are affected. This may not be a simple fix, but it is a start. We don't have to buy into the BS, period. Keep your money in your pockets or if you're going to spend it, do your research on the companies that understand and hear what you're concerned about. Fashion Magazines ARE NOT a must have. You don't have to go to movies or watch TV shows that don't reflect who you are as a person. My madness has stopped.

[darkelflass]

08:18 PM on 06/07/2011

Fanned & Faved.

[tuliehowller]

08:57 PM on 06/08/2011

ditto.