Marquita Pring, Plus-Size Model: Sometimes I Use Padding To Please Clients

We love Marquita Pring, one of the four curvy models who starred in Vogue Italia's now-famous plus-size editorial.

Women's Wear Daily caught up with the native New Yorker, who revealed an odd secret of the trade: padding.

That's right -- the supposedly already oversized models sometimes feel the need to be even bigger. Says Pring, "I'm right in the middle at a sort of small [size] 14, high 12. So I pad sometimes since I've got clients who would prefer a solid 14 or 16."

The process involves laying pieces of foam about an inch and half thick on the hips, securing the padding beneath the undergarments.

It may sound funny (WWD asks Pring incredulously, "Like football pads for your hips?"). But the practice reveals the strange demand for particularly big bodies that fit the plus-size mold, rather than the real bodies -- big or small -- that models already have.

Pring admits, "[Padding]'s better for me because I can still be healthy and work out and have the body I want." As the model has mentioned in the past, "I work harder than some of the smaller girls. We have to maintain our size and be careful not to fluctuate too drastically, especially when we have consistent clients that need us at specific measurements."

And it certainly doesn't help when people generally assume plus-size models are less healthy. When Pring documented her Steven Meisel-shot Vogue Italia shoot for Fashionista, she mentioned this telling tidbit:

Breakfast is all set up. Trays of bacon, eggs, potatoes, breads, fruits, yogurt, Danish, and cheeses cover every surface. My eyes quickly fall on the juicer in the corner and then on all the beautiful vibrant fruit, peeled and everything! We prepare our feasts and head to the chill room with juice in hand.

Bacon, eggs and bread -- what's "real model" kryptonite is apparently plus-size model fare. But what if, like Pring and her fellow models, the girls eschew the carbs for fruit?

There's always padding.

Head to WWD.com to read more from Pring's interview.

Comments

[sensimilla]

03:23 PM on 08/04/2011

I'm definitely a fan of "healthy" sized women, from size, say 8-14. These women are REAL women with curves, hips, busts. Take the size 0-4 sticks and toss em, they are not "womanly" to me. Many women are naturally skinny. I have no issue with them, but just not attracted to them.

[mad world]

07:57 AM on 07/29/2011

"I'm built like Hugh Jackman" lol

[Tazirai]

07:05 PM on 07/27/2011

LOOOOVE me some Marquita.... luv.. luv luv luv. Did I mention love?

[tangelan]

06:21 PM on 07/27/2011

I'm a size 10 and it seems like I've been on a diet my entire life. Am I trying too hard or has this country gotten to the point where 14/16 is the norm?

[Dimplezzz2002]

01:50 PM on 07/27/2011

I guess a size 14 is considered a plus size when most runway models wear a -2. Being able to count one's ribs doesn't seem attractive to me.

[StageSage]

11:41 AM on 07/27/2011

George is apparently still pretty upset about that thing that Lincoln did.

[GeorgeWashinton1777]

11:48 AM on 07/27/2011

HUh? Im a republican. The republicans and lincoln had to go south to free the slaves from the democrats. then the republicans had to force civil rights over the objections of the democrats. remember its the democrats who were the KKK, including Robert Byrd who was in the senate up until 5 years ago. he was a democrat and a grand wizard in the klu klux klan.

its democrats who were upset about lincoln. learn history

[Tazirai]

07:09 PM on 07/27/2011

Racist much? Or just a bigot? Or a little uneducated.. Oh and the Slave thing.. Those Republicans ould Tar and Feather Boenhers Group.
Republicans from the Past cannot be compared to todays crowd. Todays crowd would have us on the farm.. and all he women pregnant all the time.

[PlayTOE]

10:50 AM on 07/27/2011

...
The average woman is a size 14, the plus size model is size 12 ...
...
The fashion industry, selling dreams, not reality.

[Bados]

10:27 AM on 07/27/2011

Yes!!!! The 12 year old boy looks has another shot fired at it. Please die sooner than later.

[HeresHoping]

08:30 AM on 07/27/2011

Does anyone know why the camera adds apparent weight to a person? My neighbor's two daughters got married, one looked great in her wedding pix when she looked scary skinny in real life, the other looked like a million dollars in real life but looked a bit heavy in her wedding pix. Models make their living for the camera, whereas all the rest of us make our livings in real life.

[iluvmaps]

03:32 PM on 07/27/2011

I honestly think it's all about how light from a flash bulb hits the planes on your face. In real life there are multiple light sources all around us, and it's easier to see that someone's face isn't a flat circle but has angles. When a camera takes a picture with flash all the light reflects back at once to the lens, so it makes people's faces look rounder. That's my opinion anyway, just a guess.

[Breanna Baker]

04:04 PM on 07/28/2011

Modeling is a job, too.

[sensimilla]

03:20 PM on 08/04/2011

HH was not dissing on modeling, they were saying that their looks are judged through a camera not in person.

[Fudgefase]

06:38 AM on 07/27/2011

I am disturbed that this girl looks so large. A 12/14? She looks bigger. I'm actually upset that my perceptions have been so scre*** by the modelling profession that she looks big to me.

[TheSarge]

10:02 PM on 07/26/2011

A woman with curves!! Why would a man want anything else? Scrawny women dont do it for me.

[ljande1]

09:08 PM on 07/26/2011

Ms. Pring is definitely beautiful, and while I applaud any media that highlights the fact that plus-size can be beautiful, she doesn't appear to be plus sized in this particular picture. Plus in this particular photo it appears as if she may have a thyroid condition with the bulge at the throat area. YMMV.

[Mandles99]

05:26 AM on 07/27/2011

Google other pics of her, she's definitely plus size, but beautiful nonetheless.

[Bados]

10:29 AM on 07/27/2011

You can scratch the thyroid thing. Her other pictures that have her neck exposed dont show anything of the sort.

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

09:01 PM on 07/26/2011

So what. Skinny models sometimes use starvation and purging. Non-news.

[Mustangallee]

08:50 PM on 07/26/2011

Takes all sizes and kinds to make the world go around. The only look I am not fond of is when a persons head is bigger than her waist and some cases her hips...just looks funny to me!

[avery t]

08:36 PM on 07/26/2011

i define unhealthy as in capable of walking four miles. actually, i define it as being incapable of running at least 6 miles in an hour (preferably 8).

i don't pretend to know how to define "average." i just know that in my neighborhood, where the average income ranges from 100k to 300k, there are no women who looks like this (or very few). here, where men are rich enough to marry almost any woman they want, you see women who are much, much thinner.

i'm not the biggest fan of jennifer anniston, but i think she has an amazing figure (her face is ok, but her body is her fame). she has very little body fat, but she's not super skinny. she has T and A in abundance, strong legs, and a toned stomach. could a body be nicer than hers? i don't think so. using runway models as a pole of comparison. neither runway models nor plus size models work out. only gym people can be hot. that is my opinion, as a dedicated gym person. it's all about muscle tone.

[avery t]

10:33 PM on 07/26/2011

also cameron diaz in knight & day looked hot and healthy.

[avery t]

10:37 PM on 07/26/2011

i meant to say "using runway models as a pole of comparison isn't very helpful." it's using one extreme to judge another.