Nancy Upton On 'Today' Show, Talks American Apparel & Plus-Size Modeling (VIDEO)

Nancy Upton took some pictures and made a Tumblr. Three weeks later, she's on the "Today" Show.

The plus-sized Texas woman, if you recall, entered American Apparel's controversial "The Next Big Thing" plus-size modeling contest, where "booty-ful" girls were encouraged to post pictures of themselves on the retailer's website in a chance to become the new face of American Apparel's plus-size line.

Upton found the entire project, which mocked the plus-size girls with sarcastic, punny language as it recruited them, to be insulting... so she submitted to the contest with some sarcastic (NSFW) pictures of her own.

To her surprise, she won the contest. And American Apparel was none too happy, sending her a scathing letter saying, "We have decided to award the prizes to other contestants that we feel truly exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out, and whom we will be proud to have representing our company."

Big mistake. Since then American Apparel has backtracked, complimenting Upton and inviting her out to its factory in Los Angeles to meet with the company's creative directors (who masterminded the plus-size contest).

Upton spoke to the "Today" Show about American Apparel's "condescending" and "insulting" contest, why she made her racy, food-covered photos and what she hopes she can teach American Apparel about marketing to plus-size customers.

WATCH:

Comments

[Jacquline M Arnold]

10:11 AM on 09/26/2011

I also find that her comments about the retailer objectifying women to be... annoying. Showing sexual posses or having skimpy clothing is not objectifying if the women herself likes being a visually sexual being. In fact theirs a certain amount of freedom from social constraints that can be found in displaying yourself as a sexual person witch is why I take offense when so called women's groups gripe about things like women strippers and women wearing sexy clothing.... not all of us find freedom in being strait lace and uptight about our sexuality and not all of us think that gaining money though our expression of sexuality and beauty is demeaning. In fact to tell a woman off for making such a choice is just as bad as telling her she can't do something cause shes a woman... womens rites is about allowing women the "CHOICE" to do what they want! So to assume that a person posses in a sexy manner is being objectified is demeaning to that persons freedom of expression. If the person is FORCED to be posed or photoed that way then yes its demeaning. And yes I know about the issues that company has, that's the only reason why I understand what she did... the only reason! I think she went a little to far and hogged up the attention away from the other competitors who actually where classy about wanting to be a new positive change for the company.

[Jacquline M Arnold]

10:07 AM on 09/26/2011

I can understand her thought process with this photo shoot and she is a good looking woman... as for those who say she's unhealthy cause shes over weight, just because a girl is not in fashions socially acceptable single digit sizes doesn't mean she is obese and unhealthy... that's the part of the point of her sarcasm with the food picts! What I don't like about these picts is that without the back story they really have no story for the sarcasm. Witch makes it easy for people to just see the picts and say their things against women who are plus size. I also feel that the entry itself while meant to be a social commentary on the retailer it really was disrespectful to her fellow competitors who are plus size women making an effort to gain a position in a retailer that has just opened itself to larger sizes. These photos make their efforts to win... well it makes the whole thing a mockery and overshadows what little good the retailer was doing witch was trying to accept a group they normal don't!

[Cricketmk3]

08:54 AM on 09/26/2011

It's unfortunate that American Apparel chose the pictures of a plus sized model eating as their winner in the first place.

[NJLiberalMom]

11:18 AM on 09/26/2011

Wow. You missed the ENTIRE point, didn't you?

[Cricketmk3]

04:45 PM on 09/26/2011

I think you missed the ENTIRE point of my comment. I should have emphasized the word EATING in my post. The contest was for plus-sized models. Upton sent in pics of herself EATING...and she won. It was then that they realized she was being sarcastic and decided to award the "prize" to another model. I said, it was unfortunate that they chose the pic of a plus sized model EATING as their winner. Now, tell me where I went wrong.

[ras121s]

04:57 PM on 09/26/2011

They didn't pick her. The public who voted on the contest did. Because they actually understood what she was doing - as you clearly don't.

[LolaP]

06:03 PM on 09/25/2011

she's great

[missy mitten]

05:23 PM on 09/25/2011

American Apparel... last I read they were going under and the owner was a pervert rapist or something like that.

[santiago sherwood]

07:26 PM on 09/25/2011

they raise 160million to solve the liquidity crisis and it is very expensive to find minors to model thongs whose parent will not file charges. I think the catalog is now classified as soft porn.

[Lauren Kottwitz]

04:59 PM on 09/25/2011

To all of you who want to play the "she's objectifying herself" card in order to land on the side of American Apparel, I'd like you to Google Iris Alonzo, the woman who wrote the misguided rejection letter. Click on the first link.

Yes, that IS her professional business profile for AA. Who is objectifying whom?

[BabaLou7]

01:29 AM on 09/25/2011

Unhinging her pie-hole to suck down a chicken - says maybe she's a libertarian, with a touch of surrealism going, ey?

[sunshineshines]

07:26 PM on 09/24/2011

if this happened in a movie like 'bridesmaids' - everyone would be applauding. still trying to figure when to stand on this one.

[alexanr2]

03:27 PM on 09/24/2011

Promoting eating what you want and obesity is not helping our healthcare expense issues. She probably is a borderline type 2 diabetic at her young age. I guess I don't see the "humor" in that.

[Daisytoo]

10:18 PM on 09/24/2011

Call me old fashioned, but I find gluttony pretty reprehensible myself.

[heboprotagonist]

11:55 AM on 09/25/2011

Call me new-fangled, but I find anonymous judgement on a message board equally reprehensible.

[Claire Southern]

10:18 PM on 09/24/2011

Once again, judging by the looks. Why don't we start pulling ours head out of ours asses and start seeing the real world? Yes diabetes is a epidemic among younger generations, but just because you see someone who's not a size two you automatically think they're diabetic or obese.
This is serious business that she is talking about! Our society once loved woman of a curvier size! it showed health and strength, not weakness. What she is saying is that designers and marketers need to know what a real plus size is and how to get it out us woman. There is a serious stereotype that is plaguing our society that say that all fat people know how to do is sit around, eat all day and not take proper care of themselves. That is a load of bullshit. It has taken me THREE years to lose 100lbs and I now weigh 230lbs. At a size 14/16, I'm not diabetic, I have great blood pressure and am very active.

[Lauren Kottwitz]

04:55 PM on 09/25/2011

Good on ya Claire! Keep on rocking in the free world.

[missy mitten]

05:19 PM on 09/25/2011

Although I agree with a lot of what you're saying, how do you address the very real health issues associated with weight without stepping on any toes? Of course it's obnoxious to assume somebody is diabetic because they're carrying a bit of extra weight, but at the same time I think it's criminal to ignore the health issues associated with obesity. How do you suggest talking about it constructively?

[TheCarCzarsPage]

02:06 PM on 09/24/2011

(Thought) Thin is in but (apparently) fat's where it's at.

[sabelmouse]

12:48 PM on 09/24/2011

i like her.

[gypsynomad]

12:54 PM on 09/24/2011

I do too, a great sense of humor, but....needs to shape up just a tiny bit, ha....

[sabelmouse]

12:57 PM on 09/24/2011

having a lot of experience with yoyoing with my weight i think she's better of staying where she's happy.

[Stephen Stafford]

11:48 AM on 09/24/2011

I am stunned and am sure I do not understand. Help me see how much of this I have grasped, please.

(Deep breath.) The company decided to insult large women through a contest seeking to curry their favor and customer dollars. A woman got insulted and decided to give them absolutely insulting photos to use. She won the contest. She dogged them out. Consumers were outraged at the company's insults. Now the company is in damage control.

That photo of the woman stuffing that huge food thing in her mouth gave me a headache.

Did I get what is going on with this?

[ezwalker]

12:00 PM on 09/24/2011

I don't think she was insulted, I think she just was "dogging them out" as you said, and it just happened to work out in her favor. Now American Apparel is a bigger joke than ever, and she's famous.

[Kellybelle22]

06:23 PM on 09/24/2011

I find it hard to reconcile, too, Stephen. What Miss Upton did with her photographs, although tongue-in-cheek, was not something I found to be a flattering portrayal of her as a plus-sized woman. It bordered on being demeaning to herself, I thought. I have to hope there's a backstory I don't fully understand.

[heboprotagonist]

11:57 AM on 09/25/2011

Did you see the pic w/ her holding the cherry pie?
Totally hot!

The ranch dressing in the bathtub was a bit much, but she wasn't going for flattering, she was aiming for controversial. Bullseye don't you think?

[modine]

09:10 AM on 09/24/2011

This country sure has obessions about size, weight, beauty and health. That is all well and good I guess but some day most of us will wake and say, life is just too short not to have at least one piece of fried chicken. If it bothers you, don't watch it.

[loveis22984]

09:01 AM on 09/24/2011

I like that she doesn't take herself too seriously

[wrightrjj]

07:26 AM on 09/24/2011

GROSS!!

[ras121s]

04:59 PM on 09/26/2011

IMMATURE!